Wiring

Low Voltage Wiring

We use a lot of low voltage wiring in our home for connecting up things like lighting, sensors, etc.

Wire Gauge

I'm mostly using three types of wiring in my smart home for low voltages:

1.0mm² 32/0.2 multiple strand 'thinwall' cable rated at 16.5A. This is most used for power distribution and lighting, to avoid large voltage drops.
0.5mm² 16/0.2 multiple strand 'thinwall' cable rated at 11A. This is used for lower current distribution and low current lighting, such as our safety lighting and emnergency lighting.
0.22mm² 7/0.2 multiple strand 'equioment wire' rated at 1.4A. This is used for carrying 12V and 5V signals and power to electronics devices.

I do use heavier gauge wiring from larger projects and higher current applications, especially when voltage drops may be an issue.

Colour Coding

Black

A common earth that runs back to the negative terminal on our battery bank. As this is a common earth it is a thick, high current cable (56/0.30mm, 4mm², 39amp). It needs to be thick to minimise any voltage drop.

Red

Regulated 12V dc output from the 12V UPS.

Red/White

Regulated 24V dc.

Orange

5V dc

Green

Alarm armed.

Green/Orange

Internal alarm.

Green/Red

External alarm.

Green/Blue

Alarm strobe.

Pink

Safety lighting.

Purple

Emergency lighting.

Fuses

Terminations

One thing that building my taught me waas to crimp and solder all connections. I generally use 6.3mm spade terminals and also use insulating covers.

Where I have to join many wires together, I tend to use these 8-way terminal blocks which are desinged to work with crimped and soldered fork connections. The plastic cover is to prevent accidental shorts.