UK Connecting wires of different diameter

[Newtsy]

I have installed some lights to a wooden gazebo and the wire seems relatively thin ( the lights are 30 LED 0.6A each. I’m getting an infrared heater which I suspect will have a thicker cable. It would be easy to run a short cable to connect to the light cable to power the heater. Are there any issues due to the potential differences in cable thickness?

 

[littlespark]

Yes there is a difference in the current carrying capacity of the cable. Thicker cable takes more

how powerful is the heater? If you use too thin a cable, it is likely to heat up and melt

 

[Petej999]

I have installed some lights to a wooden gazebo and the wire seems relatively thin ( the lights are 30 LED 0.6A each. I’m getting an infrared heater which I suspect will have a thicker cable. It would be easy to run a short cable to connect to the light cable to power the heater. Are there any issues due to the potential differences in cable thickness?

Yes there would be lots of issues.

 

[DPG]

As above, a cable that feeds a few watts of LED lighting will certainly not be up to the job of feeding a heater.

What is the power rating of the heater? What cable is feeding the lights and where is it connected to at its source?

 

[Electrics]

Only a non-expert opinion here but it seems to me you would be ok doing it the other way round but not this way.

For example, if you had a feed in 4mm, running something else from that at 1.5mm is fine assuming the load is pulling an amperage which the 1.5mm is rated for and that you used a fused spur. A fused spur needs to be used since if there's a fault the 1.5mm needs to spike high enough that the 4mm's breaker will detect the fault and trip the circuit off. (So something wired in 1.5mm would usually use a breaker rated between 6 and 16a, but 4mm would use one at 32a so a fault on the 1.5mm needs to be able to trip the 32a breaker the 4mm is being fed from otherwise the cable could heat up and cause a fire.)

The other way round, so connecting 4mm into a 1.5mm feed, the appliance that needs to use the 4mm cable is going to pull much more power, which has to come through the 1.5mm and it's probably not rated for it.

It's all about the rating of the cable compared to what the load is trying to pull through it, so try to think in terms of rating instead of physical size - a 16mm cable is just a conductor that can carry a certain amount of power, a 1.5mm is one that can carry a lot less.

If i'm wrong someone will correct me but this is how i understand it.

 

[telectrix]

I have installed some lights to a wooden gazebo and the wire seems relatively thin ( the lights are 30 LED 0.6A each. I’m getting an infrared heater which I suspect will have a thicker cable. It would be easy to run a short cable to connect to the light cable to power the heater. Are there any issues due to the potential differences in cable thickness?

start off by letting us know what size cable feeds to the gazebo, and what size MCB is it on.

 

[Newtsy]

Ok sounds like it’s a no go. I have no idea what the rating of the cable for the gazebo lights is (not sure how would I find that out) but it is a small diameter, I’d say smaller than your standard cable for household appliances. The gazebo lights just run to a plug socket. The heater power is 2.1kW.

 

[DPG]

Ok sounds like it’s a no go. I have no idea what the rating of the cable for the gazebo lights is (not sure how would I find that out) but it is a small diameter, I’d say smaller than your standard cable for household appliances. The gazebo lights just run to a plug socket. The heater power is 2.1kW.

Yes, the heater will need its own supply, do not feed it from the lighting cable.

 

[Newtsy]

Yes, the heater will need its own supply, do not feed it from the lighting cable.

Ok thanks all