Wire gauge 12v outlets

[WalkaboutTed]

My question of the day:

I'm doing the wiring for my system.  I hate having wires or extensions all over the place. Therefore, I'm setting up 5 12v outlets (I'm not even going to mention how many USB outlets! But they'll be wired separately). I'm wiring the future cooler directly from the battery (with a breaker) with 10 gauge wire. 

For the other 12v outlets, I'm running each of them on separate circuits. The greatest load I can foresee is our Lenovo laptops for which we have DC chargers which draw 11-15 Watts DC, if I read the DC charger correctly ( the print is pretty small).  From our tent camping years, aside from using an inverter for the inflatable bed, we don't use much except for USB devices. I was planning to run 14 gauge wire for the 12v outlets.  Will that be enough?

We have 300AH of battery, CTEK d250s and Smartpass if that means anything. 

Thank you!

 

[SternWake]

The 11 watt draw seems quite low for the laptops.

whether 14AWG will be adequate also depends on the length of the circuit.

On transformer multiply output voltage times output amperage to get the maximum wattage the laptop can pull.

My 7 year old Dell can draw 90 watts, with a depleted laptop battery, but with a full battery and it averages about 35 watts but can goto 55 watts or so if streaming in HD or watching a DVD

If the 12v plug is distant from fuse block, I would use 10AWG just to insure you do not have problems, or have to use a 12v power port closer, circuit wise, to battery

 

[WalkaboutTed]

I pulled the adapter out of the van and it says:
INPUT: 11.5-15.0V DC. 10A Max
OUTPUT: 20V 4.5A

Was I reading it wrong?
As for the runs for the 12 volt outlets,. The Nissan NV is pretty small and I have the electrical center in the middle of the van and none of the runs are greater than about 7 feet. It also has two built in 12 volt outlets (I don't know the wire gauge) and an inverter for two AC outlets, one 400 Watts and the other 150. The stock battery that came with the vehicle is, per the propaganda, 80A-I'm not sure what that means. I don't know how much to trust the vehicle outlets or the battery for that matter.

On further consideration, we would be using a 12 volt fan when it's hot. On high! I'm not sure how much they take.

For any AC stuff, we have an 1100 watt inverter, but so far I haven't come up with a way to use it. But maybe I could snare my son's 600 watt microwave?

*Oh, I just read the adapter info and now I see I made a mistake in reading it.

 

[SternWake]

20 volts x 4.5 amps is 90 watts. I would run thicker wires to Ciggy plug terminals.

In fact the Ciggy plugs on your laptop DC adapters are doomed to fail in time, as these ciggy plugs are only really good for 60 watts continuous.

i replaced my 90 watt adapter's plug once, then a few months later cut off the replacement and used An Anderson powerpole connector.

I understand the ease of 12v ciggy receptacles and plugs, but they are a problem waiting to happen.

if you want to stick with this ubiquitous but inadequate connector, i recommend replacing the plug on the laptop adapter with this and use the corresponding receptacle:

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Sys...rd_wg=QQgQ6&psc=1&refRID=BDBRB7BEZ2GM4WNEE2MX

it is very very easy to install this plug on your current laptop's DC power cord.

your current cords and plugs are good for a while, but the more you recharge the laptop's battery while using the laptop, and exceed 60 watts, the faster the plug will wear out due to heat weakening the springs inside.

it is a matter of time, so perhaps just have the above linked product ready to go for when that time comes.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016I2U9K4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is what I bought. Will it do with 12 gauge wiring?

We'll be dragging the laptops all over the place, hence, outlets everywhere.

I bought a Blue Seas for the cooler plug.

 

[SternWake]

It should, unless the wires are like 20 feet long and the laptop is drawing 90 watts and the USB ports are also charging depleted devices for another 20 watts of Load.  If you already have the 12awg, use it, If not i'd say get some 10awg.

That 12v receptacle is the same design as Blue Seas. the Blue seas plug will mate perfectly with it on the 12v compressor fridge.

