What type of wires do you guys use, and where do you buy it?

Title says it all: What type of wire do you guys use in your av-bays and where do you buy it?

Thanks.

I have a scrap box of various wiring that I've collected over the years - a lot of times I pull something out of there. I try to use something in an appropriate gauge but I'm usually not too picky, and I tend to use stranded over solid core if I can.

But on "nice" projects when I'm going a bit more first-class, I often buy wires/connectors from Doghouse Rocketry. These are excellent, Doghouse is great to do business with, and they offer lots of other great items as well. I usually trim the wires to fit and so have a few lengths left over when the project is finished. Guess where those scrap lengths end up?

s6

If I'm not using prepared cables like the ones from Doghouse Rocketry, I use the 24-ga. stranded wire from Cat-5 network cables. I'm an IT network guy, so we always have a lot of scrap laying around.

I use the wires from the ematches. 22 gage solid. As I use new wires for every flight, the solid/stranded is not an issue.

Rocketjunkie said:

I use the wires from the ematches. 22 gage solid. As I use new wires for every flight, the solid/stranded is not an issue.

Click to expand...

I use this as disposable wiring. New wire each launch, also. I learned this from Tom and I have never had a failure.

I use 20-24 gauge silicon wire. Works great and is very flexible to put into small spots.


Sent from my iPod touch using Rocketry Forum

For my 6.0" Mad Dog, I used 22 gauge multi-strand wire from radio Shack.
For others I have recycled e-match wires.

JD

Rocketjunkie said:

I use the wires from the ematches. 22 gage solid. As I use new wires for every flight, the solid/stranded is not an issue.

Click to expand...

What I do.

cwbullet said:

I use this as disposable wiring. New wire each launch, also. I learned this from Tom and I have never had a failure.

Click to expand...

What I will start doing, good idea and it's free insurance.

conman13 said:

I use 20-24 gauge silicon wire. Works great and is very flexible to put into small spots.


Sent from my iPod touch using Rocketry Forum

Click to expand...

I use this stuff too. I try to do a large combined order from Hobby King, which includes several LiPo's, velcro tie-downs, JST connectors, a battery charger, etc. You can buy silicone wire in various gauges, usually less than $1 per meter.

On all one of my AV bays, I have used wiring from Dog House. So far I'm 2 for 2 on launches.

Nate

After some issues with my setup, I switched from 24 gauge stranded to 20 gauge stranded, which fits perfectly into the terminal screws on the SL100. I purchased 5 spools of it in different colours, which is great for tracing in my wiring harnesses. I opted to go to 20 gauge, instead of 22 as there is no downside to a bigger gauge in this application, that is within reason.

COrocket said:

I use this stuff too. I try to do a large combined order from Hobby King, which includes several LiPo's, velcro tie-downs, JST connectors, a battery charger, etc. You can buy silicone wire in various gauges, usually less than $1 per meter.

Click to expand...

+3 on the silicone wire. +2 on JST connectors, lipos and chargers


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

I am just starting to plan/work on my first AV bay. Is there any reason why speaker wire wouldn't work? The stuff I have is 16 or 18 gauge. Will that be too thick?

kjkcolorado said:

I am just starting to plan/work on my first AV bay. Is there any reason why speaker wire wouldn't work? The stuff I have is 16 or 18 gauge. Will that be too thick?

Click to expand...

The 16g speaker cable I am familiar with is also lamp cord. It will work electrically but is more conductor and more insulation that you'll need, and it will make wiring the AV bay a hassle. Conductors could be too big for some of the altimeter terminal blocks, and shoving the thick wires around seems like it would be a headache in a medium-size bay (54mm) and a real hassle in a smaller one.

I like the stranded Cat-5 salvage. Small and flexible, and stranded so that breaking a conductor is very unlikely. Twisted pairs in different colors so you can keep track of where everything is supposed to go, much less chance of making a goof like wiring the main charges to the drogue terminals. (That never happened to me, of course )

If you don't know an IT guy or have a few old cables lying around from the pre-Wifi days you can get it bulk/cut to length at the hardware store.

