EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: Hextejas on October 01, 2018, 08:14:50 pm
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I am about to wire the insides of a pre amplifier and power amplifier. The connections will be from a PCB to RCA jacks, grounding, speaker terminals, and mains to switches and fuses.
I have 18 ga stranded and 22ga solid.
Any recommendations ?
thanks
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Always use stranded. Reason is they are flexible and more forgiving for movement.
If you use clampconnectors on the pcb don't forget to put an aderendhuls on the end before clamping.
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adereindhuls = ferrule in English.
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18awg is pretty beefy stuff though. I'd probably get some 24 or 26 stranded. I like to cut up old computer cables for project wiring. I pulled a 8' parallel printer cable from the trash somewhere and used it for years. 25 different colors of stranded wire.
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Personally, I only preferentially use stranded wire when the two ends are not fixed in relation to each other. And in this scenario, the joints will either be crimped or they will need some kind of strain relief or isolation from where the rest of the wire is free to move.
For connections that are going to be simply soldered with no strain relief between two points that fixed in relation to each other, I usually prefer solid wire with a thin/flexible insulation. It is more ductile for the gauge, meaning it tends to stay better where you bend it. And it is LESS prone to breakage when occasionally moved for maintenance, under these conditions of being soldered without strain relief. Stranded tends to break next to the joint in this scenario. The sharp transition between solid solder and free strands is not kind.
Stranded will be preferred in case of using crimp connectors made for it, of course.
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18awg is pretty beefy stuff though. I'd probably get some 24 or 26 stranded. I like to cut up old computer cables for project wiring. I pulled a 8' parallel printer cable from the trash somewhere and used it for years. 25 different colors of stranded wire.
Did you read the application? OP says some of it is for a power amplifier. In that case, 18ga may not be beefy enough! Depends on the power, really. And I certainly wouldn't use anything thinner than 18ga for the mains power connections!!!
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18awg is pretty beefy stuff though. I'd probably get some 24 or 26 stranded. I like to cut up old computer cables for project wiring. I pulled a 8' parallel printer cable from the trash somewhere and used it for years. 25 different colors of stranded wire.
Did you read the application? OP says some of it is for a power amplifier. In that case, 18ga may not be beefy enough! Depends on the power, really. And I certainly wouldn't use anything thinner than 18ga for the mains power connections!!!
Oh, I was browsing on my phone and only saw the first part about the pre-amp and RCA jacks. Yeah for a power amplifier I'd suggest at least 18AWG for the mains side and speaker jacks, possibly larger depending on the power levels.