12 N cables

[Robert_374373903]

Had the misfortune to have the 12 N cable rub on the road.Went to well known dealer who sold me couple of metres which i thought were a bit slimmer than Coachman use.However when i counted the strands on the original they came to about 32 against 26 of the new one.I hate this when you get sold something you have doubts with ,surely they would not sell something not up to the standerd required.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Robert,

You also need to measure the gauge of each fine wire too - and unless you have a micrometer, you might find that difficult - and we are talking invisible fractions of a mm.

26 fatter wires can carry the same current as 32 thinner wires - won't be as flexible but won't be cut by the screw connectors as easily. But if the area of the overall bundle is around 1.5mm2 that has a safe working load of almost 20 Amps

And the highest load will be two 21 watt brake light (plus the LED? high level brake) - say 50+ watts for a few seconds or tens of seconds (if you have an automatic and hold the car on the footbrake) - and that just 4 amps - so plenty of headroom.

Is there any writing on the cable sleeving? It should state the physical data for the conductors...

Robert

 

[RobE]

HI Robert

I have had the misfortune of having this happen to me twice in the past, (once at the start of our holiday to the South of France and having to make temporary repairs whilst on the car deck of the ferry before we sailed from Hull).

I have since removed both the 12S and 12N plugs from the caravan, fitted a 12S and 12N socket on the caravan A frame fairing and purchased the respective removable "curly cables" with plug at each end. No further worry about trailing cables.

Rob E

 

[Robert_374373903]

Hi Robert,

You also need to measure the gauge of each fine wire too - and unless you have a micrometer, you might find that difficult - and we are talking invisible fractions of a mm.

26 fatter wires can carry the same current as 32 thinner wires - won't be as flexible but won't be cut by the screw connectors as easily. But if the area of the overall bundle is around 1.5mm2 that has a safe working load of almost 20 Amps

And the highest load will be two 21 watt brake light (plus the LED? high level brake) - say 50+ watts for a few seconds or tens of seconds (if you have an automatic and hold the car on the footbrake) - and that just 4 amps - so plenty of headroom.

Is there any writing on the cable sleeving? It should state the physical data for the conductors...

Robert

Thank you for your comments. The thicker cable in fact had the 32 wires and other 26, however the larger cable was more flexible and the new one has no markings on it.