Earlier quoted context omitted.
Watts = Amps * Volts (or, more scientifically, P = I * V) If something draws 48 Watts of power, you can either supply it with 4 Amps @ 12 Volt, or 1 Amp @ 48 Volt. It's the amps that determine how thick the wiring needs to be, so by lowering the amperage, you lower the amount of wiring needed. I believe the only reason cars are 12 V is because that's a practical voltage to build lead-acid batteries at (which is actua…
This makes such little sense to me. I'm probably just stupid, but if the same amount of power is flowing through the wire, don't you need the same size of wire? A higher voltage system will push more energy through the same component, so you need thicker wires. If you up the resistance of the component to consume the same amount of energy as before, you arrive at the same size of wire you were using before, don't you…
If the pressure coming from the hose is high, then you don't actually need a lot of water, and so you can use a narrow hose. On the other hand, if the pressure is low, you'll need to use a lot more water at once, so a wider hose.
It's the same thing for electrical components. If you'll excuse the mixed analogy, if you need to push an object with 480 watts of water to get it to move the speed you want it to, you can either do it with 48 volts of pressure with a hose 10 amps wide, or do it with 12 volts of pressure 40 amps wide.