Help with wiring in led lights

I want add some led strips to the car, what wire or cable do you guys use? I cant see to find anything near the gauge that my led's have come with but the wire is not long enough on them

I use a twin core copper speaker cable for mine. Not sure what a proper automotive electrician would have to say about that though.

Hi CC the load on led's is very low,as Dave says speaker wire is good enough,a lot of people use telephone wire if that is any help.

Good tip Alfie, never thought of telephone wire.

Thank you gents that makes sense

for the LED strips I put on my panniers, I cannibalised an old phone charger... the wire on that was twin core & nice & lightweight. There was a rating marked on the cable, so I rang the LED supplier & he confirmed it was plenty beefy enough

But if you're doing the daylight running light type things, I'm guessing they'll need something beefier. Maplins sell all kinds of cable???

Maplins don't sell anything for LEDs, it was them in there tech department that originally advised me to use speaker cable.

A good tip for people reading this,if you are soldering wires together,always lay them side by side to solder them, and do not twist them together,this twisting method makes them joints weaker.

Serious tip here, to follow on Alfies: If you want a good joint when you solder wires, get someone to hold the wires for you, especially if you're trying to splice wires while the lights/what-not are mounted. Taking a few minutes to find a willing participant can make all the difference!

Here is another one, heat the wire.

Dave this can be done by tinning,ie:heat a bit of solder on each wire before joining,these little tips are great for people learning and we should all keep them coming in to help each other.

Here is another one, don't short cut, use flux.

Mr Intruder wrote:

Here is another one, heat the wire.

alfie92 wrote:

Dave this can be done by tinning,ie:heat a bit of solder on each wire before joining

You should still initially heat the wire even when tinning so as avoid having a cold solder joint.

Good point Dave,I stand corrected.

for anybody new to soldering a joint should look bright when finnished if it looks dull it's a dry joint which is weak & needs redoing

That's a great tip.

Excellant tip there Martin,this is what we need,tips and advice.

The great tips that have come out of this thread have been amazing