Im planning on wiring up a 12v plug to run a spotlight off of and im not sure what size of wire i should run. the length of wire will be about 10' and the spotlight is 1 million candle power but doesnt say anything else as far as amps or volts. Thanks in advance

Here is a link to a good reference: http://www.cncphotoalbum.com/doityourse ... wiring.htm

Since you don't know the particulars of the light, or of other things you may use the plug for in the future, I would think that #12 wire would cover most anything you would plug in.

Be sure to install an appropriately sized fuse on the new circuit.

Put it on a regular house plug you and use #12 dont have to worry about the plastic plug melting.
Just change the plug on your spotlight to a 2 prong.

think 15amp fuse would be too little? thanks for the link

i did troling motor plugs for my spotlight and extras and did my wire from battery to femail plug in 10ga to to be safe. Just an idea for you

x2. The trolling motor plugs will handle a lot more current. Not that much more money either, and 10ga wire would not be a bad idea. It would just give you the freedom to use the plug for bigger devices at some point later down the road.

x3...

Like when you realize you need to get rid of that spotlight and go with a hard hat light... you will want a little more juice then....

after looking at the chart im gonna run 10ga. good idea on the trolling motor plug never thought of that.

For about $10 more you can run 6ga, and it will handle anything you plug in it. I ruined a $500 trolling motor by using 10ga wire. 10 ga will work for a light , but the wire will get very hot on a long run.

Tcounty
what do you consider a long run??

30min ,running a spotlight on 10 gage wire.

that would be along run for me. we dont have the big wetlands/swamps you guys got down there

I have never had 10ga wire get hot running a spot light no way that one light gona heat up that wire dosn't draw enough juice. Look at the size wire that the lights come with its like 16 or 18ga. for most hand held spot lights just my .02

Most hand helds come with 16-18 gauge wire. If you are running a wire just for that one size larger than what you have is fine, but a larger wire say 10 / 8 gauge will allow you to run other things .... I don't have any examples. Mine is a 14 gauge wire.

Maybe true, but thats not where it matters. Once you start adding distance from your power source, you start looseing amps. A 2million cp will draw alot of amps. You can hook straight to your battery then it's fine, but run it off of a 10' 10ga extension and you won't draw the same amps. A 50# trolling motor may only draw 10 amps at 50% and the factory cord may only be 10ga, but that is ment to be hooked straight to the power sorce. Now if you batery is in the back of the boat and you run 20' of 10ga wire , you will not carry enough amps run run the motor at peak performance. Yea you troll to this top and fish, then to this one and fish, thats fine. On the other hand if you run it 3 hours straight ( trolling cranks for crappie) it will burn it up. I've done it. On a spot light the bulb won't burn out for lack of power, but the wire will get hot because it cant handle the draw the light is trying to get. Run it five min here and there no problem, run it constant and it's a different story. I just think for and extra 2$ a foot at most why not over do it and have plenty for anything you'll ever need.

would there be anything wrong with running wire thats used for your house instead

here is what i found. hope it helps out

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm