12VDC wiring plan

[pabusnut]

I am soon ready to start the 120VAC and 12VDC wiring. 

I will be running 10 and 12 gage marine wire for the 120 circuits(sufficient overkill), but I'm not sure about the 12VDC.

Except for the 12VDC refrigerator, everything else is relatively low power(i.e. lights).  I am putting 12VDC convenience outlets at the bunks, dinette table, night stands, bath vanity, in the bays, etc.
Since i don't know what the load might be, and the distances vary, I would like to use the same gage everywhere(planning for the heaviest load)  I know distance becomes a significant factor, so I don't want any possibility of installing too small, but also don't want the cost factor of massive overkill(just mild overkill!!)

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Steve Toomey
PAbusnut

[bevans6]

What I did - just my choice - is this:

I ran 12vdc lighting circuits with 14 ga. live and ground, I home-run the grounds back to common buss.  I worked on 10 amp max load via fuse, and actual load 8 amps or less per run.

I ran 12 gauge to some specific loads, dedicated fusing again.  I think it was the furnace but I forget.  Home run the ground (Except for the radio and the electric seat motors, I used all home-run grounds).

10 ga dedicated for the fridge with a 30 amp fuse.  I don't plan to run the fridge on DC but the computer has a mind of it's own and it sometimes gets hung on DC for a while before I notice.

If i was to do spot-outlets, I would do dedicated 30 amp fuses and 10 ga wire.

I used the DC distribution panel that came in my converter.  lots of DC fuse positions.

Not that it matters a hill of beans, but I made up my own twisted pair wire for DC.  I unrolled the 50 ft coils of coloured wire, put them into pairs, put them in the chuck of my electric drill and twisted them.  They stay twisted just fine and it's real easy to pull the pair into place.

Brian

[pabusnut]

Thanks Brian!

That's the kind of info I am looking for. 

I ran the blue "smurf" conduit for all my wiring, and am also putting "pull boxes" under the floor, as I discovered the hard way how not to make long runs with several turns.  I hadn't thought of twisting the 12 VDC wires together.  I bought a new fancy marine distribution panel with breakers for the DC side of the house.  On the AC side, I will be using the SquareD QO panel with 20 spaces, which should be plenty.

Now if it would just stop raining on a weekend, so I can get some work done.....

Steve Toomey
PAbusnut