Wiring Multiple Heater Pads to an On/Off Switch

Updated 10/02/2018 | Published 09/30/2018

Question:

Tried hooking up 2 pads to fresh water tank and following your diagram and your recommended wiring and rocker switch all ordered from you. Wire from battery to switch fired and melted. Dont know if pads affected. White wires grounded together and pads ran piggyback to 12 volt battery. 2 red wires and 2 white wires to rocker switch. Wire ran from rocker switch to battery. What happened. Nothing on rocket switch is marked positive negative or ground. Used middle prong to battery.

asked by: Dallas

Helpful Expert Reply:

For starters, I have attached a photo of how the Universal-Design Rocker Switch part # PK34360 should be wired. However, I believe the issue you are having is in regards to the size of wire used. The correct size or (gauge) will vary depending on factors such as amp draw and length of wire.

The wires running from the heater to the splice can be anywhere from 16 gauge - 10 gauge depending on length. However, once the three heater wires are spliced together and traveling to the switch you need to upgrade to at least a 10 gauge but you can look up a basic wire gauge and amp chart online which I recommend doing.

expert reply by: Conner L