Better control panel wiring - Solid or Stranded?

[2PacMan]

I went to Radio Shack to buy wiring for my control panel that i'm hooking up to an IPAC.  I saw solid wire and stranded wire.  Which is better, or does it matter??

[Setabs]

I believe Stranded wire is better.  Get 20 or 22 guage wire.  Get .187 female connectors to use on the microswitches.  and solder the female connectors after crimping them to help them from coming loose from the wire. 

The reason solid wire isn't as good is because It can't be bent at sharp angle's and if bent back and forth it may break.  I think, any other reasons ppl feel free to add.

[Tiger-Heli]

Stranded is easier to crimp to.  Solid is a little easier to strip and probably better for soldering.  Again, overall, I would say Stranded is preferred.

[RayB]

I say it depends on the guage. When you get to the really small guages, stranded is annoying because the few strands in there tend to break when you strip it...

[Wade]

Stranded is better for a CP.

[Samstag]

It's not just that stranded is better for crimping.

[2PacMan]

OK, thanks guys...i'm glad i did end up getting the stranded.  The guy at Radio Shack was telling me that for conductivity and stuff i'd be better off with solid, but i remembered my Ms Pac has stranded wire in it, so i went with that.  Plus, it is easier to bend stranded wire to fit in my IPAC.

I ended up getting stranded, 22-gauge for the wiring and 18 gauge for the grounding wire.  Hopefully that will work!  Thanks again guys.

[Veinman]

Doesn't the spystyle tutorial show solid wire?

http://spystyle.arcadecontrols.com/index8.htm

[Tiger-Heli]

Doesn't the spystyle tutorial show solid wire?

http://spystyle.arcadecontrols.com/index8.htm

Yes it does, but I still think stranded is a better choice.

[Stingray]

Stranded wire all the way.

-S

[Lilwolf]

I did solid to start off with (some cat5 cables).

but I had to rewire completely because the connections broke all the time.  Any time you touched anything they would break. 

Basically they are harder to bend... So when you move something, the stress goes to the end.

Stranded

[Shape D.]

solid also has a tendency to break when you move it around.  and stranded is eisier to work with.  especially if your only using crimp connectors. and you can crimp something on to a solid core wire It just takes one hell of an effort to do so.