Tinned appearance of 18 gauge copper cable wire?.

[mjwalsh]

Has anyone ever had problems with 18 gauge wire that comes in a cable from our various distributors? I notice that from my samples that some are tinned. One sample is a 25 conductor that is actually underground cable. The underground cable is not tinned & looks like it is all copper in appearance. The jackets both inside & out also appear more durable.

At one time a leading expert suggested that 22 gauge Beldon is better up to 100 feet than 16 gauge that is tinned. Back in 1987 with our at that time brand new car wash equipment, an electrician put in 16 gauge TFFN all the same color but were meticulously numbered. It seems like distinctive colors along with the numbers would be an improvement. I don't believe we have had any quality issues with that particular wire.

Some of the control wires will be going direct to a PLC module if that makes any difference.

 

[bigleo48]

Cables are a specialty and often misunderstood. The first cable you mention would likely be a 25 pair cable. They have a color coding system per 5 pairs or blue, orange, green, brown & slate, stripped with bundled colors of white, red, black, etc. Low frequency or DC signals traverse the wire evenly, while higher frequency signals travel on the outside of the conductor. So for cost savings, higher frequency cables can have an aluminum core and a copper clad. I also believe that for underground cables, copper is better than aluminum for galvanic reasons.

Underground cables usually are better armored, can contain a flooding compound that will excrete that goo if the cable's sheath gets cut or damaged and thus prevent water ingress and damage to the conductor. I would choose this type of cable for carwash applications.

BigLeo

 

[Burky]

Cables are a specialty and often misunderstood. The first cable you mention would likely be a 25 pair cable. They have a color coding system per 5 pairs or blue, orange, green, brown & slate, stripped with bundled colors of white, red, black, etc. Low frequency or DC signals traverse the wire evenly, while higher frequency signals travel on the outside of the conductor. So for cost savings, higher frequency cables can have an aluminum core and a copper clad. I also believe that for underground cables, copper is better than aluminum for galvanic reasons.

Underground cables usually are better armored, can contain a flooding compound that will excrete that goo if the cable's sheath gets cut or damaged and thus prevent water ingress and damage to the conductor. I would choose this type of cable for carwash applications.

BigLeo

Is it ok to use aluminum for my multi conductor to the bay box from the equipment room for my self serve bays?? Didn’t realize it was aluminum until I started stripping the wire to connect...

 

[MEP001]

Aluminum will have a lot more voltage drop for a long distance than copper. Maybe search for a resource online to tell you what to expect.

 

[Greg Pack]

Looks like new member Burky wins the "old thread resurrection" award this week.