Porch Light Out after LED Strip Light Install Fail

Resistance is futile...

A good cord for running in an exposed location is type SO cable. It's fine stranded so really flexible but has a robust jacket on it and is also oil resistant. Used mostly for wiring industrial equipment but pretty common, if you can't get it at the big box you can order it cut to length online.

The problem with your business idea as with many others is trying to get enough customers who are willing to pay more for quality work. Not so easy in our disposable society.

Glad you got it figured out. Looks kewl.


A couple of things.

First, just because it's 12V not 120V folks tend to take lots of rube goldberg shortcuts in wiring RVs. That's why there are so many problems up to and including electrical fires in RV 12V systems. Batteries can produce plenty of current to burn up wiring, same as shore power.

The national electric code requirements are pretty much the same for 12V and 120V, and your rpods factory wiring should already meet those specs.

The strip light installation doesn't. Lamp cord isn't listed for outdoor use, it's insulation isn't robust enough, and any time a cable is run through a hole that can chafe the insulation you should use a cable gland or bushing to protect it, same as you would if it was 120Vac. The stuff needed should be readily available at your local big box.

On the fuse question. The fuses in your panel are meant to protect the wires running through the trailer, not the end load devices. If those need a smaller fuse that should be provided at the device. Again it's just like in your 120V household circuit, you might have a 15A breaker in your home panel and an appliance might have a dedicated 10A fuse.

So if the light circuit panel fuse is 15A it means those wires are good for at least 15A. If the strip light requires 10A then it needs it's own 10A fuse. Should say so in the installation instructions if it does.

Adding that fuse in a big wad of electrical tape in a hidden location is just dumb, I'd suggest getting an nice sealed inline fuse holder and relocating it just upstream from the lights where it's easy to find next time.

Moral of the story, like everything in life, there is a right and a wrong way to do things, and it's not much if any more difficult to do it right the first time.