type of wire to use?

[GroovyTuesdaY]

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for what kind  of wire i can use that isn't  real stiff?   The reason i ask is , i am getting ready to build me a new 2 player panel and am wanting some wire that is easy to work with.    When i built my last 4 player control panel i had a horrible experience with wireing.   The wire  i bought from radio shack was stiff and hard to work with once i had it  crimped.   Anytime the panel would get jarred around or moved  from place to place, it seems that the wires would come loose from the crimped connectors.  
So this time around i was hoping to find something ALOT easier to work with and not so stiff.    
Any help would be GREAT!

THANKS,
Groovy~  

[JustMichael]

Try using stranded wire instead of solid.  The stranded wire is much more flexible.

[hulkster]

i had the same problem with my first cab.  so use stranded....22 guage? for button wiring?

[Thenasty]

I use CAT 5.

[Stingray]

I had a couple of trashed harnesses. I salvaged the wire from those.

-S

[MrDT]

I use CAT 5.

If you've got some spare cat5 lying around I'd definately recommend using it That's what'll be going in my cab as soon as exams are over and the constructing begins

cat5 = strong, flexible and chunkeh

If you haven't got any network cable spare though, i'd certainly go for stranded as opposed to solid core...

[tmasman]

I bought a giant spool of 24GA stranded wire that'll last me through every project I ever plan on doing...  Need some?  $5/100ft + shipping...    

~ tmasman

[hulkster]

well i have some cat5e laying around.  do you just strip all the outer stuff, and just take the wires from inside and wire those just like you would 22ga wire?  can somebody show me a pic or something of how they did this with cat5?

[MrDT]

Keep most of the outside sleeving intact, this will make your cabling much tidier. Strip off the thick outer layer about 10cms from the end, so that the seperate insulated wires can reach all the different controls required. Strip about half a centimeter of insulation off the end of the single wires and solder onto the required contacts.

Nice and tidy as iirc there are 8 wires kept nice and tidy within some cushy insulation, so maybe 2 cords per player as opposed to a crows nest off crap Nice if you're thinking of removable control panels etc

Hope i helped

[hulkster]

whoa whoa....crazy soldering....not gonna do it.  im talking about wiring buttons and joysticks to an ipac!  no crazy soldering.

[JustMichael]

With cat5 cable you will probably need fold the wire over onto itself so that you have 3 or 4 strands to crimp inside of a female quick disconnect.

[Wade]

Using solid wire or CAT5 wire is a real bad idea for panels.  Crimp connectors are only meant to be used with stranded wire.  With solid wire it will have a real tendency to come loose.  There are plenty of people on this forum who had this very problem and learned the hard way.  Spend the $5 on a spool of stranded wire, it's worth it.

If you solder all the connections it won't be nearly as unreliable, but most people don't solder them.

Wade

[hulkster]

okay, so i can just go to radio shack or even home depot and find this "stranded wire" on the shelf?  im wanting to just use quick disconnects and crimp the wire to that and then apply to the controls and stuff just like ive done before.  but i dont want the wires to be so stiff.  how expensive is this stranded stuff?

[DarkKobold]

Yeah, radio shack has spools of 22ga stranded wire, 3 colors, 25ft each, for 4.99. Worth the price.

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Isn't this basically what i asked when i started this thread? lol ....*sighs*..... oh well.    
g~

okay, so i can just go to radio shack or even home depot and find this "stranded wire" on the shelf?  im wanting to just use quick disconnects and crimp the wire to that and then apply to the controls and stuff just like ive done before.  but i dont want the wires to be so stiff.  how expensive is this stranded stuff?

[Violineb]

I bought a giant spool of 24GA stranded wire that'll last me through every project I ever plan on doing...  Need some?  $5/100ft + shipping...    

~ tmasman

Or you can just get that stuff for an excellent price. I got 200ft 22awg from mcmaster carr and I'm very pleased with it, have yet to actually use it though. It'll have to wait til I get back from Florida Jan. 28.