Questions tagged [insulation]

An insulation or insulator, is a barrier of non-conductive material around electrical conductors and other circuit-components like resistors, capacitors, IC etc.

Insulator is an object made of non-conductor or bad-conductor substance., to ensure current flow in only the desired and correct pathway. As non-conducting substances, many-kind of subtances are used such as polymers ( plastic like P.V.C, Polystyrene, Cellophane, bakelite, etc , natural rubber, gutta-percha, synthetic rubber, paper, wood), Ceramics (Porcelain,china-clay, mica), etc. chosen in different shapes and thickness, depending upon the voltage-limits, temperature, mechanical disturbance etc. In cases of un-insulated (bare) wires; the dry air acts as insulator. The Circuit-boards' substrate is an insulator are commonly made up of complex mixture of insulating material (such as FR4). Synthetic Epoxy-resins widely used in different semiconductor devices.

In capacitors, an insulating layer between 2 parallel-plates used as di-electric, a term of static-electricity used to describe any substance between 2 charged particles, through-which the electrostatic attraction works.

Commonly, whitespace used as the symbol for insulation.

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What is electrical insulation tape officially for?

Seemingly obvious question, but. There are electrical supply companies that sell insulation tape in boxes of 12 or 24 units. Seems that there's quite a demand for the stuff. No commercial product I've ever seen uses insulation tape. They use…
Paul Uszak
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What is the reason for yellow tape on top of USB mini-B?

I have noticed that occasionally some USB mini-B connectors have what looks like a transparent yellow tape on their top. It might be Kapton tape, but I am not sure. As an example, please see the below image: (source) Usually, I leave this tape on. …
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Can silicone sealant be used to insulate and waterproof electronic components?

Well, can it, when it is in direct contact with the components and circuitry?
slashmais
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Why do ceramic insulators have a stacked disc structure?

I've seen these stacked-disc structures on high voltage power lines everywhere. I could not find any information regarding this particular shape, though. From what I've noticed, high voltage ceramic insulators only insulate conductors end-to-end…
everything1burrito
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Are there disadvantages of heat shrink tubing with higher shrink ratios?

Heat shrink tubing comes in various shrink ratios. The most common of which is 2:1, but there are also 3:1, 4:1 and higher. Assuming cost is the same, are there any disadvantages or consideration points when using higher ratios?
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Is hot glue a good insulator?

I need to mount some relays that I have soldered wires to. If I place them on a non-conductive surface and use a generous amount of standard glue from a hot glue gun, will that be relatively safe? I'll be running mains level voltage through the…
Matt Ruwe
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Why in the world would the tab on a TO-220 package have a connection to anything (but GND, if applicable)?

I know this is in some way a different version of the prior question In i.e. a TO-220 package, why is mounting the (pin connected) tab to case safe? But I am not looking for ideas what to do to mount a TO-220 (in my case an SCR that has the anode…
Gunther Schadow
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Should wires be tinned to under the insulation?

When tinning a wire with solder, is it better to allow the solder to go under the insulation (so long as it doesn't bulge or burn the insulation)? I've heard arguments for both, but never really got a final answer.
Stremdawg
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Electricity not conducted by copper wire

Im am quite stunned as to what might be wrong. electronics beginner I bought today some copper wire, 20SWG /0.9MM from maplin (UK), for a project I am working on. There is no power going through the wire. I got positive and negative of 9V battery…
Giannis
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Is kapton suitable for use as high voltage insulation?

I need to solder together some wires which will eventually run at about five kV, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to insulate the exposed leads. Heat shrink (my usual go-to) is apparently not rated above about 600 V. Kapton seems to be…
Yly
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What is a correct method to measure safe maximum voltage of a PCB?

I have a small (24 x 15 mm) PCB for a custom connector. It is intended for low voltage (< 48 VDC) applications, but I am interested in measuring it in order to provide customers a reasonable maximum voltage rating (de-rated of course). It is a 1.6…
JYelton
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What's the advantage of 'electrical tape' over 'regular' adhesive tape?

For covering copper wire and the like (whether it is carrying current or not), what's the advantage of applying electrical tape as opposed to 'normal' consumer adhesive tape (of similar thickness? How much of an improvement in insulation or other…
user22246
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What is the identity of this shiny insulator?

fig: Shiny layer I've seen many times, on metallic objects, a kind of insulator layer is given (I've tested its resistance with multimeter and it shows infinite ohms). The layer is greenish-gold in overall color, but have colored patches that may…
Always Confused
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How durable is the insulation on magnet wire?

I'm planning a light sculpture. It will consist of a large number of RGB LEDs mounted on a tree-like galvanized steel frame. Each LED has four wires -- GND, +5V, data-in and data-out. For aesthetic reasons, I would like to use magnet wire to…
Kevin Walker
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Third hand damages insulation

My third hand damages wires insulation because it's holding them too tight. Any tips how to avoid this?
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