Time for me to get banana cable

[asgard20032]

My bench is almost up and running, lacking only banana cable. Now is the big dilemma : Buy them or build them.

Already did some search in the past week, and the only one I found affordable while having a certain degree of quality is the pomona cable, around 7-8$ CAD each on digikey. I am open to more suggestion for buying them, as long as its not Chinese crap coming from ebay. I prefer to avoid spinning the wheel of luck(or wheel of quality) on ebay as much as possible, I want to buy my cable once, not buy them one time, regret my purchase, and buy another set.

If I build them, same as before, avoiding crap and want to go as much as high quality as possible, but at the same time, without costing much higher than for example, those pomona cable. Cost of cable = 2X banana connector + some cable. If the banana connector cost 10$ by itself, it will cost way more than those pomona cable...

Which banana plug would you recommend?
Which cable would you recommend?
Is speaker cable a good choice (is it cheaper than banana cable wire will offering similar or higher performance?)

I brought up speaker cable idea because I saw amazon basic cable at such low price (15$ for 100 feet) and I was wondering if it would be any good. Although, the amazon basic cable is not a good candidate because we don't have full spec.

[JacobPilsen]

Hirschmann brand.

[suicidaleggroll]

When I built a new set of test cables last year I got all of the supplies from Mouser.  Part numbers are listed below for red / black:

Mini Grabbers: 565-4555-2 / 565-4555-0
Alligator Clips: 565-2240-2 / 565-2240-0
Banana: 565-1825-2 / 565-1825-0
Wire: 565-6733-2 / 565-6733-0

I purchased 9 of each mini grabber, 9 of each alligator, 12 of each banana, and 1 of each wire.  Total cost was $150, and it made:
3x banana to mini grabber black/red pair
3x mini grabber to mini grabber black/red pair
3x banana to alligator black/red pair
3x alligator to alligator black/red pair
3x banana to banana black/red pair
Each ~3' long

The connectors and cable are all high quality, it makes me hate all of the test leads I used before.  That Pomona wire in particular is _awesome_

I would definitely not use speaker wire.  While it would technically work, the flexibility (or lack thereof) and low heat tolerance of the jacket would be deal-breakers.  The last thing you want is to accidentally bump a cable with a soldering iron, melt through the jacket, and short whatever it's attached to to ground before you notice what's happened.

[Signal32]

I got these for banana connectors, they are decent quality: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/-/32341358276.html

As for silicone wire, anyone know of any good 2-core (black+red in the same jacket) silicone wire ?

[BMack]

Franky's eBay store is the best. Get yourself some silicone wire in bulk with different gauges and buy up a whole bunch of stuff from Franky. Franky also sells pre-made stuff but if you want a different length you can just make it yourself. It is more expensive than most of the stuff from Asia but it's worth it. 

http://stores.ebay.com/99centHobbies

[techie1234]

Check out ProbeMaster's leads - I have a set of their DMM probes and they are awesome, and made in the USA!

http://probemaster.com/dmm-multimeter-test-leads/

[janoc]

Hirschmann brand.

7GBP per jack?!  Whoa, those are likely not gold plated but made out of actual gold ...

Edit: Do'h, I should get my glasses - that's for 5 plugs. Still not cheap, but not so outrageous neither.

I can also only recommend Franky's eBay store - he sells good quality stuff and for a decent price. He carries similar banana jacks for about $1.50/pair:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4mm-Solderless-Stackable-Banana-Plugs-1-Pair-Red-Black-/171030386766

[Assafl]

I second Hirschmann, stackable, robust - anything they do is wonderful (albeit costly).

[asgard20032]

Cannot find Hirschmann in canada

[vinicius.jlantunes]

I second Franky's eBay store. The stuff I got from him is top quality. Good prices and very good customer service.

[Dubbie]

thirding Frankys store. Excellent stuff.

[JenniferG]

I'd like to build my own cables for power supply and DMM, as it was suggested to me here.

I'd like to buy some silicone cable and was wondering if Franky's stuff is as good as Pomona cable.

I looked up silicone wire on Franky's site and I see three different guages:  18, 16 & 14 guage.  Just wondering which guage(s) I should buy for each the DMM and PS.. along with any other test gear I will use later on.

[tpowell1830]

I would definitely get the 16 AWG silicone insulated wire that has multiple strands so that, not only are you protected from higher voltages, but the wire is more flexible, the more strands that you get. But, then again, I would just buy the Pomona brand and be done with it. Pomona has been around making good leads a long time.

[Signal32]

I looked up silicone wire on Franky's site and I see three different guages:  18, 16 & 14 guage.  Just wondering which guage(s) I should buy for each the DMM and PS.. along with any other test gear I will use later on.

If you don't know what you'll be using them fore, get 14ga for the power supply and 18ga for the multimeter.
Unless you know you'll be doing high amp measurements on the DMM, in which case get 14ga for it too.

[JenniferG]

I looked up silicone wire on Franky's site and I see three different guages:  18, 16 & 14 guage.  Just wondering which guage(s) I should buy for each the DMM and PS.. along with any other test gear I will use later on.

If you don't know what you'll be using them fore, get 14ga for the power supply and 18ga for the multimeter.
Unless you know you'll be doing high amp measurements on the DMM, in which case get 14ga for it too.

