<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Electrons flow around the individual strands of wire, not thru them, so the more strands of wire there are the better it will pass current. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Where the heck did you learn that? That is only true in radio frequencies and higher.
For DC, and low frequency AC, the cross section of the wire carries the current, not the surface.
That is why you will see buss bar used in high current applications, such as HUGE battery charging stations.
(Thinking back on the charging stations used in the coal mines, when I was a kid back in that area of the country, that charged up the coal miners battery packs.)
There is a grain of truth in what you just spouted off "as fact" but it is a fallacy for circuits handling current UNDER radio frequency.
As the frequency of the current increases into the megahertz the rise and fall of the resulting fields tends to force the current carrying electrons toward the surface of the conductor, referred to as "skin effect". But not with DC current.
This skin effect is the sort of thing that the makers of those "super cables" for high quality, expensive audio/speaker setups like to stress. But the truth of the matter is that, at audio frequencies, the skin effect is negligible. At radio frequencies, and we are talking megahertz here, because of the skin effect, wave guide (hollow tube) is used in many circuits.
Exotic audio outfitters also like to push that super "oxygen free wire" with the theory that with no oxygen to cause impurities in the copper, it is lower resistance. However not only is it negligible in audio circuits, and in time there will be oxygen introduced to the wire, anyway. So, forget about that, unless you can keep the wire immersed in a non-oxygen environment (unlikely, since all plastics used in wire insulator construction will, in time, permeate oxygen). The best thing that these fancy cables do is drain your wallet of excess money.
Another point about a bundle of stranded wire, used at high radio frequencies, is that the skin effect still acts upon the bundle as if it were solid.
The only thing that stranded wire has over solid wire, of the same cross-sectional diameter, is that stranded wire is easier to bend and thus handle in tight spaces. Also in any flexing environment you just can't use solid wire, since it will stress at the flex points, increasing resistance, increasing heat, inviting failure and/or fire.
Back to the question about what JohnnyRPM can safely use for his four 55 watt lamps. That is (4x55) 220 watts, which at 12 volts (being conservative) is 18 amps. Consumer's Union (CU) recommendations for enclosed wiring (bundled, not in the free air) is that 12 guage wire can be used safely (12ga @23amps, 14ga @17amps, or 10ga @33amps).
So, Johnny use <UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>two runs of 14ga for flexiblity, or <LI>one run of 12ga for cheapness, or <LI>two runs of 12ga for safety and the expandability factor, OR <LI>one run of 10ga for ease of installation.[/list]See the "ampacity" charts at
http://xtronics.com/reference/wire_gauge-ampacity.htm
For some very specific wire and frequency details go to
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/w...esistance.html