Wire and how much I dont know

[Fireball XL5]

I want to learn about wire/cabling. When to use what kind - why to use what.

Flexibility for certain uses.
Durability for those uses.
What factors decide the choice...

What factors determine flex/longevity?

I don't even know how to ask the question properly.

Can someone point me to some documentation about wiring materials/standards per use?
Or even give me some suggestions on what to Google for?

Thanks (and sorry if the answers seems obvious)

-- Fireball XL5

[danadak]

https://www.belden.com/resourcecenter/documents/application-notes.cfm


http://www.picwire.com/technical/tech-papers/electronic-cable-materials


http://www.betalasermike.com/index.php/en/app-notes-power-cable


http://blogs.gwu.edu/ecelabs/application-notes/


https://www.gore.com/resources/tech-note-understanding-cable-stress-and-failure-high-flex-applications


https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/electronic_components/cables/cable-wire-types.php


Regards, Dana.

[Fireball XL5]

Thank you this is exactly the type of info I need!!

[tpowell1830]

Wiring and cabling have a vast, diverse area of standards. There are automotive standards, mil spec standards, aeronautical/aerospace standards. Each area has many considerations, such as environmental, whether the wire/cable is power, data, low voltage, as in sensors or high voltage. The conductors can vary greatly in the materials they are made up of, such as standard strength copper, high strength copper, plated copper with various platings, such as silver or nickel. The conductors themselves can be single stranded, having only one copper conductor or multi-stranded, having many copper conductors, which also has varying numbers of strands depending on wire gage and use, such as data or power. The insulation can vary greatly as well from simple vinyl to various teflon formulations to polypropylene, peek, etc. As you can see, it is a very deep field of study.

I see you have an American flag, so, my suggestion is to start out by searching for American Wire Gage or AWG for wire diameters. You should get multiple hits on that, where you can get acquainted with standards on wire sizing. You can get more information on mil spec wire/cables by searching for M27579 for wire and M27500 for cable. The mil specs deal with all attributes of wire including wire strength, plating, insulation, etc. Cabling has many features such as shielding, twisted pairs, wire sizing, insulation materials, conductor material of wire, wire insulation colors, more...

IEEE is another search acronym, which IEEE is "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers", as many of the standards that you hear about are established by IEEE, such as 802.11.

There are many standards organization that deal directly or indirectly with electrical wire and cables, so a search for electrical wire standards is a good search term. Ampacity of wires is a good search term.

Since I don't really know where your interest will go, the above is a good starting place, and as always when Google searching, it will lead you in many directions often.

Good hunting!

BTW: FireBall XL5 is a term that I haven't heard since my childhood in the late '50s and 'early '60s.

[Fireball XL5]

Thanks Tpowell for the pointers.

And yes, the day I gave the subject an actual thinking, I realized how little I knew.
As for my interest... I cant really say until I get there. It's a subject I never gave proper attention to.

ps: I've always been a fan of ANYTHING that Gerry (and Sylvia) Anderson did: from Fireball 'till Space 1999