I use 20 gauge speaker wire from Radio Shack.

Hobby king and Radioshack.


TA

I use SAE J1128 TXL rated wire. I've got a bunch left over from building race car harnesses. The cross-linked insulation is very tough and resistant to abrasion. All of it was purchased from Waytek.

Bulk primary wire from truck shops, anything from 12 ga to 24 ga.

I use this stuff and at bottom of page for sale by the foot

https://doghouse.blastzone.org/connectors.html

michigander said:

I use this stuff and at bottom of page for sale by the foot

https://doghouse.blastzone.org/connectors.html

Click to expand...

I buy the altimeter kits from Doghouse as well as bulk wire by the foot.

Top notch stuff and Bill ships very promptly.

cwbullet said:

I use this as disposable wiring. New wire each launch, also. I learned this from Tom and I have never had a failure.

Click to expand...

That depends. I have a setup with plugged steel conduit which has a wooden plug hammered/epoxied into the base that holds a 7.5ml disposable plastic canister that has the ematch epoxied into the base. The canister press fits securely and the steel conduit is epoxied in a hole in the bulkhead. A very small hole is in the wooden plug. Sooooooo............ The ematch wire runs directly to the altimeter. Fresh wire each time as it is the ematch wire directly.

Now if you run wires from the altimeter to terminal blocks on the bulkheads, the wires can get repeatedly bent up and strained at the connectors from accessing the ebay to change batteries, access sockets to download data etc. Lockswitch wires can be repeatedly stressed by going in and out of the ebay and sliding a sled back and forth. No matter what wire one uses, solid or stranded, it behooves one to keep tabs on the condition because eventually you should change out the internal wiring or you are going to have a failure.

I should also clarify that repetitive stress on the wires is more of a problem with small less than 5 inch ebays where the wires are more likely to get bent repetitively at 90 degree angles.

There's advantages to both rationales. Once one runs internal wiring to switch blocks from the altimeter to terminal blocks on the bulkheads, as long as the appropriate blocks are wired (apogee for apogee, main for main) one can be sure the ematch is going to the right channel.

With disposable wiring, using the ematch wires themselves with a small pass-through hole, one gets "fresh wires" each time but one has to make danged sure the right channel is connected appropriately each time to prevent a main at apogee event.

Prefect at my club "knocked off" a dozen holders for me in 15 minutes. Stuck the wooden plugs in the bases and hammered one end square. I added PowerPoxy weld to the end for additional strength. When the charge blows the plastic base remains intact and nobody in our club has ever experienced blowback into the ebay.

I have a Dominator 4 with the real nice two canister ebay metal lids/bulkheads and I found a plastic canister that fits the holders so I don't have to worry about blowback into the humongous hole at the base of the charge holder. This was a first iteration fo the kit that was a $250.00 special from years ago. Kurt

When I was 16, I bought an old giant radio/record player/stereo thing and tore it apart. Seemed like miles of wire in that bad mutha! I've been using that stuff for nigh on 20 years for various things now.
-Ken

20 AWG https://products.conwire.com/item/1...5-176-c-300-volts-csa-tr-64-90-176-c-wire/820

I order 2 conductor locking connectors (part # CON-240) with leads from AllElectronics.com and use those ebay wiring.

I use ematch wire as well, but I'm confused why you'd replace it every flight, unless you just like tinkering. My 54 mm ebay has probably 100 launches on it, no problems.

So, now my look at theory....

insulation is rated on the voltage and current (heat) it will take. 9 v not a problem...
it's solid and not stranded, so motion of the wire might be problematic if it was moving independent of the components it's attached to, so not a problem (unless you fly it into the ground, where it won't matter)
It's copper and only gets intermittent use, much less then the copper wires existing happily in my first apartment, which is now about 60 years old, so not a problem

I could be wrong, I'm mot a electrical engineer....