Hookup wire

[Brian Roth]

This thread veered from a Tascam conversation into hookup wire:

https://groupdiy.com/threads/tascam-238.81509/
It got me thinking.....

Many years ago, a local electronics supplier (remember those? lol) where I lived was doing some inventory house cleaning. I bought a 25' piece of multicore intended for some arcane application which had a couple dozen+ of individual insulated wires in a variety of colors; both solid colors as well as a rainbow of two-color insulators. I'd strip off the outer/overall jacket and extract whatever colored wire I decided to use. IIRC, the individual wires were 24 gauge and were definitely stranded conductors. I don't know what the insulation material was (not Teflon) but it had decent resistance to melting when soldering.

That multicore is long gone. So, I ended up with a random assortment of small spools of hookup wire, including a "inventory wipe out" from a local Radio Shack store that was going out of business. The PVC insulation on the random spools tends to melt even with careful soldering procedures.

Now that inventory is running out. Investigations for stranded 22 Gauge PVC:

https://www.mouser.com/c/wire-cable...ding=7 x 30&wire gauge - awg=22 AWG&instock=y

https://www.digikey.com/en/products...DD494zUZIQ3hKhD0Ij7VZAAWhIQA1kNMAAQA7rzcOBNAA
Stupid links....search was 22 gauge 7/30 stranding PVC in 100' spools.

EGADS!!!!!!!!! Numbers like $35 a spool (and up) for 100' spools.

I often find good stuff at Jameco, so:

https://www.jameco.com/shop/Keyword...0x$252030/filter:ss_attr_normally_stocked:Yes
At the bottom of the Jameco page are two "party packs" of six spools in 25' and 100' lengths. MUCH better, although I never bought wire from Jameco.

Finally before I bore everyone to death, Irradiated PVC at a good(?) "split the difference" price:

https://www.daburn.com/2200IrradiatedPVCHook-UpWire.aspx
22 gauge stranded 7/30 100' spools for $13 or $14.

Comments?

Bri

 

[Bo Deadly]

I have used multi-conductor Belden cable as a source of hookup wire for many projects. I remove the PVC jacket to get an assortment of many colors. The insulation is relatively thin and rigid and the insulation is apparently not a pure vinyl so it doesn't melt instantly when soldering. It also has a nice matte finish.

If you look at this Belden Multi-Conductor Cable search page you can find 8 and 9 conductor 24 AWG stranded. I think this might be the wire that I used. It's sometimes described as communications, instrument or computer cable.

However, you cannot buy small lengths from suppliers. For that search Ebay. For example, if I search Ebay for "belden 9538" or "belden 9539" I get many relatively affordable results.


Belden 9538

 

[JohnRoberts]

I used to provide color coded ribbon cable in my kits (several decades ago). I would tear off strips to use as color coded hook up wire.

JR

 

[ccaudle]

If you don't need a large number of colors I like to use Ethernet cable for hookup wire. No shield to cut off, and if you happen to want pairs the cable is already conveniently arranged as four twisted pairs. The insulation is reasonably high quality as well since it needs to be low capacitance to maintain the characteristic impedance up to 250MHz (I think that pretty much eliminates cheap PVC from use).

 

[Gold]

I like the PTFE jacket wire I get from Apex Jr. 100 ft of 24ga is $14 IIRC. I also keep PVC hook up wire around. I get it from All Electronics. Good prices and selection.

 

[Brian Roth]

If you don't need a large number of colors I like to use Ethernet cable for hookup wire. No shield to cut off, and if you happen to want pairs the cable is already conveniently arranged as four twisted pairs. The insulation is reasonably high quality as well since it needs to be low capacitance to maintain the characteristic impedance up to 250MHz (I think that pretty much eliminates cheap PVC from use).

One thing I discovered years ago was to use "Cat-x" Ethernet cable which is "plenum rated" for use above the drop-tile ceilings found in most office buildings. The conductor insulation is very resistant to soldering heat. However, this cable almost always has solid conductors.

Bri

 

[fallout]

I second Gold's suggestion. The PTFE wire that Apex Jr sells is excellent.

