The AM Forum

I have a ton of solid wire and I usually prefer working with stranded only because of the flexibility.  I'm trying to wrap up some of the wiring on the 813 rig.  I have tons of solid #12 and #14 wire but no stranded in those 2 wire sizes.  Aside from the flexibility stand point should I stick with stranded for current carrying capacity or does it not matter?  None of the wiring is in a vibration situation and it will all be tie wrapped and secured.  I'd rather not have to purchase more wire and would like to use up the excess solid stuff for the job.

A couple of problems come to mind.  First, if you really nick the wire hard during stripping it can break off at that point during stressing it later on.  Second, I have this nice UTC CVM-4 that got a terminal broken off because someone had to use really stiff solid wire on the terminals.  During removing it out of its previous home, one terminal got broken off (rather the Bakelite that supports it got broken) and now I have a repair job.  Your best bet is to use the correct wire for the job so it doesn't come back later and bite you.

73, Al, VTP

less a problem with the size more a problem with the wire itself. No way did hta mod tranny need that size wire. What did hey hink it was, a 30 amp fil transformer?

Hammy Hambone strikes again. ::)

in general, solid is better for anything carrying  large current, stranded is ok fine for nearly anything else.

Solid does come in handy for a fixed-installation ground bus, that's about it.

The old RCA board I recently brought back into service did NOT have a common tie bar for the shields of the two-conductor twisted pair. Bunch of sets of this wire go to three terminal blocks inside the board.

The style in 1948 was to bring those shields (which were braided copper in those days) to a common ground lug.  The aluminum foil shields and a small, stranded tracer wires of modern audio cable are best mounted to a ground "bar" made of #14 solid copper running near the terminal block, with lugs to ground as mounting points.

Here's my take on wire.......Stranded for low voltage high current conditions (D.C.volts). And Solid for high current AC voltages (#10 for A.C. Runs). Large Solid for RF apps.

Phred

 Well, I broke down and bought more THHN for the AC wiring in the 813 rig.  I found, much to my surprise, the only electrical supply house in my town sells THHN #12 nearly 30% less than Home Depot.