Ok for a while now I've been suing copper braid/mesh like pretty much everyone when doing spring mods. I have been looking at some of my older mods and seeing the green corrosion building up on them gave me second thoughts about continuing to use it. Not that I'm going to go through all my mods and remove it. But from now on out I'm using silver coated copper braid. Kawiboy was kind enough to send me some to try and it's easy to work with, transfers electrical current better and no more need to worry about the buildup of corrosion.
This is just one place of many that sell it so you can probably find it cheaper someplace else.
It seems to hold solder perfectly and it’s still flexible. It’s very easy to work with. It comes in different sizes as well. I don’t see it snapping off either.
That is exactly what I use. Works very well. Pure Copper.
Theoretically speaking, you can connect a copper part to another copper part using Solid gold, your end result is that the flow will only be as good as the weakest link. Copper.
So silver tarnishes when just in contact with Air?? Actually I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. Silver is a “noble” metal and will tarnish when it comes in contact with sulfur however even then it’s relatively slow process. Yes silver can corrode or tarnish which is a form of corrosion. But I dare anyone to use copper mesh and silver mesh and see which one is still in good shape a year later. Also silver will transfer electricity faster than copper. So I still say that you will NOT have a problem with corrosion and that it WILL transfer electrical current faster.
I suppose if you live someplace that has a ton of sulfur in the air then you wouldn’t want to use it, but other than that silver mesh is NOT going to corrode while inside a flashlight the way that the copper mesh that so many people are using does.
I didn’t come here to argue with anyone. I was just hoping to make a small contribution to this forum. I hope that this will help someone anyway.
Everyone has their own style and opinion on these things, but BLF is great because we get to hear ideas from a lot of bright (and not so bright) individuals. Each can judge for himself what he deems to be valuable.
There is nothing wrong with challenging an idea, but I think you'd better have a little bit more than just pure speculation to back it up. Sometimes on the other forum I see a lot of "much ado about nothing" where groups of people who have absolutely no real experience with the subject at hand sit around and attack an idea. Criticism is good, as long as it helps everyone involved improve. I definitely have posted my fair share of ideas that have turned out to be wrong and others have called me on it and helped me learn along the way.
It could be nickel plated too. I may give that a shot. Nickel isn't as conductive, but afaik, it doesn't have corrosion issues. I think the way to go is to put on a thick copper coating on the spring instead of using braid, then a thin nickel coating to prevent corrosion.
Flow for me = Electrons passing through the material. My goal is the least resistance and best suited for the application. For the spring, it needs to be flexible and easy to solder.
By having less resistance, I can increase amperage or just improve the amperage flow of the stock set up. Leading me to a more efficient circuit and possible higher output with lower temperatures.
But you deal with two types of resistance. Contact resistance due to corrosion and contamination, and resistance within the material. Ideally you'd use pure gold, but I don't even want to know how much that costs. What's the best compromise? Would coating copper braid with Deoxit be enough to prevent corrosion and still have low contact resistance?
This is what we use on our High Speed Machining Center’s that’s what 18SIXFIFTY is using.
Silver plated copper wire from Arcor Electronics is composed of a copper core, covered by concentric silver plating. This construction combines the benefits of using copper wire – namely the conductivity – with the high corrosion resistance that comes from silver plating.
Features of Silver Plated Copper Braids
Applications of silver plated wires include colored wires, textile wires, micro cables, and more. Some of the most sought-after features of silver-plated copper wire include:
High level of conductivity
Improved heat resistance
Resistant to corrosion
Shiny, bright surface
When to Use Silver Plated Copper Wire
Arcor’s tubular silver plated copper wire is identical to braids outlined in MIL SPEC QQ_B-575(REV.), except that the individual wires are plated with silver, conforming to ASTM B298 standard—40 microinches minimum of silver plating. These wires are excellent for use when exceeding 200 degrees Celsius or where special resistance to corrosion is required.
We offer a wide variety of sizes for this type of wire, a range of wires per strand, and up to 864 wires total.
For additional information about our silver-plated copper wire, or if you have any questions about the products we offer, contact Arcor Electronics today.
