• Best flexible wiring with highest strand to insulation ratio
    10 replies, posted
I recently purchased 25 ft of 16 awg zip wire from bulk wire to rewire some of my airsoft guns and for general use. The problem is with lots of current going through it for my application I'm worried to use the zip wire since there is so much insulation and such little actual wire. I'm really disappointed with it, and feel I have wasted my money and that it is not much better that the wire I had before which was just typical wire that has started heating up when using a necessarily larger battery despite all electronic components being fine, cross checking with a battery of the same kind, all solder joints being quality, and the wire not being pinched. 16 awg is as high as I can go, what do you recommend?
By zip wire I assume you mean like speaker wire? I've never heard the term zip wire before. If each lead is 16awg then I'm not sure what kind of airsoft guns you have if you think that wont be enough. Could you give some information on the airsoft guns and what kind of current draws we're talking about here?
16AWG can easily handle more than 100A continuously. As for flexibility silicone wire is usually the best, avoid cheap old PVC that shit is nasty. Correction it's 20A not 100A but that should be more than enough.
[QUOTE=Chryseus;39655115]16AWG can easily handle more than 100A continuously. As for flexibility silicone wire is usually the best, avoid cheap old PVC that shit is nasty. Correction it's 20A not 100A but that should be more than enough.[/QUOTE] I was about to say. Now way 16AWG could handle 100A unless you're running thousands of volts. have you considered enamelled copper wire? If the voltage is low enough then the enamel coating should be ok for insulation
Where can I find that? I'm running a 30c 7.4v 4000mAH LiPoly battery through deans connectors.
[QUOTE=Kath;39672738]Where can I find that? I'm running a 30c 7.4v 4000mAH LiPoly battery through deans connectors.[/QUOTE] Sometimes called magnet or transformer wire. It looks like it doesn't have and insulation on it but it actually has a very thin clear lacquer. Unfortunately, because of the very thin coating, it can get damaged very easily, so keep it away from anything abrasive. Pretty much every electronics store will carry it. When crimping the wire, get some sandpaper and sand the tips of the wire before crimping otherwise you'll get a poor connection
If you actually intend to make use of that 30c discharge rate you REALLY shouldn't be using 16 gauge wire. Why exactly can't you just use thicker wire? 10 gauge wire isn't THAT thick and will handle the current without difficulty.
I am working in a extremely limited space. [IMG]http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k120/DarkRepressor/gearbix.png[/IMG] You can see where the wiring goes.
I see, it would've helped if you'd have posted that to begin with. Honestly I would just go in there with a dremel and widen those cable routing slots where necessary to get in at least some 14 awg wire. The previous recommendation about enameled copper wire probably isn't a good idea here because if that enamel gets damaged it'll short to the cast aluminium casing instantly.
It I do, the wires will get snatched up by the gears. I can widen the outer parts but it wouldn't really be enough to be significant.
I dunno what to say, the wire gauge is determined by the cross sectional area of the copper, so try finding the wire with the highest gauge you can that has an external diameter that'll still fit. Otherwise you may have to do the wiring some other way. You say you have a 30c 4.4Ah battery but if you where using the full discharge the copper in those wires you have now would literally melt in under 10 seconds. If, as you say, the wires just get hot then maybe you only need to step up one or two wire gauges, which you actually MIGHT be able to fit with minimal modification or malfunction. Unless you have a DC current clamp meter you probably can't measure the current in those wires, though that would be helpful. Not sure what else you could do.
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