Wire recommendation

[rousejeremy]

I need to stock up on wire and am wondering where I should look.

Generally, I use 22 or 24 gauge stranded tinned wire. I bought wire from Tayda a few years ago but found their stranded wire flimsy and susceptible to breaking as well as the insulator melting away at the sight of a soldering iron.

Who has a good pre tinned wire with a good insulator on it?

[anotherjim]

It may depend on where you are. The best source may not be a big international distributor.
I get bunches of precut 7/02 with various coloured insulation from a uk supplier that seems ok so far. I have bought reels in the past, but I got some rubbish that way.
I agree there is a lot of unsuitable stuff out there. Most industrial/production termination is some kind of crimp these days, so a lot of wire will never be soldered. Even so, it seems to me that the copper & tinning is dirty/brittle in many cases.

That said, you should check that you are not damaging the wire in any way when stripping the ends (*) and not using too high soldering temperature. Plastic is funny stuff and it could be fine just 20c lower. Also, I never met pre-tinned wire that doesn't need tinning again just before joining - the benefit is the joint solders quicker giving less time for the heat to get at the insulation. When I think there's a good chance of the insulation melting, I use fine point stainless steel clamping tweezers nipped on the wire close as possible to the insulation to heatsink the job.

* Most of my fails have surely been due to stripping damage. I believe the only safe way is a hot stripper, but I'm too cheap to invest in that.

[italianguy63]

I have a local electronics surplus place here (Orlando, FL) that sells bulk surplus wire -- of all varieties.

I go in and buy 100' feet at a time 24 ga. 9 to 12 conductor shielded wire.  Last time I bought it was $0.35 a foot.

Then, I strip off the outer insulator and shielding... and use the inner wire.  Do the math.  Dirt cheap for quality wire. 

Something you may try.
MC

[thermionix]

Not the cheapest option, but I really like the #24 "pre-bond" that Small Bear carries.  Not exactly tinned, but I use it as if it were.  Insulator doesn't melt as easily as the Tayda stuff.  Shipping to Canada might be kinda high, I don't know, but it is definitely good stuff.

[Mark Hammer]

I also quite like the #24 stranded "pre-bonded" wire from Small Bear.  Easy to strip.  Easy to tin.  Turns corners and fits in tight spaces easily.

[thermionix]

I don't even tin it.  I don't really know what "pre-bond" refers to, but the strands hold together well enough to poke through a PCB hole.  Always takes solder well.  So I save a step compared to Tayda or other stranded wire.

[imJonWain]

I know 24g is much easier to work with but I tend to use 26-28g wire.  It's smaller, easier to run and is fine for the signal levels we are doing. You can also chop it out of surplus wire bundles for very cheap . 

For new check out allied wire & cable.  You have to sort by UL code but they have discount bin wire under most categories for super cheap you just can't pick the length or color of it.

[garyg]

Not the answer you're looking for but I've salvaged the wiring looms from a few dead PC PSUs. Nice mix of colours and gauges and I've found the wires normally pretty decent quality, certainly worth keeping around for my amateur useage.

[GibsonGM]

Telephone wire (solid) works for a lot of people.  4 conductors, so a lot of bang for the buck.  Not ideal for breadboarding tho as the gauge is a bit smaller than 'hookup wire'.

[R.G.]

Just a few things to consider...
- as A.J. noted, stripping damage is a big deal, and the only ways to do this that do not introduce nicking and breakage are ones which do not use a sharp edge. Those would be thermal strippers (the best I know is the PTS-10) and solvent stripping. The Patco PTS-10 is a wonder, and if you strip many wires, you'll thank yourself every time you use this little bit of personal luxury.
- Solid core wire is even more prone to breakage and stripping damage. IMHO, unless you simply can't get stranded, or have informed, knowledgeable reasons to use solid, use stranded.
- Wire gauge is almost immaterial for DIY pedals. Use what feels good to you and suits your ideas about stiffness vs flexibility and size. Anything down to 30 or so will carry plenty much current for pedals.

