Thinly insulated wires

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

I’m on the topic of thinly insulated wires.
I read some relevant topics:

I also did searching on my own……

Found 2 companies that manufacture thin silicon wires:
Silikon- Einzellitze / 0,5mm² rot / Typ"NEG", 0,75 € (0.5 mm² 1.6 mm diameter)
https://m-el.eu/download/oeffentlich/Katalog2018.pdf (0.5 mm² 1.5 mm diameter)

As well as many that do thin teflon/tezfel/tkt/… ones.

The problem is: I want to buy small quantities, have cheap shipping to EU and not extremely expensive unit price. And stranded. I can’t find anything that meets all the criteria….
I’m interested in getting different sizes, but to ease the search I concentrated on 20 AWG/0.5mm². It’s not perfect somehow some wires are better at small thicknesses while other at large ones but considering individual thickesses looks like overkill.

OK, let’s define the baseline. Raychem Spec 55 wire at 0.5 mm² has 1.27 mm diameter. Quite popular, expensive, can’t find a reasonable source for small quantities. If I could, I’d love to get it.
There are a few thinner ones as well, I’d love them even more but I can’t find the sources either.
I found that people recommend http://johnswireshop.com but it doesn’t have reasonable shipping to EU and has 1.46 mm diameter for 0.5 mm², quite thick for PTFE.
Aliexpress has several sellers offering PTFE wires with 1.5 mm diameter, I view that as really thick. There’s also 1.4 mm (± 0.11), but available in transparent insulation only. And I see other offers with seemingly the same item claiming 1.5 mm, so I’m not about to jump on it….

Any suggestions?

2

Maybe you could start a group buy and get the wire you really want? You’d have to buy the whole length of wire, then measure and cut it to the lengths people want, and re-ship those to the final destinations. Can you get a good enough price that it’s worth all that to you?

3

How many meters do you need ?

Can't promise anything right now but if you don't need a lot i might help with thin white PTFE wire

4

I haven’t though about that. It’s certainly an option. Though I hate packing and sending parcels…

Uhm….need? 1m per size.
But 5m/size is a reasonable order as well…

5

Ok i'll come back to you after the weekend ! ;-)

6

Raychem is the best that you can get.

If you don’t need the mil-aero traceability it is affordable.

Look to a high-end motorsport supplier. This is what they all use, and what I specify, for good reason.

Thankfully I get offcuts and end of reels for free :wink:

Works great in a marine environment too, though not explicitly designed for that. The thick silver plate over very good copper is fundamental to that, the insulator is very good, but you do also have to know how to use and terminate it nicely. Good soldering, crimping and heat-shrinking skills and training help, but it is easy with this stuff, it is so nice.

In a controlled environment, where every detail is designed, specified, engineered, tested, qualified, operators trained, it is a system. That works, perfectly.

But even outside this it is great stuff that you can just crack-on and use however, if you can get your hands on it (may become more difficult with what’s going on with the madness of the world ATM)

A well-designed harness made from Raychem can save many kilos, work much better, fit into spaces that may not have seemed possible, which is massive in motorsport , and also save many many kilos in bigger things, which is huge in aviation. And trustworthy.

A few bits of wire in a torch, not so much.

7

I get mine from this vendor. The wire is shipped from China. So maybe shipping will be free/affordable to you.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Temperature-Teflon-PTFE-Silver-Plated-Wire-14-16-18-20-22-23-24-26AWG-5-ZX/152601990069?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I can't testify to it's quality. All I can say is that I like it. It takes solder well, which is important to me. I only have clear sheathing. My only complaint is that the sheathing does not mark well for positive/negative. I use a small piece of tape, but even tape can come off easily.

8

For marking what we do is to put small rings of color heat-shrink tubes on the cables. If you use the right size they won't slip. Easy and durable !

9

Ok here is what i have :

  • GA20 total diameter 1.32mm White
  • GA22 total diameter 1.10mm White
  • GA24 total diameter 0.95mm Black, Red
  • GA26 total diameter 0.80mm White

All 19 strands,silver plated, PTFE insulated, diameters are hand measured (so+/- a few 1/100th mm)

Beware that this cable is stiffer than the usual "plastic" insulated one and requires the right tool for stripping the ptfe layer, too big and it won't work, too small and it will start to cut some strands that will break sonner or later.

PM me with your adress and i'll send you a length of each.

Note : I am not a seller and don't want to be, only doing that to help BLF member

1 Thank
10

Thanks Kame Sennin, I haven’t expected such offer. :slight_smile: PM will come soon.

11

Agro, what do you think of the wire? Was any traditional supplier ever found?

12

I’ve got the wires from Kame Sennin. I didn’t seek another source.

What do I think?

  • thin :slight_smile:
  • stiff
  • slippery
  • hard to strip with my cheap tools. I ended up making careful knife cuts to weaken the insulation before applying a stripper. I sometimes damage strands nevertheless.

Overall - not easy to work with but they do the job very well, I’m happy. :slight_smile:

13

Flexibility is often times very handy. Maybe overkill for majority of uses?

14

This is exactly what to expect from Teflon insulated wires. :wink:

You can buy Teflon insulated wire on eBay in various lengths and standard gauges. Mountain Electronics also sells some, but only 26AWG size. The rest of his wires are all Silicone insulated, which makes them more flexible and easier to strip, but also a bit thicker.

15

Has anyone tried Raychem Spec 80 wires so far? They are spec 55 insulation over much finer conductor, f.e. AWG20 uses 154 conductors instead of 19. Somewhat thicker (1.35 mm rather than 1.27) but probably easier to work with…

1 Thank