K I'm doing a micro op with a small souround sound subwoofer I'm using the stock plug bypassed the fuse and the on/off switch and used 12g speaker wire to a double socket taken from a fish tank top everything is solders and has heat shrink the other original power wires are smaller my issue is the wires overheating should this be a problem or no
Wiring issue
- Thread starter pothead6
- Start date
I don't know much, but I know that sounds like a malfunction so I would consider turning it off if it's running. I think the wire size is pretty important. I use cut up extension cord wire - that's about the limits of my knowledge, but at least it's designed for it more than speaker wire. I'll let someone knowledgable fill in the details. Be safe.
I'd think you'd be OK. The smaller the number, the bigger the wire. The NEC allows for 14 gauge in interior house wiring. At 12 gauge, it may be thicker than the wiring in your walls.
12g speaker wire
sounds scary.
sounds scary.
virago420
Member
Hmm, well 12G is 12G. Some wire is stranded some is solid. I have 210W of CFLs on mine and it doesnt heat up what-so-ever. The wire heating would make me nervous. Make sure you check every connection and that its solid. Be careful. I dont like the sounds of this. Peace
Edit: Ive used 12G speaker wire before for many things including wiring and it NEVER got warm.
Edit: Ive used 12G speaker wire before for many things including wiring and it NEVER got warm.
virago420
Member
You have nothing to worry about then dude. I use 12G wiring all through my cab. You can run a 1000W HID from 12G wire. Of course you still need to worry about everything else thats on that circuit but for the light your going to be running in a micro grow is perfectly safe. Safe load rating for 12G is 16A continuous. A 1000W HPS runs about 8.3 amps. Peace
I'll prolly use 2 60 watts regular lights to see what happends to the wires just to test and then some way smaller wattage cfls I'll prolly experiment to see diff temps and such this light set up will only be for vegging when I flower I'll prolly use 4 cfls with the same style 12g wiring my main issue I think will be heat so far the whole cab is light tight sept the port on front I'm trying to figure out where to put the intake and exaust fans and still keep it stealth
virago420
Member
Hmm never heard of that? When in doubt its always better to use a larger conductor wire than you might need. 12G in my cab is seriously overkill, but Id rather be safe than sorry. Ive never in my 4 years in the electric trade seen warms get warm/hot unless there was a short or a circuit pulling large amounts of current. I dont however claim to know everything about electric. Peace
Too much power through too thin a wire is where over heating comes from. I think folks got concerned with the word speaker and imagined 18 gauge zip cord which is little thicker than thread. 12 gauge may well be thicker than the wiring in your walls where 14 gauge is allowed by the NEC.
Have you thought stripping the female end off a grounded ext cord? A ground is never a bad thing.
Have you thought stripping the female end off a grounded ext cord? A ground is never a bad thing.
double post D"OH!
I read a stoner's guide on wiring once, actaully it was just a post on here somewhere, and they mentioned it's the mismatch in sizes that often causes problems. They mentioned that it's okay to go one way in wire sizes, but not the other way. So reading your post I would assume it was ok to go up in size, but not down. Is this a rule that's familiar to you guys? Sorry virago yeah that post of mine doesn't make much sense. But basically I was thinking of this mismatch thing. Maybe he went the wrong way? Take this lightly, I'm not an electrician.
and also, this is theoretical since the dude doesn't actually have hot wires.
also, probably just confused with "gauge"...sorry.
virago420
Member
Yeah man oversizing wire is perfectly fine, undersizing on the other hand is not. Especially if you have a long run of wire, 12G will have less voltage drop than 14G, even less at drop at 10G. The main concern is drawing MORE current than your wire can handle. Again I only worked as an electricians helper for those 4 years, I'm NOT licensed but I did learn alot. Now if you had used 16 guage wiring in your cabinet and pulling 14 amps...and the circuit your cab is on is 15 amp with 14G wiring, then I would REALLY be concerned. Then your trying to pull more current than the wire can safely handle. Hope that made sense. Peace