That said, I don't do enough wiring anymore to go buy wire. I'm always cannibalizing other things for just a bit of hookup wire. That's a long standing (and cheap!) tradition.

[GibsonGM]

I hate stranded for PC board use, tho of course it'll weaken if used on pots or other parts that can move.  Too lazy to tin the stuff!!  

[davent]

It's been years since i had to buy but Apex Jr. had a great supply of stranded PTFE in your gauges and no issues shipping to Canada, there was a minimum order.

http://www.apexjr.com/wire.html
dave

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Since I have been doing this crazy hobby, I have been pretty spoiled when it comes to wire. I work in a job where I had to build cable harness assemblies. One of these was a Data Transmission system that required a special cable that consisted of 64 pairs of individually color coded 24-gauge stranded wire. All I had to do was strip off the outer rubber jacket and remove the armor shielding and I had 128 individually color coded wires to use.

We don't build with that cable anymore but, last I saw, we still had about 100+ feet of it left 

[PRR]

> The Patco PTS-10 is a wonder, and if you strip many wires, you'll thank yourself every time you use this little bit of personal luxury.

+1

> I'm always cannibalizing other things for just a bit of hookup wire.

Ditto.

Microwave oven failed this morning. I am disappointed how little salvageable wire is in these things now. 

[garyg]

Microwave oven failed this morning. I am disappointed how little salvageable wire is in these things now.

At least you now have a magnetron to play with! 

[thermionix]

I used thermal strippers at my last job, they worked fine but too much trouble for my personal needs.  Warmup time, melted plastic, fumes...I'm quicker with my simple blue-handled whatsit that I've had for decades.  I occasionally damage strands, but I just snip that off and use the next bigger hole.  giggity

[amptramp]

If you are using old wire (and that includes NOS wire that has been around for a while), stranded wire has the disadvantage that humidity will wick up the wire because there is empty space between the strands, so it will corrode quickly.  Solid wire does not have this problem.  I like wire-wrap wire because there is very little capacitance to other wires and it can carry TTL logic currents which are usually more than you need for a stompbox.  Telephone wire is usually 22 or 24 gauge and is suitable for 80 mA.

[EBK]

I remember seeing a video clip of someone using some very small gauge wire, like wirewrap stuff, simply forgoing the step of stripping and allowing the soldering iron to melt whatever was in its way.  The result actually looked very neat and the circuit was functional.  I'll have to find it again.

[R.G.]

I used thermal strippers at my last job, they worked fine but too much trouble for my personal needs.  Warmup time, melted plastic, fumes...I'm quicker with my simple blue-handled whatsit that I've had for decades. 

There are better and worse thermal strippers. the Patco PTS-10 has a warm up time of seconds maybe ten seconds from fully cold. More importantly, the "blade" is a nichrome film which gets to a temperature that cuts into insulation without causing a lot of fumes. The blade stays hot, but has so little mass that touching it accidentally doesn't cause a skin burn. The blade is about 12mm x 8mm, with a V shaped hole in it, supported on two arms. A length stop is supported between the two arms. To strip a wire end, you pick up the PTS-10 in one hand, insert the wire end in the big part of the V until you hit the length stop, then move the wire down to the small end of the V until the blade cuts through the insulation and the metal rests on the blade. Twirl the wire in your fingers and pull it out. Wire stripped, core not nicked, and all strips are tidy and the same length.  It becomes automatic; it takes a total of about two seconds per strip, and takes no effort at all.

I seriously think that your blue handled thing is slower than the PTS-10.  Here's a link:
https://patcoinc.net/products/pts-10/
Take a look at the videos. The OEm price is about $80, but you occasionally find it for less, sometimes much less. Mine cost me $40. This is purely one of those pay me now or pay me later things. If you value your time and quality of work, the PTS-10 will pay for itself very quickly indeed.

[thermionix]

Yeah that's way different than what we had, which were more of a tweezer type setup.  I didn't use them much either, wire stripping was a very occasional thing for me there.