Name of bare wire for soldered prototyping

[Axk]

For those 100mil grid prototype boards where you would solder lengths of wire across rows/columns of pads with 90 degree turns and bend small loops around the holes where component leads are supposed to go.

What is the terminology for this type of bare wire?
Trying to find it on Aliexpress but missing correct keywords.
I could use insulated wire stripping the insulation, but I suppose there should be bare wire for this kind of prototyping.

[IanB]

I have a roll of some that is just called "tinned copper wire". A Google search on that term shows up several examples. You could also look for "uninsulated single strand tinned copper wire". Sometimes it is called "buss wire".

[bloguetronica]

Hi,

Normally, it is called green wire, or wire wrapping wire, and it is expensive as heck. You can find it here:
https://www.farnell.com/search?st=%22wire-wrapping%20wire%22

Kind regards, Samuel Lourenço

[mariush]

You could also look for enamel coated wire / magnet wire or hook up wire (and then filter by insulation and get thinnest insulation)

Example for magnetic wire: https://www.digikey.com/products/en/magnetics-transformer-inductor-components/magnetic-wire/934?k=magnet%20wire

[KL27x]

Normally, it is called green wire, or wire wrapping wire, and it is expensive as heck.

This stuff is cheap as dirt, if you buy it larger quantity. What I do is just use one color on a 1000' reel for 99% of my wiring, then I pick up the expensive small reels when I need new colors for a specific reason.

OP, if you want buss wire, you might as well buy kynar wire (aka wrapping wire). It strips easily so you have both insulated and bare buss wire as needed. The single copper core is pre-plated with tin or silver. You might find that the skinny 30AWG stuff is great for most signals and low current stuff and saves space on your pcb and money on the cost of wire. But if you want bare buss wire to bend 90 degrees and fit in proto board holes, you probably want something more like 24AWG.

You can buy packs of jumperwires for breadboards that are in various lengths, pre-stripped and with 90 degree bent ends. I've never tried soldering these, but I don't see why not.

[sleemanj]

For uninsulated you want solid tinned copper bus wire.

For insulated, I recommend using silicone wire (tinned copper of course), 28 or 30AWG is a good size for wiring up prototype PCB, it strips with your fingertips, stands soldering temperatures without having the insulation shrink, and is generally just a pleasure to work with.

[KL27x]

^Reason kynar is the popular choice is because the insulation is very thin. If you buy the CSW kynar, the kind that is supposed to strip automatically in certain machines, you can strip it with fingernails. But the insulation is slightly less malleable and a little more slippery. There are manual strip tools that are just as good as using a fingernail, so I don't like the CSW stuff.

Maybe you can share a link to specific silicone wire you use. I'm curious of the specs.

[soldar]

Normally, it is called green wire, or wire wrapping wire, and it is expensive as heck. You can find it here:
https://www.farnell.com/search?st=%22wire-wrapping%20wire%22

No. Wire wrapping wire is meant for ... wire wrapping and that is why it is more expensive. Of course you can use it for whatever you want.

(Does anybody use wire wrapping any more? I have tools and spools of wire I have not used in ages.)

For the OP you can use any tinned copper wire of the diameter you prefer. And I have often just stripped a length of multistrand copper cable and used the individual copper wires which are 0.2-0.25 mm diameter. Buying it tinned is nice but not strictly necessary. You can just clean it and make sure it solders well.

[sleemanj]

Maybe you can share a link to specific silicone wire you use. I'm curious of the specs.

There are many sellers on Aliexpress/Amazon etc "Striveday", "Cbazy" and "Tuofeng" are among various, the last lot I got was from Striveday I think.

30 AWG is typically 11 conductor, 0.08mm/conductor, -60 to 200°C, voltage ratings vary depending on who you believe.

Just thumbnail against index finger is all it takes for silicone wire right up to 20AWG, thicker than that I reach for the tools.

[IanB]

Just thumbnail against index finger is all it takes for silicone wire right up to 20AWG, thicker than that I reach for the tools.

Can you successfully strip multi-stranded wire without breaking strands?

[sleemanj]

Can you successfully strip multi-stranded wire without breaking strands?

My thumbnail and index finger is not made of sharpened steel, breaking strands is not an issue :-)

[IanB]

My thumbnail and index finger is not made of sharpened steel, breaking strands is not an issue :-)

My usual problem is that strands snap under tension as they get pulled by the insulation, especially with fine-stranded wire. The act of trying to stretch and break the insulating sleeve also stretches and breaks the wire strands. The only certain way I have discovered to avoid this is to use a heated wire stripper that melts the insulation cleanly at the separation point.

[KL27x]

30 AWG is typically 11 conductor, 0.08mm/conductor, -60 to 200°C, voltage ratings vary depending on who you believe.

Multistranded wicks solder partway up the wire, creating a stress point. And the multiple strands make the wire "elastic." It has a set position where it wants to twist around to. When you bend the wire, it bends back... But every time it gets bent, it gets stressed at the aforementioned junction.