Use the same  Blue seas plugs on the laptops with that same receptacle 




for problem free performance. 

You might have to use a round file, and file out the backside of the plug to accept the dc to Dc adapter's cord into the plug cleanly.

The Little ribbed rubber seal can get stretched out of you move it to the thicker part of the plug.  It tends to really lock the plug in the receptacle and make it harder to seat fully, or remove, So I just slid it up to the thicker part of the plug and now it does not quite fit right when back in its groove.

My DC to DC laptop car adapter consumes about 0.1 amps plugged in, when not even connected to laptop, So back out the ciggy plug so the light goes out to remove that parasitic draw when the laptop is not in use  as in 10 hours that is 1AH of your battery capacity.

 

[SternWake]

On your 3 in one device, If you use the same 12 AWG wire to power the USB source, AND the voltmeter, and 12v port for the laptop, well the voltage will be lower than actual battery voltage due to the voltage drop.

In such an instance, the battery voltage might be 12.6v if measured on battery terminals, and the display on the distant voltmeter could read 11.8 volts when the laptop is consuming 90 watts. It might make you think the battery is more discharged than it is, and assume that something is wrong.

You could make the voltmeter more accurate by running separate wires to it individually from battery.

These wires need not be thick as the voltmeter itself consumes very little amperage.

Even this Copper clad aluminum wire should be sufficient for just the voltmeter:

https://www.amazon.com/Audiopipe-Ga...id=1483239374&sr=8-1&keywords=22+awg+zip+wire

Normally I wold say to avoid copper clad aluminum(cca wire) or aluminum wire.

You could also just Eliminate the voltmeter from the distant 3 in one panel, and add another 12v receptacle, but then i would definitely say wire it with 10AWG.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

Looks like fun!
I'll save that project for when we get on the road as I won't need to have power to heat shrink anything there. I love the heat shrink connectors, they are fun. Gotta get my jollies somewhere...

I always unplug computers out of habit, between living in Florida and the monsoon storms here in AZ, I worry about lightening. Best friend's house burnt down from lightening. That stuff scares me, though I guess we won't have to worry about that much, once we're living in our own personal Faraday cage.

I have the USBs on their own circuits, with the dinky LED lights. I pulled out the voltmeters on all but one of those panels and put in a rocker switch for the LEDs. The only one I was leaving it on was the one on the 6 gang switch right by the batteries.

Whaddya think of bus bars?

 

[SternWake]

Buss bars, I am a fan of them.

Kind of partial to Blue Seas branding on most things, But I would like a Buss bar with a few really big studs for big wires/ ring terminals , and lots of smaller studs for small ring terminals.

Mine was given to me and I know not the brand, and it was cut in half when I got it. So it is less Ideal than i would purchase today. But has plenty of studs. My big ring terminals are stacked on my Shunt.

I do not like the AC buss bars where one is to crush stranded or solid wire under a set screw. The ring terminal properly crimped, possibly and or soldered is a much longer lasting reliable connection.

 

[WalkaboutTed]

I was looking at them so I wouldn't have to run so many wires. And I have all those heat shrink ring terminals!

 

[SternWake]

I do not have a good set of crimpers for heat shrink terminals. My crimpers always mar the heatshrink, and reduce the beauty thereby reducing the warm and Fuzzy factor.

I try and buy terminals without insulation, crimp then solder to cover any open stranding for the complete overkill time wasting factor, then slide up the heatshrink I hopefully remembered to slide down wire previous to crimping.

When done properly, warm and fuzzies, are unimpeded. Straight shot of serotonin right to skull.

Ahhhhhhh

 

[WalkaboutTed]

Hub is shaking his head. He doesn't get it.

To segue to last night's question about me being a wuss about holes in the roof, I found this in someone's post. I am a fan of all things marine, having grown up and lived on boats. I think the water leak in roof issue may be related to my boat history. I like this:


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MMH1B2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DE

(I don't know how to put images in my posts)

 

[highdesertranger]

that might have been my post. I use those cable clams and find them great. highdesertranger