what wire should i buy for a basic electronics lab

[king129]

Hello im trying to make a basic electronics  lab of a low budget and i need to know what guage wire and what length wire do i need.

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[connectTek]

Alarm/security cable  7 x 0.20mm.  or 14 x 0.20mm. for stranded
And cat5 or cat6 for solid.
I use these the most for hookup low current work.
Find some off cuts,. Cheap[emoji16]

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[king129]

[emoji28]im sorry is that the diameter of the wire the 0.20mm i couldn't tell what length you recommended or do you mean i go to the hardware store and cutoff how ever much i need from their.

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[connectTek]

7 or 14 strands of 0.20mm wire ( multi strand)
Written as 7 x 0.20mm or 14 x 0.20mm.
0.20mm diameter each strand.
This is a flexible wire.
Were as Cat 5 or Cat 6 is a single strand rigid wire.
If you live in Melbourne Australia, I have plenty of off cuts that you are welcome too.

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[king129]

Thank you i understand it better now. Sadly i live in the USA but thank you for the offer.

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[Ian.M]

How long is a piece of string?

Depending on your interests and thus the type of electronics you are working with you could need anything from 40 AWG magnet wire to silicone covered 4 AWG (fine stranded, extra flexible) if you are working with high current DC motors.  What you use for hook-up wire depends on the voltages an currents you are working with.  Also, that's leaving out the whole world of multi-conductor cables.

Buy what you actually need when you need it, and if its less than $0.25 per foot, and you are certain you'll need more of the same within a year, buy a small reel rather than cut cable.  You wont find much decent wire in the hardware store - you'll probably have to buy online.

I scrounge as much as possible - if the cable jacket or single wire insulation is intact and can wipe clean, it gets coiled and tagged and goes in the 'good' bins rough sorted by type, but if the jacket's crappy, I'll strip multi-conductor cable for hookup wire.   I throw back crappy coax, thin screened cable and single wire as it isn't worth dealing with crap.  Shorter offcuts of high core count multicore can be useful, otherwise its not worth bothering with anything much under 5 foot.

N.B. learning to distinguish real copper wire from CCA and CCS is an essential scrounger's life skill.  Carry wire cutter/strippers, a small magnet and a lighter (for CCA flame test) and use them as CCA and CCS cable aren't even worth pulling out of a skip.

[king129]

Thanks for the advice.

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[connectTek]

[emoji869]

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[agehall]

Were as Cat 5 or Cat 6 is a single strand rigid wire.

No, it is not. Cat 5 and 6 are specifications for cabling intended to be used as network cables. They specify both single core wires for installation use and stranded wire for patch cable use.

[connectTek]

Were as Cat 5 or Cat 6 is a single strand rigid wire.

No, it is not. Cat 5 and 6 are specifications for cabling intended to be used as network cables. They specify both single core wires for installation use and stranded wire for patch cable use.

I'm talking about using off cuts as hook up wire.
23 awg cat 5e or cat 6 single strand, is great for breadboarding and general low current apps.
Single strand is used in the majority of network installs, multi strand is used for patch leads.
You can also use multi strand if you want to cut up a patch lead, single strand is cheaper and off cuts are more readily available, in my neck of the woods.

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[westfw]

Some 30g “wire wrap” wire, some cat5/cat6 cable (both solid and stranded), some relatively heavy wire from cast/cut-off power cords (or internal computer power cables), some ribbon cable, and some fine stranded insulated wire of the sort you find inside mouse cables...


Oh, also save the cutoffs of th components that you put on pcbs.



Except for the first, This is all stuff that you should be able to find in the trash.

[Ian.M]

Fusewire (if you are in a country that used to use replaceable wire mains fuses, you can probably find a card with a selection of sizes on it at a good hardware store)  which is just bare tinned copper wire with accurate diameter specs.  Its good for PCB jumpers etc.    If you find you use a lot of it, order a reel by diameter.

...
This is all stuff that you should be able to find in the trash.

... if you are lucky.   If you keep your eyes open for electrical/telecoms contractors trash, you''ll find stuff pretty easily, but you wont find much good wire in general office or domestic trash, as most people don't chuck out loose cables unless they are FUBARed.