Going from 20 gauge wire to 14 gauge wiring

Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

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May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
When I re-wired my mast I ran 14 gauge duplex wire to the top of the mast for the anchor light. My anchor light is an extremely small wire, 20 gauge).

What would be the best way to go from the anchor light at 20 gauge to the 14 gauge wire?
 
Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

.
May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
Thanks for the quick reply. I just ordered some with West Advantage Reward Points so they were free!
 
RoyS

RoyS

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Jun 3, 2012
1,742
Hunter 33 Steamboat Wharf, Hull, MA
$7.95 each? What I usually do is use the larger size butt connector, in this case 14 gauge, and double back the stripped end of the smaller gauge wire until the smaller wire fits the connector, then crimp. This may not be an approved method but I have never had any problems with it. This also works for joining three wires with a single butt connector.
 
Justin_NSA

Justin_NSA

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Jul 7, 2004
8,480
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
RoyS said:
$7.95 each? What I usually do is use the larger size butt connector, in this case 14 gauge, and double back the stripped end of the smaller gauge wire until the smaller wire fits the connector, then crimp. This may not be an approved method but I have never had any problems with it. This also works for joining three wires with a single butt connector.
Click to expand
This.

I was advised on this forum to use 16ga in the mast for strength and that's what I just did last weekend. 14 ga will be plenty! I'm using 20ga from the terminal board in the ceiling to the control panel.
I hope you converted to LED while you were able to get to the mast top.
 
Ron20324

Ron20324

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Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
[QUOTE="Justin_...I was advised on this forum to use 16ga in the mast for strength and that's what I just did last weekend. 14 ga will be plenty! I'm using 20ga from the terminal board in the ceiling to the control panel....QUOTE]

My 2 Cents::: If someone told you to go up one size from 14, you went in the wrong direction. My opinion is, nothing smaller (larger number ) than 14 is a no-no on my boat unless it's part of the fixture.
 
Justin_NSA

Justin_NSA

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Jul 7, 2004
8,480
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
It was MainSail's advice among others. I trust his judgement. I also clamped it at the top.
 
S

Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
I see you got what you needed. In the future you may want to check out Del City . com for some of your electrical needs.
 
Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

.
May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
The wire coming out of the LED anchor light is 20 gauge. I really don't like that. I realized that LED uses really low voltage but I prefer heavier wire.

I ran 14 gauge for strength etc.

I will see how this anchor light does this next coming season. If it works well it will stay. If it doesn't then I may go with the other anchor light posted in this thread that is the white or tri color.
 
Justin_NSA

Justin_NSA

.
Jul 7, 2004
8,480
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
20ga is fine for current (electrical) requirements. If you're worried about breakage, do what I did and clamp the new wire attached to it. The newer fixture will be light gauge wire too.
 
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