Say the wire gets pushed down. Even though each and every strand is being bent beyond its elastic limit into permanent plastic deformation right at the junction, at the surface of the solder boundary, the wire doesn't lay down. It gets back up, again and again, as the wire relaxes. The tensile and compressive elasticity in individual strands is pulling the wire back up like a puppet by strings, and it unfolds most right at the same weakened point which is acting like a hinge. Each repeat occurrence, this may exceed the elastic limit for the material at this hinge point, depending on how much the wire got disturbed by whatever the means. The rest of the wire is busy sharing and unloading any residual compressive or tensile forces along its entire length... and all of the bad stuff happens at the joint.

Vibration will also cause breakage. For intra-PCB jumpers, solid core is the way to go. You want it to lay where you bend it, to stay out of the way. This alone is a deal breaker.

According to one seller the OD of this 11 stranded 30AWG stuff is 0.8mm. Kynar is 0.5mm. That is around 2.5x the cross section. This alone is a deal breaker.

This stuff is for cable assemblies... using proper strain relieved connectors. You don't want to do any point to point soldering with this stuff. It's also called "tonearm" wire, because apparently it's used in the arm of a record player and other vintage equipment with moving parts (properly strain-relieved, of course).

If you're wiring up a circuit on protoboard, you want solid core wire. Well, in the future you will realize that you do, anyway.* At 30AWG, Kynar insulation shrinking back isn't really an issue the way it starts to be with the larger gauges.

No. Wire wrapping wire is meant for ... wire wrapping and that is why it is more expensive.

It doesn't need to be expensive. It's often sold in smaller quantities for a relatively high price for one-off jobs for people who don't normally do stuff like this. It's also sometimes called "mod wire" or "bodge wire" as it's very commonly used for reworking pcb's with solder, not just for wire wrapping. I probably pay 5-6 cents per foot for the good stuff. It can be had for 1/3rd of that from Hong Kong or China in 1000 foot reels. If I'm gonna use a 1 cm section, I cut off a foot. And throw the rest away. I use it for doing continuity test on pcb points, soldering the wire directly to the board and wrapping the other end to a banana jack with a post on it. And when I'm done I put the banana jack away and throw away the wire. When I use a solderless breadboard, I mostly make connections by putting pin headers in the board and wrapping the jumpers between pins. When I'm done, I put the pin headers away, and I cut up and throw away the wire. 30AWG wrap wire is essentially free, AFAIC. The cost is insignificant.

*And you will end up at kynar wire, unless you are one of the enamel coated wire folks (weirdos).

[sleemanj]

My thumbnail and index finger is not made of sharpened steel, breaking strands is not an issue :-)

My usual problem is that strands snap under tension as they get pulled by the insulation, especially with fine-stranded wire.

Silicone slides easily on the wire, it's not an issue.

[KL27x]

^Kynar does, too. Kynar wrap wire, you can slide 1 foot sections of insulation off the wire. Hence why I suggest you don't bother buying bare buss wire. Solid core Kynar has that covered.

[Stray Electron]

Just thumbnail against index finger is all it takes for silicone wire right up to 20AWG, thicker than that I reach for the tools.

Can you successfully strip multi-stranded wire without breaking strands?

   A thermal wife stripper is what you want.  They show up surplus all the time but most people don't know what they are so they frequently sell cheaply or get thrown away.

[KL27x]

A thermal wife stripper is what you want.

Can't argue with that.

[Stray Electron]

Multistranded wicks solder partway up the wire, creating a stress point. And the multiple strands make the wire "elastic." It has a set position where it wants to twist around to. When you bend the wire, it bends back... But every time it gets bent, it gets stressed at the aforementioned junction. Vibration will also cause breakage. For intra-PCB jumpers, solid core is the way to go.

  When you solder multistrand wire, you're supposed to use a small heat sink that clips onto the bare wire and prevents solder wicking up under the insulation.  That will eliminate the wire bending repeatedly in the same place and creating a stress point and will prevent 98% of the wire breakage.  You need to prevent any wire from vibrating as much as possible or by flexing at the solder joints by clamping it or on circuit boards, gluing it down with hot melt glue. Multistrand wire is made to flex, not to vibrate. You also need to prevent any flexing at the solder joints, regardless of the wire type.

[KL27x]

eliminate the wire bending repeatedly in the same place and creating a stress point.

Even if the solder doesn't wick up at all, it still transitions from a stranded wire to solid solder blob. And that's where the wire will fail after it gets repeatedly bent when you use it for pcb jumpers. It will get repeatedly bent, because it will repeatedly pop back up in a sincle arc between the two points you soldered it to.

The solid core wire will better snake around between components, taking and holding bends much better. Regardless if you glue it, in the end. Which for shorter jumpers there is no need.

You crazy if you think it's the same problems. There are two kinds of wire for different applications. Solid core wire isn't "ghetto wire" for cheapskates. To each their own, but at least try it before you knock it. I've tried the 30 AWG 11 stranded wire for pcb jumpers. In a word, I'd call it "useless." Same memory/bending/breaking problems as using stranded 24 AWG ethernet wire. You don't know how much harder you are unnecessarily making your life.

Stranded wire can take repeated bending without taking a set. It's for connecting two things that will move. When you solder two points on the same PCB, those points will not move in relation to each other. Stranded wire is the wrong kind of wire for this application, for very practical and important reasons that are fairly quickly self-evident if you have ever tried both.

[GreyWoolfe]

A thermal wife stripper is what you want.

Can't argue with that.

I don't need a wife stripper.  I am perfectly capable to do that all by myself!!!!!