Need Help!- What to use in this situation

[SPEEDRE]

I am making my hook ups soon. I need to know what kind of wire to use for the motors. I have some 4 conductor telephone wire the round solid type wire, is that good to use? I can't seem to get anyone to answer me. I've posted twice in the Electronic section but no answer from there. Is there a common type used to do this, if so what is it called so I can get some.

[wcarrothers1]

You can not use solid core (single strand) type wire for any "moving" parts. Is if the wire path takes it through moves, bends in any way you have to use stranded.

There are people on ebay who sell 4 conductor twisted shielded pair (something like 22 gage) would be good for your sensors (home switches, limits or incoders (if using servos) For servo power I found a guy selling twisted, shielded 14 or 12 gage wire with ground for really cheep to. think I got like 300ft of it and have used it for everything from servo power to my machine to spindle power to speaker wire..heeh

Anywho..

b./

[wcarrothers1]

also avoide kinking turns that will bend back and forth at a focused spot. Try to make bends that will loop or role.

b.

[CurtisU]

Generally speaking, you'll want to match the gauge of the motor wires, but definitely not solid stuff. When I bought my HobbyCNC board I purchased wire from them also... I think it's 18AWG.

Curtis

[georgeburns]

What voltages are you sending on the wire? You could use some standard RS-232 or printer cable and strip them or leave them whole. They handle between 5 and 12 volts no problem... however low amperage.

[SPEEDRE]

Thanks to all. I at least have a start.

[Gir]

What voltages are you sending on the wire? You could use some standard RS-232 or printer cable and strip them or leave them whole. They handle between 5 and 12 volts no problem... however low amperage.

The wire itself should be able to handle a few amps (assuming 28 gauge), and voltage doesn't matter until you reach a few hundred. Put two in parallel and you can handle 3-4 amps very safely. They should handle upwards of 10 amps before they start to overheat/melt.

The reason voltage doesn't really matter is because it's just power dissipation. The wire has resistivity, so the longer and thinner it is, the more resistance you have. Power = Voltage * Current, and Voltage = Current * Resistance. The voltage we're talking about is the voltage drop across the wire, which is determined by the current and resistance, thus voltage doesn't matter. You wind up with Power = Current * Current * Resistance. You only start running into issues with voltage when it has the potential to break down the insulation and such, but the main problem is on the connector where it's easy to short/arc. Arcs are about 1kV/mm in somewhat low humidity, IIRC.

22 gauge wire and lower is what you want. Putting two 28 gauge wires in parallel gets you about a 22 gauge wire. Personally, I'd go with as low as you reasonably can to ensure less voltage drop on the line. 15-18 gauge is good.

Hope that clears up a few things for you.

[SPEEDRE]

Well yes, in a way. Now I need a good place to by it that uses PayPal. Any suggestions??.