Parallel wiring for RV LED

Zerpersande · Feb 5, 2023

I am going to wire (4) 6W LED lights in parallel in the ceiling panel of my van conversion. Rather than run the wire from light to light and splicing in wires as reaches a light, I thought I would buy a couple of 5-wire Wago connectors and use them a mini-bus bars. Just bring the single 18AWG of my 12VDC fuse block, run one wire into each block and then wires out to the lights. The lights form a rectangle about 60cm x 100cm.

Any disadvantages that I’m not picking up on?

Zerpersande · Feb 6, 2023

Hmmm, thought this would get a quick response. Is there a social protocol I have violated? Something that bo this sort of forum I didn’t hold the elevator, or worse…farted in it?

DPG · Feb 7, 2023

Zerpersande said:
Hmmm, thought this would get a quick response. Is there a social protocol I have violated? Something that bo this sort of forum I didn’t hold the elevator, or worse…farted in it?

Ha ha, don't worry you haven't offended anybody!

I was going to answer before, but I wasn't 100% sure I understood you meant. But fundamentally, yes you can wire the 12V lamps in parallel, regardless of the logistics of how you arrange the wires.

Obviously current capacity of any cables and joints needs to be considered, but that shouldn't be much of an issue with your 6W LEDs. Likewise for volt drop.

Zerpersande · Feb 7, 2023

DPG said:
I was going to answer before, but I wasn't 100% sure I understood you meant. But fundamentally, yes you can wire the 12V lamps in parallel, regardless of the logistics of how you arrange the wires.

Yeah, my reasoning was that as the distance between each wire branching off to the load decreased the overall length of the run was getting shorter. And that would be a positive thing.

DPG said:
Obviously current capacity of any cables and joints needs to be considered, but that shouldn't be much of an issue with your 6W LEDs. Likewise for volt drop.

Same thought here. I’ve got 0.5A current running through an 18awg wire to each light with a run that is below the length of any chart I’ve found. And I have since decided to use 16awg ifrom my fuse block to the Wago.

Thanks for the confirmation!