Did I buy the wrong wire for my control panel?

[Xynie]

Heya...  I bought some 18g wire from Radio Shack from my control panel, but I didn't notice it is "solid" wire.  It is a little stiff, but usable.  Can I use this wire for my control panel or should I go find something else?  What kind do I actually need if it's the wrong one?

The wire I got is...

15 Ft Rolls
Rated 300 Volts
18 Gauge
Solid
80 Celcius
1/64 PVC

So...  did I buy the wrong stuff?

Thanks
Anthony

[TalkingOctopus]

It should be just fine.

[paigeoliver]

Solid wire IS more likely to break, and 20 gauge stranded is actually the standar wire to use for controls.

BUT, it should be fine as long as you are not doing swappable panels, or anything else that would involve the wire getting moved around a lot.

[MUKid]

There are two problems with solid wire.  First, it's really stiff and hard to work with, especially compared with stranded wire.  More importantly, it's too thick to fit into the quick-disconnects if you are daisy-chaining for the ground loop.  One wire will fit, but two will not.  At least, that's my experience.  I'd return it and get stranded wire.

[jerryjanis]

I built my first control panel with some really stiff wire.  It is stiff enough that if I bent it back and forth a bunch of times it breaks.  It was seriously awful.  It worked, but not very well, and over time while I would monkey with it, parts would break.  Since then I bought some softer wire, and it's heavenly.  I can bend it back and forth 'till the cows come home and it won't break on me.

[Brax]

Solid core wire also offers more resistance. I believe Andy recommends stranded wire for this reason as well. I've heard of quite a few people around here that use solid core wire with no problems, but it's possible (however unlikely) that you could run into electronic anomalies.

[Xynie]

I'm goin to buy some stranded this morning... thanks for the advice guys