Introduction to Hard Wiring for Motorization

BY O’D MCKEWAN

Learning some basic terms and ideas will make hardwired motorization projects go much smoother

In my many years of teaching, I have found that most window covering specialists’ greatest fear regarding motorization is talking with electricians and contractors about the wiring needed for their projects. In this short article, I will explain the basics of wiring specifications for hardwired motorization systems so you will be able to have an intelligent conversation with electrical contractors.

First, just like any industry, there’s specific terminology that is used. For electricians as it relates to wiring for motorized window coverings, the most important specifications are voltage, amperage, wire size and number of wires needed.

Let’s start with voltage. In our industry, we only work with two types of voltage: line voltage and low voltage. Line voltage is what runs through the house or building and is available through the wall outlets. In the United States, all of our line-voltage motors run on 120 volts. Low voltage is just line voltage that has been reduced to a safe level by a transforming power supply (generally known as a plug-in transformer).

For motorized window coverings, the low voltage ranges between 5 to 32 volts DC depending on the manufacturer and motor size. It is important to note the specification of the DC. DC stands for direct current and is different than the AC (alternating current) of line voltage. All low-voltage motors for window coverings use DC. You must tell your contractor when using low-voltage motors that they are DC so they do not wire them for AC low voltage.

Since there are several different low-voltage motors on the market, you will need to find out what’s the voltage of the motors you are selling. You may end up selling several different voltage motors on the same job. Just be sure to let your contractor know which ones are going where.

The next thing your electrician will need to know is how many amps each motor uses. Amps are a measurement of how much electricity flows through a device. Currently, all interior motors are 3 amps or less and most are less than 2 amps. It is important for electricians to know this because they need to know how many motors they can power through one fuse in the fuse panel. They also need to take into consideration what other electrical items will be plugged into that same fuse (TVs, stereos, security systems, space heaters, etc.). To speak with a contractor with more confidence, find out how many amps the motors you are using need.

The most confusing option when it comes to hard wiring is the wire size and number of wires needed. Wire size is measured with a term called gauge. The tricky thing to remember is the larger the wire, the smaller the gauge number. For example, 12-gauge wire is more than three times thicker than 22-gauge wire.

Line-voltage motors use either 12- or 14-gauge wires. Lowvoltage motors can use 16- to 22-gauge wires. The size of the wire is determined by the voltage and amperage of the motor and the distance the wire is run from the power source to the motor. For lowvoltage motors, the longer the distance, the thicker the wire needs to be. There are a lot of online wire-size calculators that you can use to determine what size wire will work best for your project.

If you give your electrician the proper voltage and amperage of the motors being used, they should be able to determine what size wire needs to be used. The laws for wire sizes are different in many states and even different in many parts of the same state. So, it is important to make sure that the contractor is responsible for the final selection of wire size used.

One good tip for low-voltage wire is to ask your contractor to use stranded wire instead of solid-core wire. Stranded wire (sometimes called braided wire) is much easier to work with and much more flexible. Your installer will be much happier and we all know how important that is.

Next is the number of wires to be used for each motor— sometimes called wire pairing. This is a little more difficult to generalize in this article since there are so many different types of motors on the market, but I will try to summarize the options.

The more you become familiar with these terms, the more confident you will become at working with electricians, and the easier it will be to sell motorized window treatments.

In our next edition, we will discuss the language of motorization and learn what talks to what. V

O’D McKewan, the product coach for Window Covering World, is a master of motorization and a leader in the motorized window covering field. He has over a decade of hands-on experience with motorized window coverings, including fabrication, installation and selling. Interested in learning more about motorization? Sign up for the Window Fashion Certified Professional FastTrack course on motorization at wf-vision.com.