Dual landing light wiring

[rv72004]

I am putting a landing light in each wing tip. In the panel I have a 10 amp c/b and am going to run wires to each tip for each light.It seems 18 gauge should be sufficient .
But my concern is that it will draw more than 10amps together and trip the circuit breaker.
If I put a larger c/b the wires will not be protected.
Should I worry about this or just leave all as is ???

[robertahegy]

I used separate CBs and switches for my two landing lights. Not a good idea to use CBs that are rated higher than the wire.

JMHO

Roberta

[FrankK90989]

I measured my 75w halogen bulbs and got 5.6 amps each
Frank

[redbeardmark]

It is a good idea to check the wire gauge diagram in Tony Bingelis' book (or an equivalent reference book). Ditto what Roberta said: amp rating for the wire should exceed the amp rating for the circuit breaker.

[sprucemoose]

Without having a wiring chart in front of me, 18GA seems a little small for this load. You might want to upgrade to a bigger (ie 100W) bulb in the future (which I highly recommend) so it would be worthwhile to put in a wire big enough to handle it, and suffer the 0.5 OZ weight penalty.

[R.P.Ping]

I would use no less than a wire size of 16. 18 is the minimum you would want to use for a 16 foot run at 10 amps. A wire size of 16 would allow you to run 12&1/2 amp intermittently or 6 amps continuously for the same 16 foot run. If you put in 18 gauge wire you are limited, but if you install 16 or 14 gauge you have no worry about updating in the future to higher wattage lights or more lamps.

This information was taken from AC 43.13

Happy Thanksgiving

Roger

[dmeloche]

I bought wingtip lights from RMD lighting. He supplies 14g wire with his kits.