As I was reading discussions from others regarding the use of various size wires it occurred to me that voltage drop probably would not affect a TMCC engine all that much. Within reason of course. I doubt the engine really uses the full 18 V. For some reason I thought it regulated it to a steady 12vdc and then distributed accordingly. At least for DC cans anyways. No idea about the AC motors.
Aside from that, even though NEC allows for certain exceptions to use parallel wires to reduce voltage drop and not increase current carrying capacity, very the equivalent wire size is always less than the source. Most residential wiring that is your parallel 120vac feeds coming to your house panel.
I have yet to see a tap on a transformer or a wire coming off a 180 watt brick that have a measured greater than 14 gage wire. I know some people swear by running much larger wires but at some point doesn't the wire become a load in itself?
FMH
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