[SailRedemption]

I'm in the process of rewiring my mast and lights and was going to go with shielded wire. The problem I'm having is that there are two cables I'm looking at but don't know which is better. I'm going to be running lopolight fixtures on the mast and led spreader lights as well so my amp draw will be approximately 1 amp per fixture. I will be going with 14awg the whole way because my mast is roughly 65 feet and I'll probably need another 10 from keel step to breaker board. That puts me close to 130 ft there and back. From what I have read 16 guage is ABYC standard for nav lights. I want to go with shielded wire because my vhf cable will be next to these wires and because I feel that if I'm spending the money on the lopolights then I might as well use good wire to shield them too.

The two wires I'm having trouble with are in this page http://www.lewismarine.com/show_catalogpage.php?Book=Base&Year=2014&Page=109 the one I'd like to get is the Fig 9261 wire, but not sure if it will be OK for my application since it is for "audio, RF, and pulse". The other wire, Fig 9933, is more expensive but seems to be for electronics and sensitive instruments.

Can anyone clear this up or let me know if both wires are the same...?

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

 

[SailRedemption]

I don't think I'd bother. Really good 100% shielded tinned braid is damned expensive, bulky, and heavy. Your VHF antenna should already be using it, and then if you really want to clamp any EMI/RFI from the lopolight, you could always ask them what frequency the interference is going to be on, and add a couple of ferrites right below the light to choke that off. Or add ferrites for ~156MHz, to clamp what the VHF would be most upset about. Should be faster, cheaper, more effective.

But if the Lopo is going to be emitting interference, RFI, that's going to jump right into the VHF antenna in any case, and no braid or choke is going to help at all. I just wouldn't install an "intentional radiator" when there's no need for it.

Got it, thanks.. I was not sure, but I dont think I'll be installing ferrites and chokes haha!

14/2 Marine duplex, a good VHF cable like Times Microwave, and you're good.

Be aware that Lopolights have not been the most reliable LED's out there. They DO Stand behind the product, quite well, but the owners still have to pay me to go up the spar.. Perhaps they have improved, I can't say, but I have replaced at least 8+ Lopo's...??

Thanks for the tip, I'll just get some marine duplex then. I am aware of this, but like you said they could have improved. I'm betting on the fact that they have. LED, circuit, and component technology have improved so much since they first started in 2006(?). And most of the bad stuff about them have all been written before 2010. Like I said, I'm betting on them because I like their product and they do stand behind their product.