Driver to boards/strips DC run, how long?

XtraGood

Well-Known Member
How long can I make the DC run from the driver to the LED boards' wago before I loose significant efficiency/run into problems? I'm thinking about remote mounting LRS mean well drivers for the next light.

20-40ft would work for me?

At the maxed out end end my physics math says I can push 200+amps at ~60v through 100ft of 14awg, .25ohm

or

~100amps at 60v through 100 ft of 18awg, .64ohm

I'm probably failing to figure in restive heating and heat increasing resistance or screwing the math up generally, but I'd still guess I could get away with 10-15amps DC with ~60v driver on a 100ft 18awg run, driver to light, without noticing a difference? That wrong?
 
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hm, i would go with muuch thicker wire.
only works up to 10ft , but well... see the voltage drop on 10ft with 100 or 200A, AWG14/18 and make your opinion.
200A AWG14 10ft
Voltage Drop
voltage drop: 12.565 volts
voltage drop percent: 20.941%
voltage at the end of the circuit: 47.435 volts

100A 60V AWG 18 10ft

Voltage Drop
voltage drop: 15.884 volts
voltage drop percent: 26.473%
voltage at the end of the circuit: 44.116 volts
 
should have read twice.

15A 60V DC 100ft AWG18

Voltage Drop
voltage drop: 23.826 volts
voltage drop percent: 39.709%
voltage at the end of the circuit: 36.174 volts
 
Thanks for the calculator, that helps.

So even at 15-20ft 40-60V drivers 14awg I'm seeing a fair bit of voltage drop, I don't really like losing that much efficiency. What do people consider too much; anybody remotely mounting drivers?

That's more serious than I thought, I feel like I might as well stick a fancier driver in the water danger zone: worth the money in wire and electric savings.
 
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everything below 0.1% loss is fine for me.

i have my drivers remote also, but i just need 10ft.
also i went with higher voltage to keep the A low.
i use some AWG14 equivalent on 10ft with 153V at 2.1A max (i probably never will use the full 2.1A) which should be below 0.1% loss..... i consider some AWG12 lol, just for giggles.
 
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