What's the recommended wire gauge for Control Panel wiring?

[paulscade]

The subject says it all.

There's really not much current flowing so I would imagine that most anything >= 24 or 22 would be fine... I suppose the better question would be:

What might be the advantage of using one gauge over another?

[Ken Layton]

22 or 20 gauge stranded wire is what most game manufacturers use. Never use smaller than 22 because the wire gets too fragile and breaks easily from normal vibration of playing the machine. Solid wire is also not recommended because it breaks too easily.

[Jdurg]

I had a whole slew of Cat-5 Ethernet cable that I bought when I thought I was going to network my house.  (I thought I was going to wire everything, then gave up after one attempt.    ).  Cat-5 cable is made out of 5 pairs of 22-gauge wire so I just unwound the wire and had a ton of wire to use. The stuff was nice and easy to maneuver and is doing a fine job in the CP.

[danny_galaga]

yeah, i used some sort of data cable too. like ken says, if its solid, there is heaps more chance of breaking, which will be fun to fault find...

[paulscade]

Great guys... tkx!

Your recommendations of stranded, 22 or 20 gauge wire, sounds solid. 

I also like the idea of using some sort of data cable... like the Ethernet cable recommendation.... I'd probably want to leave it in the sheath (harder to work with but makes for a nice wiring job).

... I'll have to slice one apart... I don't remember if CAT5 cable is stranded or solid. 

[um3k]

... I'll have to slice one apart... I don't remember if CAT5 cable is stranded or solid. 

CAT 5 is almost always stranded.  I've done the whole panel in it and it makes for a really nice neat job if you keep it bundled up nicely.  I actually used a patch panel to wire the IPAC and LED Wiz'es to the back of and my CP is attached to the front.  This way the CP is detachable and swappable if I make another one later on.

[Ken Layton]

The cat 5 sold in my area is all solid wires. If you want stranded, they charge ALOT more and special order it.

[Ed_McCarron]

Depends on the purpose.  Cat-5 Patch cords are stranded for flexibility.  Cat-5 for inwalls is solid

4 pairs, btw.

Just buy a cheap roll of #20 stranded.  #22 is kinda small for the crimp connectors.

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/825450/Wire/Hook-Up-100-Rolls-/1.html

They (All Electronics) have the stakons you'll want for the terminations at a pretty good price, too.

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/196450/Crimp-Terminals/Quick-Disconnect-Female-3/16-/1.html

[lettuce]

Ive used 16 gauge on my last 3 CP and never had a problem

[SirPeale]

Ive used 16 gauge on my last 3 CP and never had a problem

Why would you?  That stuff is thick!

[Cakemeister]

Personally I would use 20 gauge instead of 22 because it is more mistake tolerant, you don't have to have as good a strip or a crimp.

But the wiki recommends 18 for the ground loop and 22 for the rest.

[fjl]

I wouldn't go with Solid. I tried Cat5e on a Joystick I made and for some reason the controls where acting wacky. I press two buttons and three buttons would register. I press up and button 1 and button 4 would register. Weird stuff like that.

I figure the frequency signals where being inducted into the other wires causing extra buttons to register. This didn't happen when I separated the wires. Only when they where bundled. I fixed it by shortening the wires a lot and spreading them. Perhaps a cause of skin effect on solid wire.

Of course I figure this also had to do with the gamepad I was hacking. The I-pac 4 doesn't have that problem and I used really long strands of Cat5 for it.

I say go for stranded.

[paulscade]

That's weird efjayel.  I wonder if it had to do more with the pairs being twisted in the Ethernet cable (not solid vs stranded).

Has anyone else seen this?  I'd hate to use jacketed Ethernet cable (i.e. leave outer jacket on and wires twisted) and find that I have to rewire later.

I'm starting to shift my thinking... those rolls of stranded 20 gauge are looking better and better.

[deadsoulz]

I just did one with all Cat-5E and 18Gauge for the ground loop.  Works great so far.

[MonMotha]

Stranded 22AWG seems to be what all the major manufacturers use, and it's what I use.  Bends easily; doesn't break, and it's the perfect size to easily crimp into just about any kind of crimp terminal.  You don't need to oversize your ground bus unless you're also powering things off of it.  Most games use 1mA at most for the switch signals, so 22AWG is just fine.  If you're also using that ground bus for powering things like lights (I usually run separate dedicated bus if possible for various reasons), then you will want to upsize your ground to the same size as your power wire for the lights.  I usually use 18AWG (still stranded) for this, though 22AWG is perfectly sufficient to run several lamps, especially with dedicated ground busses for power and signals.

[Jdurg]

I only use 22 gauge for the microswitch connections.  For the LEDs and any power connections, it's 18 gauge.