Source for flexible, stranded wire

Question

Can someone suggest a source and part number for insulated, stranded small-gauge wire (around 22AWG) that is flexible and doesn't hold its shape? Something along the lines of the wire found on multimeter probes. I want something to connect to my bench power supply that will lay flat on the workbench; standard stranded hookup wire is too stiff and retains the shape of the spool. When searching Mouser, there are multiple choices for stranding, jacket material, and wire type, but I don't know how to correlate those to my needs.

Thanks! Brian

Answer 1

For how little of it I use, I usually just run to Radio Shack and pick up whatever stranded wire they have in the electronic component section. If you're in the U.S., that should be sufficient. By the time you pay shipping, you're not saving any money getting it from Mouser, and if you're not using it in large quantities there's no bulk pricing advantage.

The other thing you can do is look for other types of wire. I've used speaker wire in a pinch for things like power. You can usually find pretty thin, stranded speaker wire at most general-goods retailers (Wal-Mart, for example) or electronics specialty retailers. As long as it's just for power, it should be quite sufficient. Again, it probably won't be any more expensive and will save you time to go pick this up at the store rather than order it from Mouser.

If you just want a few feet, I'd be tempted to hit up my local hardware store. They usually have stranded wire by the foot. You might have to settle for something of a slightly larger size, but my local Home Depot and Lowe's (again, U.S. stores) have 22-ga stranded wire available by the foot.

Direct from Mouser, well, there's a whole ton of options. The following link will show you all 22-ga hook-up wire options on 100' spools that Mouser sells. There are 205 results returned, they should in large part be sufficient for your needs, and start at $20. You'll excuse me if I don't go through each one individually: http://www.mouser.com/Wire-Cable/Wire-Single-Conductor/_/N-5ggs?P=1z0jnerZ1z0juksZ1z0wxmfZ1yzvwzvZ1z0xg0i

If there are smaller spools available, I missed them. Also, you could easily use other wire gauges as well (20, for example).

FWIW, I have taken solid-core wire and wound it "backwards" around a spool to remove the curves, and other objects can be used to give it other shapes (as well as simply pinching). I find that 22ga wire can be bent to pretty much any shape I want this way, if that helps.

Answer 2

So that you understand why test lead wire meets your needs where general purpose wires don't:

Wire flexibility is determined by two things:

• The wire
• The insulation

The insulation aspect is pretty easy to understand - the stiffer the insulation, the stiffer the wire. Test lead wire uses a tough, but very pliable rubber for insulation, so not only is it flexible, it's also heavy so it drapes on the workbench rather than standing up stiffly where it's stressed.

The wire is a little bit more interesting.

Notice that the test lead wire has the property:

Stranding
Gauge   Strands/Gauge
18      65/36

If you look at a comparable standard stranded hookup wire you'll find this parameter as:

Stranding
Gauge   Strands/Gauge
18      16/30

This means that the test lead wire is composed of 65 individual 36 awg wires, while the appliance wire (which is still pretty flexible, just not limp noodle flexible) only has 16 wires of 30 awg each.

With AWG gauges when you drop the gauge by 3 (ie, from 30 to 33 gauge) the area of a slice of the wire (thin disc) drops by a factor of 2 (which, among other things, means the current carrying capacity drops by 2). This area affects the stiffness similarly, so from 30 gauge to 36 gauge, the wire's flexibility increases by almost 4 times, while the current carrying capacity decreases by 4 times.

Of course, that also means you need over 4 times the number of wires (more than 4x since it's not solid copper) to attain the same 'awg' gauge.

But the flexibility increase is worth the extra cost for many applications.

So when you're looking for wire, keep in mind that this parameter (strands/awg per strand) is important.

Answer 3

I think this is what you want, http://www.bulkwire.com/product.asp?ProdID=21718&CtgID=6578 I was looking for teflon wire for a project, but noticed they seemed to have a decent selection of other types of wire. No idea if they are the best price, but seem reasonable (I welcome feedback on this). They only seem to have 18 gauge wire but it is the type of wire you are asking about. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

I use this wire:

http://www.rapidonline.com/Cables-Connectors/Equipment-Wire/Test-Cable/Extra-flexible-cable/62327/kw/flexible+cable