<p>I guess that the external split is at least partly done to force the user to utilize 4 wires. 16 Amps at 12 Volts is quite a bit of power and you don't want your wires or connectors to melt. If you use twice the wire cross section by using 4 instead of 2 wires, you also reduce the resistivity and hence heat created in the wire.</p>

<p>Put it the other way around: Using 2 instead of 4 wires raises the risk of your setup to catch fire.</p>

<p>Still, you can use that bridging technique, if you make sure that all your wire diameters are big enough.</p>

<p>I would advise you, however, to cut the wires that come with your kit in half and use the connectors in the way they were meant to. For optical appeal and less cable clutter you can still put the wires into some braided sleeve for example.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T18:37:18.000Z
Good point about the resistivity making it a fire hazard, I hadn't thought about that. I'll probably just go to a hardware store and get some extra wiring!
user273872
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T09:43:46.863Z
2016-03-16T09:43:46.863Z
kamuro
<p>The idea is so you only need two long wires going from the power supply to the electronics boards. I'm sure I saw this done in a tutorial somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find the source. Also I just bought a kit and the build manual says to use four wires, but only two wires come with the kit, so I recalled that bit of advice in the tutorial and thought hmm either they shorted me those wires, or they just expect me to make do with two. Perhaps the jumping method is common practice? But then why have a plug on the ramps board with four inputs? Why not just two inputs and split it internally if need be?</p>

<ramps-1.4>
When building the ramps 1.4 is it safe to use small wires to jump the 5A, 12V power input over to the 11 Amp input
user273872
# When building the ramps 1.4 is it safe to use small wires to jump the 5A, 12V power input over to the 11 Amp input

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-15)

The idea is so you only need two long wires going from the power supply to the electronics boards. I'm sure I saw this done in a tutorial somewhere, but I can't for the life of me find the source. Also I just bought a kit and the build manual says to use four wires, but only two wires come with the kit, so I recalled that bit of advice in the tutorial and thought hmm either they shorted me those wires, or they just expect me to make do with two. Perhaps the jumping method is common practice? But then why have a plug on the ramps board with four inputs? Why not just two inputs and split it internally if need be?

**Tags:** ramps-1.4


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-03-16. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

I guess that the external split is at least partly done to force the user to utilize 4 wires. 16 Amps at 12 Volts is quite a bit of power and you don't want your wires or connectors to melt. If you use twice the wire cross section by using 4 instead of 2 wires, you also reduce the resistivity and hence heat created in the wire.

Put it the other way around: Using 2 instead of 4 wires raises the risk of your setup to catch fire.

Still, you can use that bridging technique, if you make sure that all your wire diameters are big enough.

I would advise you, however, to cut the wires that come with your kit in half and use the connectors in the way they were meant to. For optical appeal and less cable clutter you can still put the wires into some braided sleeve for example.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Good point about the resistivity making it a fire hazard, I hadn't thought about that. I'll probably just go to a hardware store and get some extra wiring!  

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