Wire Gauge Recommendation to Power 20 LED Trailer Clearance Lights

Question:

I am redoing all of the electric wiring on a 30 foot horse trailer. I will be replacing 20 LED running/marker lights. My questions are what gauge wire should I use and should the ground be ran back to the ground in my junction box or should I individually ground each?

asked by: Michael M

Expert Reply:

LED lights don't typically draw very much amperage, but since you will be installing 20 of them on one circuit the best option is to use a heavier gauge wire like 10 gauge part # 10-1-1 (sold by the foot). With 10 gauge wire you could run all of the wires in series so that you wouldn't have to run a ground wire for each light back to the junction box. So basically you'd take the running light circuit power wire and run it to the first light's power wire, and then use the ground wire of that light to route to the power wire of the next light.

I also attached a diagram that shows a similar way to run the trailer wiring.

expert reply by: Jameson C