 

[TimG]

I am sure I don't go through this like many of you do but 80 feet of this at .20 per foot was worth it.

https://www.markertek.com/product/l...2at-2-conductor-audio-cable-by-the-foot-black

 

[Brian Roth]

I am sure I don't go through this like many of you do but 80 feet of this at .20 per foot was worth it.

https://www.markertek.com/product/l...2at-2-conductor-audio-cable-by-the-foot-black

Hi, Tim. That Canare cable you mentioned is for a different application than what I was discussing. In my case, I was looking at unshielded, single conductor wire to do point-point (such as power supply distribution). I will keep that Canare cable in mind, though!

Bri

 

[TimG]

Hi, Tim. That Canare cable you mentioned is for a different application than what I was discussing. In my case, I was looking at unshielded, single conductor wire to do point-point (such as power supply distribution). I will keep that Canare cable in mind, though!

Bri

Thanks! Learning here.
So I guess I have some of that hooking up to do as well. What do you think of this?

Cheap enough to get a couple colors? ($12.63) ONLY BLACK IN STOCK
https://www.markertek.com/product/h...0v-stranded-hook-up-wire-100-foot-spool-black

 

[Brian Roth]

Hi Tim! Look back through this current thread to see the various wire discussions.

Bri

 

[CJ]

https://www.taydaelectronics.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Wire
Good for stomp boxes.

 

[TwentyTrees]

When I first cut my teeth dabbling (circuit-bending Furbies and Speak-n-Spells some 20 years ago) I was given a two-meter length of telecoms multicore by a guy in the IT team that the hospital I worked in. It's solid core, but worked really well for applications you might use solid core for, and there were a good couple of hundred strands in that length - every colour and combination under the sun - so I've still got miles of it left!

These days I use various guages of this stuff, at £16 for >50m it's not the cheapest but it's very flexible and the insulation is nice and easy to work with:

https://amzn.eu/d/0yffJSq

 

[Scodiddly]

For really skinny wire in a lot of colors I cut open an old parallel printer cable. The sort of thing you can find at just about any garage sale or resale shop if you bother to ask. The one I randomly picked is good stuff, stranded wires and no soldering complications.

In general I'm the guy who's always salvaging cable harnesses and stuff at work, I haven't had to buy "hookup wire" in years unless I needed high voltage or something.

 

[Matador]

I bought 10 rolls of PTFE, stranded/tinned wire in 24 AWG, 100ft each in 10 different colors, rated at 600V. Has lasted for 10 years, with the exception of the red and black.

It's a bit "plasticy" feeling /, and much stiffer than PVC, but you can solder it all day and it never burns or shrinks. Cost nearly $200 at the time, but well worth it.

 

[Brian Roth]

I bought 10 rolls of PTFE, stranded/tinned wire in 24 AWG, 100ft each in 10 different colors, rated at 600V. Has lasted for 10 years, with the exception of the red and black.

It's a bit "plasticy" feeling /, and much stiffer than PVC, but you can solder it all day and it never burns or shrinks. Cost nearly $200 at the time, but well worth it.

Plasticy and stiff is how I remember PTFE wire. The irradiated PVC I used years ago (from Alpha? I don't recall) handled much like ordinary PVC. I think I'll order a couple spools from Daburn, as linked in the first message in this thread. It might be a good compromise between plain PVC and PTFE.

Bri

 

[13engrsapper]

We stock and use either Tefzel or Teflon silver-plated wire, unless its something vintage. its here in twisted and shielded pair. I hate melted PVC on my soldering tips. I like the Tefzel better ( they call it XL-ETFE or some such thing). Its a bit thinner, and a little more rigid, and not as prone to squeezing out as teflon.

 

[soapfoot]

I like the PTFE jacket wire I get from Apex Jr. 100 ft of 24ga is $14 IIRC. I also keep PVC hook up wire around. I get it from All Electronics. Good prices and selection.

Just got some wire from Apex Jr; great stuff

 

[13engrsapper]

Steve is a great guy, often with cool treasures.

 

[Gold]

I do like that Alpha hook up wire. The irradiated PVC. It’s sturdier than regular PVC a and more flexible than PTFE. The PTfE from Apex Jr. is such a good deal It’s hard to pass up.