Quote:
Originally Posted by travisz
I would!
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Please explain how you came up with poor advice.
The factory wouldn't use a relay in this situation. Let's make this a worst case scenario:
- All 6 bulbs on one switch/circuit
- All defective and pulling double their wattage (10 watts each)
- Battery is drained, and we are at 10V instead of 12+
This would have a total current draw of 6amps in a far than worst case scenario. Let's also go with an excessively long wire run of 30'. You can easily run this whole setup safely on 14awg wire straight to a switch.
A relay would add nothing but additional complexity and failure points to something that doesn't require a relay. The dock lights on my Malibu draw more than 6amps - yet they are ran straight to a switch. As is the heater, which I think is on a 20 or 30 amp breaker - straight to a switch.
In the actual real world application, 16awg wire would be acceptable. I personally would still run 14awg because price will be similar, and it's not much bigger so it won't be any more difficult to run.
Hell, my reversible ballast pump setup is hard wire to a switch, and those are rated to draw 13 amps/each at a constant rate and can spike higher. Switch to a circuit breaker.