residential Led lighting wire size

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zodiack

Member
Location
new york
Good Morning

We are doing a residential home. The Architect has designed Led lights through out the house. The fixtures do not have the Led drivers built into fixtures, He was putting drivers in a cabinet adjacent the led fixtures. We suggested a remote driver location in the ultilty room. The distances are approx 50 feet. We would run from switch 14/2 switch leg to drivers and load side of drivers run 18/2 to power fixtures
Thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
50' is a long way to go with 18 gauge wire but it depends on the wattage of the led's. I would install the driver in the cabinet close to the fixtures especially if someone else maintains them in the future
 

zodiack

Member
Location
new york
In one instance they were locating drivers in the base of a vanity in bathroom. So i sugguested remote locations. I was considering 16/2 stranded speaker wire. i have a call into southwire. to see if it is rated
 

infinity

Moderator
Staff member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Journeyman Electrician
Remote driver type fixtures should come with a chart to tell you how far you can run the cables with different conductor sizes.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
Another thing you need to consider is whether this can be CL2 wiring or must be a wiring method from Chapter 3. What does it say on the drivers? If it says Class 2 then you would be OK with speaker or other CL2 listed wire. But if it says nothing or Class 1 then you have to use NM along with all the requirements just like power wiring.

-Hal
 

PaulMmn

Senior Member
Location
Union, KY, USA
Occupation
EIT - Engineer in Training, Lafayette College
How 'bout 12-gauge garden-wiring zip cord? Also available in red/black instead of all black. Used by the amateur radio and model railroad folks as well, along with PowerPole connectors.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
How 'bout 12-gauge garden-wiring zip cord? Also available in red/black instead of all black. Used by the amateur radio and model railroad folks as well, along with PowerPole connectors.

What's the listing on it? Used to be it was unlisted because it was used buried outside of the building. Then it was noted that installers of LV landscape lighting often ran the wiring up out of the ground, through the outside wall into the basement or garage where they installed the transformer and controllers. Running unlisted wire in a building was a violation so the wire manufacturers began getting it listed. So you have to be careful to make sure that there is a listing printed on the jacket because there may still be some unlisted stuff around. And if it is listed, it's only CL2 as far as I know.

-Hal
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
It would have to be in wall rated cable, so regular old speaker wire would not be compliant. I'm doing led cabinet lighting right now, and I have remote drivers on top of the cabinets. The customer wants lighting top and bottom, so I'm prewiring in the wall.
 

SceneryDriver

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Occupation
Electrical and Automation Designer
Monoprice sells CL2 in-wall rated 2-conductor and 4-conductor cable in 18 - 12ga that would work if the drivers are listed as CL2.



SceneryDriver
 
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