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Stripboard wire size?

G

Guy Fawkes

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I'm trying to order wire for a stripboard project of mine but I'm not sure
what kind of wire I should order (size, SWG, insulation etc).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!
 
C

Chris

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I'm trying to order wire for a stripboard project of mine but I'm not sure
what kind of wire I should order (size, SWG, insulation etc).

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hi, Guy. Since you didn't describe your project at all, this may not
apply (for instance, if any of your wires are carrying an amp or more
of current, or if you're using more than 24 volts on any line). But
it's customary to scrounge phone line twisted pair wiring (typically
24AWG solid) for stripboard and protoboard work.

If you look around, you should be able to scrounge a lifetime supply
at any construction site. Just make a test first by stripping a
sample. If it's too old, it will have oxidized in the insulation,
making soldering very difficult.

Enjoy the fireworks.

Chris
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
Guy said:
Hi,

I'm trying to order wire for a stripboard project of mine but I'm not sure
what kind of wire I should order (size, SWG, insulation etc).

Flexible wire to connect to and from the stripboard ? 7/0.2 PVC insulated is the
norm. No-one still uses SWG afaik.

Graham
 
C

Charlie Siegrist

Jan 1, 1970
0
Circa 8 May 2007 04:44:52 -0700 recorded as
<[email protected]> looks like Chris
Hi, Guy. Since you didn't describe your project at all, this may not
apply (for instance, if any of your wires are carrying an amp or more
of current, or if you're using more than 24 volts on any line). But
it's customary to scrounge phone line twisted pair wiring (typically
24AWG solid) for stripboard and protoboard work.

If you look around, you should be able to scrounge a lifetime supply
at any construction site. Just make a test first by stripping a
sample. If it's too old, it will have oxidized in the insulation,
making soldering very difficult.

Enjoy the fireworks.

I second this idea, and add that one could find some discarded cat5e cable
that would suit the purpose as well. Cat5e is also 24ga. solid wire.
Well, usually solid. Telephone pair cable is always solid. If one can
find a three to five foot piece of 25-pair cable, one is, as you say,
probably set for life with project wire.

An advantage to using telephone or cat5 cable over buying a roll of single
conductor is the insulation color coding. Helps keep signal tracing
straight when working a project.
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
Charlie said:
I second this idea, and add that one could find some discarded cat5e cable
that would suit the purpose as well. Cat5e is also 24ga. solid wire.
Well, usually solid. Telephone pair cable is always solid.


No, it isn't. The 25, 50, and 75 pair telephone cable used on older
1a2 type telephones is very fine stranded cable. I still have dozens of
the cables from scrapped business phones. One end has a 50 pin blue
ribbon connector, and the other has either another blue ribbon
connector, or small spade lugs.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
C

Charlie Siegrist

Jan 1, 1970
0
Circa Tue, 08 May 2007 13:09:28 GMT recorded as
<[email protected]> looks like "Michael A. Terrell"
No, it isn't. The 25, 50, and 75 pair telephone cable used on older
1a2 type telephones is very fine stranded cable. I still have dozens of
the cables from scrapped business phones. One end has a 50 pin blue
ribbon connector, and the other has either another blue ribbon
connector, or small spade lugs.

I don't imagine it would work very well on punch-down blocks. <googles>
Ah. It appears the 1A2 key telephone systems are completely connectorized.
Learn something new every day! :)
 
G

Guy Fawkes

Jan 1, 1970
0
Chris said:
Hi, Guy. Since you didn't describe your project at all, this may not
apply (for instance, if any of your wires are carrying an amp or more
of current, or if you're using more than 24 volts on any line). But
it's customary to scrounge phone line twisted pair wiring (typically
24AWG solid) for stripboard and protoboard work.

Hi Chris,

It's a digital microcontroller project with low-voltage, low current (<24V,
<1A) circuitry.

What is the difference between AWG and SWG wiring?

Guy
 
G

Guy Fawkes

Jan 1, 1970
0
Eeyore said:
Flexible wire to connect to and from the stripboard ? 7/0.2 PVC insulated
is the
norm. No-one still uses SWG afaik.

Graham

Hi Graham,

The 7/0.2 is that in mm2? or diameter in mm?

Guy
 
M

Michael A. Terrell

Jan 1, 1970
0
Charlie said:
Circa Tue, 08 May 2007 13:09:28 GMT recorded as
<[email protected]> looks like "Michael A. Terrell"


I don't imagine it would work very well on punch-down blocks. <googles>
Ah. It appears the 1A2 key telephone systems are completely connectorized.
Learn something new every day! :)


The station wire is solid, but the instrument cables are stranded.
There are lots of 66 series punch blocks in 1A2 systems. The largest
I've seen was fed by 2000 phone lines at a regional FAA office building
that was under construction at Ft Rucker, Al. in the early '70s. There
was a wire room on every floor, with a lot of four inch conduits between
floors.


I don't know how many actual phone lines were used when the complex
opened, but the military rarely ran more than 25% futures.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Charlie said:
Circa 8 May 2007 04:44:52 -0700 recorded as
<[email protected]> looks like Chris



I second this idea, and add that one could find some discarded cat5e cable
that would suit the purpose as well. Cat5e is also 24ga. solid wire.
Well, usually solid. Telephone pair cable is always solid. If one can
find a three to five foot piece of 25-pair cable, one is, as you say,
probably set for life with project wire.

CAT5 works well for low currents. I just dragged a spool into a client's
building to re-wire a VME cage. That way you get eight different colors,
makes following lines much easier.

With 25-pair just make sure it's solid conductor, not all are as Michael
wrote. The advantage is that you really get the whole rainbow in
colors with some of them. Even weird ones like purple or pink. Mine's
all black with wire marker codes on them :-(
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
Marra said:
I just use bellwire or a single solid core wire.

Solid is fine for making links on the stripboard itself for sure. For connection
to devices and connectors off-board I always use stranded.

Graham
 
J

jasen

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I'm trying to order wire for a stripboard project of mine but I'm not sure
what kind of wire I should order (size, SWG, insulation etc).

Any suggestions?

I use some tinned 24AWG wire I scrounged from an old phone exchange.
Before I happend across that I was using untinned 24AWG from an old phone
system,

these days scraps of "CAT5" (CAT5e, CAT6 etc) network cable
are easy to find in dumpsters near almost-completed buildings.
and are almost as good (only not tinned) so harder to solder.

The pro's used teflon coated wire. the PVC coated phone/network wire
tends to lose its insulation near the end if soldered for too long,
but otherwise it's good.

Bye.
Jasen
 
C

Charlie Siegrist

Jan 1, 1970
0
Circa 9 May 2007 09:18:14 GMT recorded as
The pro's used teflon coated wire. the PVC coated phone/network wire
tends to lose its insulation near the end if soldered for too long,
but otherwise it's good.

Solder? Who uses solder? Wire-wrap and terminal blocks for me, thank you
very much. :) Solid conductor rules my world!
 
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