Another dumb wiring question for a noob.
06-25-2014, 10:48 PM
#11
Ok guys, I'm back! I've got 6 switches I'm wiring up and the 14g is becoming a rats nest and I'm seriously contemplating correcting the situation. My question is, what size wires should I be using, 18g? Im using relays for everything so they would really be more of a signal wire really. I'm using switches made by otrattw and they require a total of seven wires each. Thanks again for helping me stumble through this learning process!
06-26-2014, 02:31 AM
#12
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Ok. You probably can get away with using 20g wire. I'm guessing that you have the switches that have 2 lights in them each. The lower light showing what the switch turns on, and the upper switch showing you when that device is on. I don't think you will need to connect 7 wires to each switch. If I looked at the proper wiring diagram, you only need to use 4 wires on each switch. 1 wire going to the relay, 1 ground wire (for the lights in the switch), 1 wire for power for the relay, and a second power wire to light up the backlight of the switch. To help cut down on the rats nest this creates, I would do something called daisy chaining.
At every point i would put a female spade connector. I would daisy chain all 6 ground wires together, all 6 power wires going into the switches for the relays together, and all 6 power wires for the backlights together. Then I would take the 2 power wire daisychains and connect them to the 14g wire you have already run using a blue or yellow butt connector.
I hope that made sense to you.
At every point i would put a female spade connector. I would daisy chain all 6 ground wires together, all 6 power wires going into the switches for the relays together, and all 6 power wires for the backlights together. Then I would take the 2 power wire daisychains and connect them to the 14g wire you have already run using a blue or yellow butt connector.
I hope that made sense to you.
06-26-2014, 11:38 AM
#13
Ok. You probably can get away with using 20g wire. I'm guessing that you have the switches that have 2 lights in them each. The lower light showing what the switch turns on, and the upper switch showing you when that device is on. I don't think you will need to connect 7 wires to each switch. If I looked at the proper wiring diagram, you only need to use 4 wires on each switch. 1 wire going to the relay, 1 ground wire (for the lights in the switch), 1 wire for power for the relay, and a second power wire to light up the backlight of the switch. To help cut down on the rats nest this creates, I would do something called daisy chaining. At every point i would put a female spade connector. I would daisy chain all 6 ground wires together, all 6 power wires going into the switches for the relays together, and all 6 power wires for the backlights together. Then I would take the 2 power wire daisychains and connect them to the 14g wire you have already run using a blue or yellow butt connector. I hope that made sense to you.
06-28-2014, 02:08 PM
#15
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Thanks for the help! I've had a hard time finding 20g around town, actually had to go to a hobby store to get some for my led leads. Does the daisy chain affect power going to, let's say the 6th chain because it has to go through 6 connections rather than having it wired directly?