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Stranded Wire is all Created Equal? -

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RandyT:

--- Quote from: iserian on September 06, 2012, 11:06:19 pm ---Planning on using 18 Gauge throughout for my 3 way Cocktail build.  Is all stranded wire created equal? 

--- End quote ---

To answer the original question, no.  There are a number of variations in stranded wiring.  They are:

Number of individual strands - More strands means more flexibility and less likelihood of individual strands breaking when being constantly flexed.
Insulation diameter -  Wire intended to carry larger power loads will usually have thicker insulation.  There are number of standards which dictate the jacket diameter. 
Conductor material -  Straight copper is common, but there are others with different  mechanical properties.
Tinned - Some stranded conductors are tinned throughout the entire length of the wire.  It's good where more rigidity is desired, but also better flexibility and breakage resistance  than solid core.

The proper gauge depends on the amount of current the wire is intended to carry.  In the case of encoders, you don't need much.  Even 28ga ribbon cable would be fine, but may pose a challenge for screw terminals, and crimp connections, unless designed to use small gauge wires.

If using the wire for LED's, especially higher current varieties, you need to calculate the maximum current draw which is likely to be placed on the any of the wires.  The individual output wires going to the LED's are not as big a concern as the common chain, as this single wire needs to carry the current for all of the devices in that particular chain.  Multiple common chains will reduce the need for heavier wire.  There are charts available online which show the maximum current load for any given gauge conductor.

The EZ-Lights harnesses at the GGG store are pretty handy for common chains, be it LED or the ground loops for encoders.  Based on the chart above, these should be good for about 2.3amps of power transmission per chain.

RandyT

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