Solid Wire Arduino Project

[happy-kat]

Sorry to ask such a basic question but is solid core wire of this specification good for a Anrduino project powered either from a 9v battery or 12v one please?

Conductor Area CSA: 0.28mm²

Jacket Material: PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)

Conductor Material: Copper

External Diameter: 1.2mm

Voltage Rating: 1kV

No. of Strands x Strand Size: 1 x 0.6mm

Conductor Make-up: 1 / 0.6mm

Current Rating: 1.8A

Primary Insulation Thickness: 0.3mm

[happy-kat]

I have compared specs across diffent sellers and they seem to be the same so I have gone for them

[Ags]

I never knew wire was so complicated... :-(

[happy-kat]

I am in right at the deep end but so want to do this so having a go.

Just added a breadboard to my goods so can test stuff out before commiting.

[jarl72]

Well... it all depends on what the wire for. If whatever you are planning to do with the arduino will imply movement solid wire may not be your best option.

[happy-kat]

Thank you for replying.

The finished project itself won't be moving at all.

[Ajohn]

If you compare the diameter with fuse wire you will know how much current it would take to  blow it.  Seems to be about 15 amps according to the wiki. That might sound like a silly comment but it will probably take more current than the contacts in your breadboard are likely to.  Solid wire has better high frequency characteristics than stranded so can take more current for the same diameter if any of that is involved.

Really the size you need comes down to the bread board. They are usually designed to make good contract with  wire of the same sort of diameter as leaded components have. I have solder 0.55mm tinned copper wire to the end of stranded wire and that was ok.

 I would guess you would have no real problems running a couple of amps through it over short distances but I doubt if the contacts in your breadboard are really suitable for that.

John

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[Gina]

I have often used solid tinned copper wire for wiring up an Arduino breadboard to test out an idea before building a permanent project.  The right size wire will fit into the Arduino sockets and the breadboard sockets (same size).

[Ajohn]

If some one want to get a reasonable figure for current carrying capacity  it could be worked out for the twin and earth cable used for wiring houses in relationship to the ratings in the fuse box but remember that these are ring mains but they still insist of the same size cable for spurs to a 13 amp socket so 2.5mm^2 is conservatively rated for 13 amps. Having seen work done on an electric vehicle charger though few sockets and plugs are really capable of taking 13 amps for long.  They get hot and fail. The cable is ok though. At the time MK plugs and sockets had the best chance of surviving.

Cable ratings are a rather woolly subject because it depends on their resistance and heat loss characteristics also it seems what they will be used for. I had to design a piece of equipment to discharge batteries at rather high currents and was told by a fellow of the IEEE to use 100 amps per inch^2 for solid copper bar parts of fairly short lengths.

John

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[happy-kat]

Thanks all for replying.

I will use the breadboard to test out how to wire up my toggle switchs and an led and my motor and a battery just to improve basic understanding of how connections work, that way hopefully I won't blow up my arduino uno and easydriver when I build the real thing.

The Arduino code for actual control will come after I get comfortable with understanding the connections. I have 3 websites book marked for motor control code two specifically for barn doors. So I won't need to write from scratch and I have already got my eclipse install working right for Arduino, that was hair pulling though.

[happy-kat]

The place on ebay I bought the wire from does educating kits, they look ideal and the £10 looks a fun learning gift for say age 8 and up.

[pete_l]

Single core wire is OK for breadboard development, where you just strip back the insulation and plug the wire into the required socket on the development board. Although removing the insulation without nicking the conductor (see below, about failures) can be quite difficult.

However, once you have the breadboarded design working, my preference is to use multi-strand wire for the "grown-up" version that will (hopefully) perform its duties for many years, without problems.

The reason is that the single core is quite thick and inflexible. Hence it is prone to snap if bent too much or at too small a radius. You might not notice the fracture right away, as the insulation can hold the conductors together just long enough for you to put the final screw in the project enclosure and declare the project "done!". The other problem is when the project it stuffed into its project box, the stiff wires can "fight back" and not go where you intend them to.

[Davey-T]

Bought solid wire, stranded wire and crimp on ends but ended up buying a big bundle of ready terminated cable in various configurations, much less faffing about

Dave

[happy-kat]

I had thought about the project box being a bit cramped and the wires a bit inflexible so thought when I got to that stage I might measure up for a bigger project box as I am not short on space on my mount.

