Electronic – Can multiple window blind motors run on the same low voltage wire

12v

I have a wall of 8 windows using battery operated motors (8 AA batteries in a long tube). I am looking to run these off a DC power supply instead.

I can't get the exact specs on the motors, but a Reddit user who successfully converted his were 12v with less than 1amp peak draw.

Can I wire these in parallel using three 18/2 runs? The longest run is 47 feet to the power supply (running them through the attic and back down into a furnace closet). Here's a picture from before the wall was finished and the path of the three runs I would take if running multiple motors (wired in parallel):

enter image description here

I am looking at connecting each of these lines to this 12V 20amp power supply:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078RTV41D/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_VbDRDbEWJGRA7

And this wire:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J4E0KO8/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_6gDRDbEWEBMCN

Or would I need to run 8 separate wires and connect them to an 8 channel power supply like this one?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069MIBLS/

Best Answer

If you wire it as you have shown, with three individual runs going up to your AC->DC converter, yes, probably.

18 gauge wire has a resistance of about 0.0062 ohms/foot (see this table and convert from ohms/meter). So your 47 foot run will see about 0.6 ohms round trip; that works out to a voltage drop of about 1.2V, which is only 10% of your starting voltage.

Be sure to fuse everything properly and generally make the thing to code so that your insurance company won't have an excuse to deny your claim if a grease fire breaks out on the opposite end of the house. What's "correct" would be a question for the diy stackexchange, and of course varies according to your local laws.

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