Long cable run for lights- 12v or 120v

davidfaulk
davidfaulk Registered Users Posts: 1
in Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems #1
Just wondering if anyone has an opinion about a 200ft cable run to power 30 watts of led lighting (either 12v or 120v). I have a pure-sine inverter that is always on and a 12v-only charge controller that has a 12v load output. Is it worth it to invert the power and use 120v light-bulbs, or use non-inverted 12v power with 12v light-bulbs?

Thanks for your input.
· Share on Twitter

Comments

  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Long cable run for lights- 12v or 120v

    Welcome to the forum.

    Definitely go with the high Voltage for that kind of distance.

    30 Watts is about 3 Amps on 12 Volts. You'd need like 4 AWG wire to keep the Voltage drop below 3%, and that's pretty big and expensive and hard to use.

    On 120 Volts it's 0.3 Amps and even 18 AWG would suffice. When needed, powering the inverter would be less than the line loss on 12 Volt. Just be sure you get an inverter that doesn't consume a huge amount!
    · Share on Twitter

Categories