Will keep that in mind re flexible wires does sound easier to make a neater packed box, ready made wires I like the sound of that even more :-)

[Ajohn]

I've done a lot of this sort of thing at work at times. Reading the comments about solid core wire or even tinned copper wire which is what I use mainly if using strip board there will be a lot less problems if the correct electronic tools are used.

Because links and components should be trimmed to length before they are soldered I generally bend one end of link over severely so that it goes hard down on the pad. That allows me to pull on the other end with a pair of pliers and do the same thing. Then trim and solder usually after I have done the lot with the pliers. Prior to soldering and trimming the leads go part across the pad and then have a vertical part that has to be trimmed off. The reason this should be done before soldering is that trimming then will stress the joint and they have been known to fail eventually because of this.

The same sort of thing can be done with components but not so much force as the leads might pull out.  With these it's more a case of an angled portion over the pad and the rest sticking up at a lesser angle. I did super clue components down for a  while but it makes replacing one rather difficult. 

This sort of wire really needs wire strippers. There are 2 main types. Both are a little like pliers. One has a series of holes for various sizes of wire. The other is more plier like and has 2 V notches on the end and a screw arrangement to set how far they close. These are fine if adjusted correctly. They should close just short of clipping the wire core. They will nick the wire if this isn't set correctly. They will also break very fine wire. The other type are better for that. There are also automatic strippers but these tend to cost far more if they are any good.

Electronic snips and pliers can cost rather a lot of money. RScomponents did do a cheap set that are well up to the sort of work they are intended to do - copper. Cut anything else with them and the snips will probably be ruined. Liddl have sold a set from time to time that is nearly as good - I use the snips from one of those sets for trimming my toe nails.

This is the RS set I use at home

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/plier-sets/0536458/

They are probably not up to intensive daily use but single items in that class cost more than the entire set.

The correct cable stripper for solid wire is one of these

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-strippers/5401509/

I find remembering which hole to use a pain while I'm working so use some like these but they do need careful setting and I think my current pair came off ebay or more likely a local electricians supplier.

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/cable-strippers/1585518/?origin=PSF_412527|alt

Soldering irons are a bit difficult. Ideally one is needed that can take 2 tips, one long cone pointed one and anther similar shape but a flat on the side of it for heavier joints. I use an ancient Weller soldering station ie comes with a stand. Their tips do wet out with solder, some don't.  I don't know what to suggest for that. I did use Antex at home once and they were ok but the tips don't last long.  A piece of soldering iron type sponge is needed as well. It's used wet to clean the tip while working. The cheapest station RS do now is £66 plus vat. That is here. Oddly I use a non digital version of this one at work after a Weller transformer went phut as a cost saving experiment and it was fine.

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/soldering-stations/7998939/

The trouble with soldering irons is that ideally they need a lot of watts for what they have to do but that means they need some sort of temperature control. Weller build that into all of there kit. Not sure about Antex. The one I used didn't it just settled at what ever temperature it reached flat out.

If some one wants to solder fine leaded surface mount parts such as micro's etc the size of the solder is important - it needs to be really fine. A flux pen can be handy as can silver loaded solder. The technique is to tack one corner down getting things as correct as you can and then align all of the pads and tack the opposite corned down. Then do the rest. If the first one goes too wrong heat it up again and move it. All best done under a stereo microscope so that the leads look like they are 2.5 mm or so apart. I feel a decent iron that keeps it's temperature up is essential for this. If pins are bridged desolder braid might help providing you put a bit of solder on it first. A solder sucker can also be useful but they need a lot of solder to suck in order to work. If something has to be removed it's often better to snip the leads and then remove one by one. Another way best for people who do a lot of that sort of thing is to flood the lot with solder, get the part off and then clean up the excess solder.

 All comes from having to try the latest micro and it's software  in an earlier controller and might include adding bits and "tracks" with wire wrap wire.  All good fun if only done occasionally.  I never was much good at removing quad flat packs so got the rework man to do that.

John

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[happy-kat]

Thanky you lots of information.

My partner has a soldering iron and I think we have the other bits we need as a minimun floating around, time will tell.

[happy-kat]

Most of the parts have arrived just got to order the motor and find gears.

The board is tiny! will have to get a new tip for the soldering iron.

[k9wis]

I bought a package of jumper from Adafruit for just a couple of bucks..

for my remote focuser project I got a small 5v stepper motor, a LM293 h-bridge IC, a mini bread board and a pack of 40 jumpers for $15. Adruinos can be found on ebay for $5. (God bless the Chinese). just need to add some buttons and a cable.

Good Luck and have fun.

Brian K9WIS