King Nothing Pedal

[dtjacob]

Quick question. Is 24 awg stranded wire heavy enough for King Nothing build???
Thanks....

 

[Twrog]

Quick question. Is 24 awg stranded wire heavy enough for King Nothing build???
Thanks....

Yes. It's what I used for all of the builds.

 

[otis5842]

Are you using a DC jack input, and if so, is the 24 AWG for power lines or for signal connections between components?

Sprunki​

 

[Tassieviking]

I use 0.5mm2 wire which is close to 20 AWG for all wiring and that is plenty big enough, 22 AWG is also good to use.
24 AWG is fine for powering 1 tube pedals and it should be ok for a 2 tube pedal since it is just a very short run.
If you are building a pedal with 3 or 4 tubes I would be using 22 AWG or even 0.5mm2 wire.
Please note that when I use 0.5mm2 wire which is close to 20 AWG it can be hard to get the wire to fit in the hole on the PCB, it will be a tight fit.
For the in and out wires 24 AWG is fine, it is just the power wires that carry the main load.

 

[Audandash]

I use 0.5mm2 wire which is close to 20 AWG for all wiring and that is plenty big enough, 22 AWG is also good to use.
24 AWG is fine for powering 1 tube pedals and it should be ok for a 2 tube pedal since it is just a very short run.
If you are building a pedal with 3 or 4 tubes I would be using 22 AWG or even 0.5mm2 wire.
Please note that when I use 0.5mm2 wire which is close to 20 AWG it can be hard to get the wire to fit in the hole on the PCB, it will be a tight fit.
For the in and out wires 24 AWG is fine, it is just the power wires that carry the main load.

So quick question on this, does it really matter since technically these power wires are getting 9v like most other pedals? I really don’t know so I am just playing devils advocate. Or is this one of those situations where its more about milliamps vs voltage? If it does then I will change my wiring habits in the future. I justwant to have a best practice for these.

 

[drew.spriggs]

So quick question on this, does it really matter since technically these power wires are getting 9v like most other pedals? I really don’t know so I am just playing devils advocate. Or is this one of those situations where its more about milliamps vs voltage? If it does then I will change my wiring habits in the future. I justwant to have a best practice for these.

All wire has resistance, and if it has resistance it will have an associated voltage drop. A meter of 24AWG has a total resistance of ~0.084 ohms. We know from ohms law that pulling an amp through the one meter loop will result in a drop of 0.084v across it (V=1*0.084), and we know from the power law that this wire will then have to dissipate 84mw (P=0.084*1) of heat across the length - pretty easy to do. You can see from the above calculations that changing the supply voltage doesn't make a difference, but changing the current does - as you double the current, you increase the power dissipated by 4 (P=VI, which also equals P=((I*R)*I) or P=I^2*R).

Even then, you need to be drawing SERIOUS current for 24AWG to be an issue - assuming normal amounts of wire between the jack and board, and for some outrageous reason you're drawing a whole amp the total voltage drop across the wire is <10mV as long as all your joints are good.

The bigger concern is with smaller diameter wires, you're more likely to snap them off just above the PCB joint with any movement - it's largely a mechanical issue than an electrical issue.

 

[Tassieviking]

So quick question on this, does it really matter since technically these power wires are getting 9v like most other pedals? I really don’t know so I am just playing devils advocate. Or is this one of those situations where its more about milliamps vs voltage? If it does then I will change my wiring habits in the future. I justwant to have a best practice for these.

The insulation type and thickness is the only thing that matters for the voltage, for current (amps) it is the thickness of the copper that matters.
For best practice I would go with better then 24 AWG for any pedal with tubes in it, but 20AWG might be too hard to get in the hole on the PCB.
Solid state pedals usually use very low amps but the heaters in the tubes use a fair amount to heat up, I always refer to the lawful standard but that's because I have worked as a licenced electrician all my life. Inside pedals we use a very short length of wire so they don't heat up very much but the same can be said for fuse wire until it reaches its design limit and it melts.
It is always better to have a wire that can handle more current then less, just remember that the amps in the tube pedal might not be that high but it is enough to heat the tubes up till they glow and can burn your skin.