Thread: What kind of wire?

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what kind of wire do you use for wiring LEDS and small electronical projects. where can i get it to?

-BYH

BYH, I'm simply using a thin gauge electrical project wire, the kind you can buy in Radio Shack, Electronic supply stores and probably at Home Depot and Lowes. The wire can either be solid core copper or braided copper wire with a PVC coating on the outside. I bought a spool of the stuff at a local electronics supply and i think a couple of hundred feet ran me about $7. The stuff has lasted me for years! Good Luck......'Scruff

When I first started making LED circuits I would take old Christmas light strings that didn't work anymore and snip off the sections of wire in between the lights and plugs.
You'd be surprised how much usable wire you can get from just one light string!

It really depends on what your using it for. If your looking to power single LEDs (or a small cluster for that matter) you can use telephone (cat3) or network (cat5, cat5e) wire. Cat3 will be the cheapest and is what you should get if your looking to buy something from the store. Its a single cable containing 4 pairs twisted wires (8 wires total). With a bit of work you can remove the jacket and get 8 separate 24awg wires. Again this should only be used to connect low voltage loads, like LEDs or relay signals carrying less than 3amps. NOT FOR 120V or greater than 24v applications.

I believe you can buy a 100' from the home improvement store for <$20. I just bought 1000' of cat5e for $60 from a wholesale supplier.

Originally Posted by Scruffywolf

BYH, I'm simply using a thin gauge electrical project wire, the kind you can buy in Radio Shack, Electronic supply stores and probably at Home Depot and Lowes. The wire can either be solid core copper or braided copper wire with a PVC coating on the outside. I bought a spool of the stuff at a local electronics supply and i think a couple of hundred feet ran me about $7. The stuff has lasted me for years! Good Luck......'Scruff

what gauge did u use?

Originally Posted by DaveintheGrave

When I first started making LED circuits I would take old Christmas light strings that didn't work anymore and snip off the sections of wire in between the lights and plugs.
You'd be surprised how much usable wire you can get from just one light string!

thats a really good idea i have a few old strann this year to.

Originally Posted by Chupa

It really depends on what your using it for. If your looking to power single LEDs (or a small cluster for that matter) you can use telephone (cat3) or network (cat5, cat5e) wire. Cat3 will be the cheapest and is what you should get if your looking to buy something from the store. Its a single cable containing 4 pairs twisted wires (8 wires total). With a bit of work you can remove the jacket and get 8 separate 24awg wires. Again this should only be used to connect low voltage loads, like LEDs or relay signals carrying less than 3amps. NOT FOR 120V or greater than 24v applications.

I believe you can buy a 100' from the home improvement store for <$20. I just bought 1000' of cat5e for $60 from a wholesale supplier.

this sounds to hard for me. lol but i will keep it in mind.

thanks for everyones help!
-BYH

I use regular ol' black/clear thin guage speaker wire (18 guage if I recall) from Radio Shack or Wal-mart. 100 feet is around 4 bucks and use the clear/black to keep track of my pos/neg connections.

yeah the speaker wire. i have been look to buy some. i guess ill be taking a trip to radio shack

-BYH

+ another vote for speaker wire, I used to have a 1000' spool from a construction company that had left it behind in a closet. I used that for about 6 years for stuff and finally ran out this year.

^^ awww lucky!