Power wires too long?

[Schludwiller]

I'm hooking up my roof lights today. I'm thinking the best route for everything right now is along the rack and down the rear hatch.

My question though is should I have any concerns about how long the power wire is? It's going from my roof basket to the rear hatch, and back up to the battery. Am I using more power than normal, or not getting enough? I'm not an electrical guru by any means and am wondering what problems I might have if any.

[gothamist]

I'd say at the minimum use good 12 guage cable, and get solid core if you can find some that's flexible enough. Then I don't think you'd have a problem. If you can't find it at the store maybe look into buying the "amplifier hookup wire" they sell at car audio shops.

If you do end up running into problems you can always route the wiring like I did.

[Schludwiller]

Do you have a picture of where you went down the door column? We were wondering what to do about the rubber seal.

I'm using 12ga wire, but it's not solid core. It's working so far, (tested it running along the side of the truck).

[gothamist]

Sorry, I don't have anymore pics of it.

I pulled the rubber seal up and shoved the wires underneath it for the 6" it took to make it to the top of the windsheild pillar--I pulled that weatherstripping out almost completely, ran the wires and then reinstalled the weatherstripping back over it. I think it's about as clean of an install as it gets w/out drilling (or routing to the back hatch, but even then you still have to run down the hatch seam.)

[Snoopy]

I just routed them down the inside of the rubber seal (back door) and then to the side plastic piece where the seatbelt anchors. The ground wire for the roof lights is grounded at one of the anchors for the passenger seat to the metal body.
Picture here:


The rest of the install is located here.

BTW: I've used 12 Guage Stranded wire for my entire install of five lights (370 Watts) with no ill effects (four months now). I have wire runs from the relays located under the hood to the center console (switches) and then to the roof.