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Why 22 gage wire ? why not 14 or 18 gage?
GroovyTuesdaY:
I am curious if someone can tell me why i should use 22 gage wire for wireing joysticks and buttons as opposed to 14 gage or 18 gage or something else?
When autozone didnt have anything over 18 gage and i was just wondering what 22 gage has over 18 or 14 etc.
Also, i am planning on useing .187 female connectors so does that have something to do with what gage to use?
I apologise for the seemingly sillly questions, but i'm pretty new to wireing electronics and such and i just like to understand the theories why to use certain gage of wire with what etc etc.
thanks,
g~
dhansen:
18 guage would work OK with your connectors except if you are chaining your grounds then they might be too thick to put two in one connector. 14 guage is way too heavy. I think people recomend 22 guage because it is light and easy to work with...
Doug
RandyT:
In the case of using a KeyWiz, or other encoder, there is an additional consideration. There is a range of what will hold properly in screw-terminal connectors.
While 30ga. wire would probably still work fine electrically, it probably won't hold in the terminal connectors very well, and would also be prone to breakage.
The general rule is: The longer the wire and the more current flowing through it, the thicker it should be. Length adds resistance. But for low current applications like this, it's not that big of an issue.
It also has to do with what is readily available, inexpensive, and what works with the common crimp connectors, as dhansen stated.
The connectors you are looking at are common in automotive applications, but not in electronics. It's kind of like going to the plumbing store for a soldering iron to hack a joystick. They might have an iron there, but the tip will be as big as your finger. :) Different applications.
RandyT
JesterDEV:
For me using 22 gage wire made it easier to conntect multiple wires to my ipac. In some cases I have several buttons conected for the same key. Anything larger I would end up having problems putting all the wire in there.
MameFan:
22 is a bit too easy to break once you've crimped.
I think I posted to another thread before, but here is what is recommended (even with Bob Roberts)
- 20 Gauge for Low voltage/amperage DC.. e.g. Controls, coin door, etc..
- 18 Gauge for medium voltage/amerpage DC. e.g. lamps, +5/+12 volts, etc..
- 16 Gauge for 120 volta AC wiring.
As someone else posted.. Don't daisy chain your common grounds especially if you're using 22 or smaller gauge... This holds even more true for common POWER (not signal) grounds.