Probably won't be doing anything with more power than a vacuum tube guitar amp or a home stereo amplifier.

[JenniferG]

I guess I'll go with Ponoma. 4' long stackable banana, is only like $5.99 per cable.

Are 501-1049-ND and 501-1050-ND a good pair to start with?  I need to get the power from my HP 6236b power supply to binding posts on bread board.  What color do you guys usually use for negative voltage?  I guess I need three cables.

Right now I have no cables at all.  All I've ordered so far is a pair of Probemaster probes for my DMM. 

[LaurentR]

Cal Test CT2148 without hesitation. Retractable stackable on both end and high quality silicone jacket. Very high quality stuff. Resold by B&K standalone and in some of their kits.
Available in various lengths and colors.
http://www.caltestelectronics.com/ctitem/110-plugs-banana-plug-test-leads-stacking-retractable-sleeve-plug-to-stacking-retractable-sleeve-plug/CT2148
Somewhat hard to source. I bought mine from testpath.com

[BMack]

While I'm a fan of Pomona, unless I'm mistaking, they don't have any banana cables that have silicone insulated wire. Silicone is worth the time to make your own cable, I have some made with Franky's banana plugs and some with Pomona...they just come out noticeably nicer than any PVC cable.

[capt bullshot]

You asked for it

Hirschmann (first four pictures)
1 - plugs moulded to the wires, I like them, though somewhat bulky
2 - I don't like them, bulky and wobbly (the plastic housing is clipped around the metal part)
3 - Never use these again
4 - Very handy for modern SMT parts and PCBs

MC (Multi contact)
1 - they look somewhat strange, but very useful at some places
2 - my favourites (shiny gold plated, small)
3 - you can plug 2 plugs together, without stacking them and leaving the plugs open and unisolated
4 - like this way
5 - same as no. 2 (non-gold but alligator of unknown brand attached)

Wago
1 - These come handy in case you want to connect some wires to bananas
2 - like that way

For the wires: get some with thin and flexible wires (0.5 ... 1mm²) for measurement purposes, get some with thicker but flexible wires (1.5 ... 2.5mm²) for power supply purposes. Silicone isolation is really good in terms of softness and duarability (against your soldering iron or hot running test setup). Don't use standard (electricians) wiring, it's too stiff.

If you need safety, go for the shrouded bananas (I don't like them too much)

[elecman14]

Check out ProbeMaster's leads - I have a set of their DMM probes and they are awesome, and made in the USA!

http://probemaster.com/dmm-multimeter-test-leads/

The stackable Probemaster leads that op is asking for start at $9.25 USD (aprox $13 cad) http://probemaster.com/3435-stacking-banana-to-stacking-banana/ That is way more expensive than the $7 - $8 cad op was worried about spending on the Pomona ones.

If you are looking for something slightly cheaper I would recommend these http://cs-sales.net/tl18.html their shipping and handling into Canada is outrageous though  Maybe you can find the same style elsewhere 

[mmagin]

I've come to the conclusion that I hate all the cheap banana plugs where the springy part is a seperate piece that's free to turn around.

They're expensive, but I am mostly happy with the Pomona stackable solderless banana plugs, as they are reusable:
http://www.pomonaelectronics.com/pdf/d1825-4897-4899-6545_101.pdf

[ollihd]

I faced the same situation as OP about a week ago. After reading endless posts on these forums and doing some research I went with Franky.

[Dubbie]

I've come to the conclusion that I hate all the cheap banana plugs where the springy part is a seperate piece that's free to turn around.

Same here! they don't feel solid to plug in. Give me molded ones any day.

[Marc M.]

...supplies from Mouser.  Part numbers are listed below for red / black:

Mini Grabbers: 565-4555-2 / 565-4555-0
Alligator Clips: 565-2240-2 / 565-2240-0
         Banana: 565-1825-2 / 565-1825-0
             Wire: 565-6733-2 / 565-6733-0

I use the exact same items for making up leads. They're a bit pricey compared to many other options, but well worth paying a bit more for. Test leads are some of the most used pieces of gear we have so it's not the best place to get cheap. Here's the specs. of the Pomona wire that Suicidal listed:

Specifications:
Insulation: Silicone
Length: 50 FT (15,2 meters)
Wire size: 18 AWG
Wire: 192 X 41 bare copper
Diameter (OD): .144” (3,60mm)
Temperature: -58° to +302°F (-50° to +150°C)
Wire Rated Voltage: 10,000 DC *
Current: 20 A
Ordering Information:
Black Wire: 6733-0
Red Wire: 6733-2

This Pomona wire looks and feels identical to the wire in my Fluke TL224 test leads which are a joy to use. The ability to make up custom leads is also a huge advantage. For instance, I made up a couple of 4" B to B sets for things like configuring power supplies.  I have a lot of gear that uses old school binding posts so I prefer to use the unsafe, unshrouded Suicidal banana plugs. I also like the added flexibility of stackable plugs so I use these on most of my leads.  Finally, these leads will likely last your lifetime if you take reasonable care of them.  If an end gets intermittent, cut it back an inch and you know who your uncle is.