Making DC power cable with 3 wires


Hi,

I have a piece of power cable that I want to use to upgrade my DC cable.  That power cable has 3 wires in it, while a DC cable only need two.  What would you do with the third wire?  Would you just ignore it, or connect one terminal with two wires and one terminal with one?

 

thanks.

gte357s

I'd also look at the connection type there may be a third wire for chasse ground protection already if not just don't use the third wire as long as the individual wires are of sufficient size for the load. Just cut it back out of the way. 

@carlsbad  Cable is Gotham 86215, 16AWG.  I want to use it to between the LPS and Naim streamer, 12 V, 4.2A.  

@glennewdick Connectors are 2 hole GX16 out from LPS, DC2.5G into the Naim.  So, there is no ground.

Just wondering which way is conceptually better.  
 

thanks

 

 

@gte357s OK. I looked up your nami stremer and it’s typical power consumption is 11W which is less than 1 amp. So 16 awg is plenty big, a good choice for that connector. I would put a single conductor on the positive and use the extra conductor to double up on the ground.

I’ve made cables for several LPS using gx style connectors and I generally use 4 conductor 22 awg and put 2 on each contact.

Jerry