DC power questions

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J

Jey

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Mar 16, 2019
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146
Getting ready to put my wiring back together before replacing walls in my trailer.

I have some wiring freed up to use elsewhere but I want to be sure what I?m doing with it is safe.

I have two DC wires that went to the original fridge

I have two DC wires that went to the original furnace


I want to repurpose these 12v wires as they are no longer being used.

My plan was to run an additional 12v light in the kitchen with one set of wires, and run a 12v USB outlet with the other set. Is there any reason I can?t do this?


Also, I have a blue DC power wire that went to the original water heater. I?m not sure why but there is no second wire (ground) that ran to it. It was a propane only water heater, could that be why?
I was thinking of running a ground for this wire and also using it for a 12v outlet or light.

I just want to make sure this is all safe before I go wiring things up.
 
In general you can reuse wire but you should make sure of a few things.

Check the wire to be sure that it is heavy enough for the load.

Check that the insulation is not worn to expose the wires.

Probably a good idea to use the same color for ground and hot as the rest of your wiring.

If you remove a wire that is hard to get back thru the same openings then make sure that you will not need it later.
 
Well the trailer is a 2012 so.. 7 years old?

There?s no visible cracks or worn spots on any wires. Obviously I can?t see directly behind the 2ft of wall where it runs behind but everything else looks fine.

Wires look about 14-16gauge. I will double check tomorrow. The ones going to the fridge are minimum 14gauge

 
IMHO...

You will be fine for the uses you mentioned...lights and USB plug. I would use LED light to reduce risk even more and save battery life. Don't forget to relabel your fuse panel.
 
Gizmo100 said:
IMHO...

You will be fine for the uses you mentioned...lights and USB plug. I would use LED light to reduce risk even more and save battery life. Don't forget to relabel your fuse panel.
Click to expand...

Definitely going LED! Gonna replace all the original lights as well to led.
 
I also agree with 14/16 Ga wires even 18 for the uses you cite. no problem. Lamp is 1-3 amps if incandescant. about 1/2 or less if LED.  22ga would be big enough

USB adapters.. Well I"ve seen some that approach 10 amps total output.  That's about 18GA
 
I agree with all!

With 12VDC systems, the hot wire will come from the battery / converter, through a fuse to the load.  The ground wire ...  ...  ... goes to ground with no requirement to return to the fuse box.  Any metal part connected to the chassis is a good ground.  The water heater needed 12V to supply the control panel, but any nearby metal made a good ground.

When I added USB charge ports under my bed, I ran a wire from the fuse box to the USB plugs, and another wire from the USB plugs to the nearby bed slide mechanism.  Works great!
 
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