22 or 24 gauge wire?

[soupbone]

There's been a little debate over what size of wire to use for wiring up circuits...22 or 24 gauge wire.Which one is better?I would think 24 would be better because of thicker insulation.I have been known to be wrong many times though.

[DavenPaget]

There's been a little debate over what size of wire to use for wiring up circuits...22 or 24 gauge wire.Which one is better?I would think 24 would be better because of thicker insulation.I have been known to be wrong many times though.

I've used 22 and 24 all the time and they have the same amount of insulation , if they are rated for 300v that is .
22 is nice if you can get some 

[alparent]

Which ever one you can get for free is the one I would use.

[John Lyons]

The insulation should be the same thickness on either given the same maufacture.
The wire gauge is the only thing that would be different.
I usually go with #22 but I use 7 strand wire instead of 19 (or whatever standard wire is) so it's a bit stiffer
and easier to route into smaller holes, board and DC jack etc.

[R.G.]

Insulation thickness is measure in volts, not inches. To a first approximation, no wire has thin enough insulation to matter for effects use. And since the currents are so small in effects, there is no reason to pick 22 over 24 on current carrying capacity. Use what you got, buy whichever is handy or suits your sense of esthetics.

[DavenPaget]

Insulation thickness is measure in volts, not inches. To a first approximation, no wire has thin enough insulation to matter for effects use. And since the currents are so small in effects, there is no reason to pick 22 over 24 on current carrying capacity. Use what you got, buy whichever is handy or suits your sense of esthetics.

+1 on that , anyway , i bought a massive reel from RS ( RS components ) . so yeah , i pretinned stranded is actually written as pretinned solid anyway ... i bought 22AWG of that for SGD$17 per colour for 100m .

[Mark Hammer]

I love the #24 pre-bonded wire from Small Bear.  Strong enough to do the job, and it turns corners really well, which, for a guy like me who doesn't use PC-mounted pots, switches or jacks (even though I should) is a huge virtue.  Moreover, when stripped, it fits through the same holes as my resistor leads without splaying.

[soupbone]

Cool.Thanks folks!I do like the pre-tinned wire.Good stuff

[garcho]

for a guy like me who doesn't use PC-mounted pots, switches or jacks (even though I should) is a huge virtue.

Mark Hammer, you just made my day; I thought I was the only one who still does this.

[scratch]

since i  rack mount my gadgets, pretty much find it easier to use non-PC mount switches, pots jacks ... and I use an external power supply, so once the cover goes on I never have to go back in. So more often than not I use 'telephone' wire, breakage is not an issue for me ...

[DavenPaget]

I used to use those side cutters to cut wires to the point that i can cut ANY solid core wire and not nip the core .
I just found a RJ45 and RJ11 crimper in my dad's toolbox and now it's a godsend , it has a perfect wire cutter below it , but i am buying a proper wire stripper soon .
Now i can cut through AWG10 EASILY !
This crimper :

except mine doesn't have that black bar in between the grips .

[LucifersTrip]

There's been a little debate over what size of wire to use for wiring up circuits...22 or 24 gauge wire.Which one is better?I would think 24 would be better because of thicker insulation.I have been known to be wrong many times though.

just a quick note...the smaller the gauge, the larger the diameter:

[roswell]

I love the #24 pre-bonded wire from Small Bear.  Strong enough to do the job, and it turns corners really well, which, for a guy like me who doesn't use PC-mounted pots, switches or jacks (even though I should) is a huge virtue.  Moreover, when stripped, it fits through the same holes as my resistor leads without splaying.

Thanks Mark. This is what I'll buy.

[Cozybuilder]

I use 26 gauge teflon insulated solid core.

[GibsonGM]

18,22,24,26.  Same to me (unless you need the voltage rating...for low volt stompbox).    Stranded vs. solid is more debatable, IMHO....try 'em all!

[Beo]

There's been a little debate over what size of wire to use for wiring up circuits...22 or 24 gauge wire.Which one is better?I would think 24 would be better because of thicker insulation.I have been known to be wrong many times though.

I always have to pipe in on wire threads... I love teflon wire with PTS wire strippers. Usually can get the stripper for a good price on ebay (well, that sounds awkward... don't tell my wife). Great wire and the insulation never shrinks. Best buy is the wire from Apex Jr. They have the stubby small bat switches too.

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

http://www.apexjr.com/Switches.htm

http://patcoinc.net/index.html

[Rhop]

With me it's either SB's pre-tinned 24AWG or the wire from some 16-way ribbon cable I got. I think it's 26AWG.

-Ryan

[Quackzed]

i tend to mod/remod tinker and change things too much to use solid core, it breaks after being bent and re-bent during the adjusting phase... though for a set in stone type build that you're not gonna mess with too much it can make for a very neat and clean build with 90 degree wire bends and that sort of thing, i just tinker alot, and stranded wire just takes the abuse better...

[amptramp]

Solid wire forever!



This is a Hatry & Young superheterodyne radio from 1929.  No insulation required.  Front picture here:



I have a Freshman Masterpiece radio that can beat that - it not only has solid bare wire, but the wire is rectangular cross-section!  The only time I have ever seen rectangular wire used in modern times was on the Hermes spacecraft where it was used for jumpers when minor circuit changes were made that did not warrant new board artwork.  The wire was small enough to cover one flatpack pin without bridging to adjacent pins.

[davent]

That's a thing of beauty, a true breadboard build?