what AWG for mast head light?

[Tsuru]

As I recall I ran 14x3 AWG to the motor/deck light and 14x2 AWG to the anchor light. In a similar fashion as pcmm. I pulled the wires myself alternating pulling from top then spreaders. I lost one cable in the pull, from memory the mast head transducer wire. Recovered by running an electricans tape through the bundle and pulling the last wire seperately.

I’d heard stories about how difficult the process is but found it pretty straight foreword. The wire bundle taped together per your plan likes to find obstructions. In my case there is a rivet heads every few feet and the conduit junction for the motor/deck light. Wire pulling lubricant seemed to help and it pretty much dried by the time the job was done.

I doubt if you’ll have a problem pulling the entire kit, but have a backup plan (like a messinger line in the bundle) in case you do.

To me LED noise from the anchor light is a non-issue as I seldom use them at the same time.
Also then next time I do a mast refit, I’m installing one of the solar switches to turn off the anchor light at sunrise. I'll also wait for warmer weather......

[Spot]

The P+B series 580 2NM all-around is 9-28VDC and 2.8W according to the PDF at:
https://www.peters-bey.com/en/produc...ationlight-580

Fresh 14-2 marine tinned flat duplex is about 0.34$/foot bulk from a supply house and 1.00$/foot cut at a chandler. I bought a 250' spool as I needed to redo all of wiring in my boat and it is mostly lighting.

Sounds like some nice upgrades to your mast between the light and coax. Enjoy!

PS-All this talk, I should really go wire something...

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Tsuru

... The only problem is where the wire exited the mast and then entered the anchor light fixture.
On this boat the internal wire entered the mast head through a hole, then a stainless steel washer. A knot in the wire sitting on the washer was strain relief. Not surprisingly this is where the insulation failed causing a short ...

Several laps of tape, covered by a short length of heat shrink would avoid the (required) knot.

[Gene Neill]

Originally Posted by Spot

All this talk, I should really go wire something...

C'mon over, I'll have the beer cold.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by Gene Neill

C'mon over, I'll have the beer cold.

LOL. Tempting, heard it was in the 80's down there yesterday, not sure what I'd tell the folks at work but we could probably think of something. Do you have a good crimper?

[ShoreFun]

One other consideration is the protection, fuse or breaker, is to protect the wire and is sized to gauge and length of wire used.

Once you choose the wire then you must check the fuse device is correctly sized. If other wires are on the fuse device then you must size it to the thinnest wire on the circuit.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Spot

Voltage drop and capacity is figured for the entire run, not just one side to load. Each wire acts as a resistor in the circuit.

With an incandescent light I'd agree. With an LED the load is so small wire gauge is not much of a concern other than strength on a long run, like a mast.

[BAD ORCA]

Originally Posted by Tsuru

As I recall I ran 14x3 AWG to the motor/deck light and 14x2 AWG to the anchor light. In a similar fashion as pcmm. I pulled the wires myself alternating pulling from top then spreaders. I lost one cable in the pull, from memory the mast head transducer wire. Recovered by running an electricans tape through the bundle and pulling the last wire seperately.

I’d heard stories about how difficult the process is but found it pretty straight foreword. The wire bundle taped together per your plan likes to find obstructions. In my case there is a rivet heads every few feet and the conduit junction for the motor/deck light. Wire pulling lubricant seemed to help and it pretty much dried by the time the job was done.

I doubt if you’ll have a problem pulling the entire kit, but have a backup plan (like a messinger line in the bundle) in case you do.

To me LED noise from the anchor light is a non-issue as I seldom use them at the same time.
Also then next time I do a mast refit, I’m installing one of the solar switches to turn off the anchor light at sunrise. I'll also wait for warmer weather......

yeah fingers crossed. iv'e never seen the inside of my mast so im hoping i have enough room. im permanately removing the wind gauge so that should help me squeeze in the LMR. my rigging also runs inside the mast. it should be interesting...

[BAD ORCA]

Originally Posted by Spot

The P+B series 580 2NM all-around is 9-28VDC and 2.8W according to the PDF at:
https://www.peters-bey.com/en/produc...ationlight-580

Fresh 14-2 marine tinned flat duplex is about 0.34$/foot bulk from a supply house and 1.00$/foot cut at a chandler. I bought a 250' spool as I needed to redo all of wiring in my boat and it is mostly lighting.

Sounds like some nice upgrades to your mast between the light and coax. Enjoy!

PS-All this talk, I should really go wire something...

christmas came early. in the end i ended up ordering 14/2. i was getting worried 12 AWG would be pushing my space limits and from all the replies was WAY overkill.

[BAD ORCA]

Originally Posted by ShoreFun

One other consideration is the protection, fuse or breaker, is to protect the wire and is sized to gauge and length of wire used.

Once you choose the wire then you must check the fuse device is correctly sized. If other wires are on the fuse device then you must size it to the thinnest wire on the circuit.

thank you for the reminder. noted. i was planning on a 5amp breaker. the wire leads coming out of the lights are pretty thick for LED's. they are wrapped in a metal sheilding similar to coax cable. really nice work from P & B.

[Mickeyrouse]

We used 14AWG wire for a similar run. Chart says we didn’t have to, but extra cost and weight are minimal, so why not?

[capn ken]

Originally Posted by NSboatman

It may be that the tables say you can do this... but my experience says that is a bad idea. In my opinion, anything less than 14 ga for mission critical applications (and I consider nav lights to be mission critical) is penny wise pound foolish. In real life, imperfect connections, creeping corrosion (especially up the mast) and higher current flows than those predicted on data sheets result in a need for beefier cables than the tables suggest.

Why wouldn’t you build in a little safety margin there and go a size bigger than the ‘perfect tables’ suggest?

better to err on the side of safety .

[Elie]

Originally Posted by BAD ORCA

Thanks. according to that chart i can use 16 AWG wire.

5 watt bulb / 12 volts = .41 amps * 140ft = 57.4

I have also replaced all my masthead lighting with bright LED bulbs. My mas is 65 ft tall, and replaced all 10 gage wires by 16 gage wiring. Perfect!, I neved had any trouble with this modification. And a lot of heavy wires out! . That occured 8 years ago.

[Sailorman4009]

Forget all the mathmatical theory. Led lights on the average boat will run fine on 16 ga wire where ever they are. Typically an led light uses a fraction of an amp. The voltage drop is insignificant because the charts for voltage drop use 12 volts as the norm. Led lights run on reduced 12 volts to 5 volts so any voltage above 6.5 will produce 100 percent of the needed power as it still exceeds the minimum thresh hold to the regulated 5.0 volts to the led's.

Sure saves on batteries!!

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by BAD ORCA

i bought a new LED mast head anchor light, now i need to order the correct gauge wire.

according to the blue sea chart im assuming i can use the 10% (non critical) specifications. I guesstimate 50 ft mast height and roughly another 15-20ft to the nav desk so 70 ft total. do i use this as my estimate for my total wire run length or is it double that length (round trip) so 140 ft? 140 round trip would put me at 10 AWG wire for a single LED anchor light. does that sound about right?

Guess your LED light draws 2-3W max, so the calculation should be based on that or say max 0.5A at your AWG chart. You calculate it one way, so 70’.