Silicone Topcoat Wire - Exists?

[Ginsly]

Now that Barry's Best hookup wire is officially RIP, I'm trying some different styles/brands. I think it makes sense to stick with stranded 24awg since I work with different sized pads from pcbs to stripboard to perf. The Weico from AES is nice, and I was looking at some of those Remington assortments too.

I've noticed that although the stranded silicone-sleeved wire I've found is tinned, it doesn't have a topcoat that bonds all of the little whiskers together - that's important. The wires that do have a topcoat all seem to have PVC jackets, like the Weico and Remington.

Why is that? I'd love to have some 24awg stranded, topcoat wire with a soft, heat-resistant jacket. I could of course just tin the ends of some non-topcoat silicone wire, but it's a little too noodle-like without that topcoat running along the entire length. I need it to kinda hold its shape somewhat, especially in stripboard builds.

 

[iamjackslackof]

I've always wanted tinned bonded silicone wire, but never found any. I've not looked in a year or 2 though.

 

[Nostradoomus]

it doesn't take much to just strip, twist, and bond your wires yourself...just sayin lol

 

[Feral Feline]

Fire off some emails to, and request sample packs from:

Cable Products | Standard | Alpha Wire

Alpha Wire cable products provide high performance for a variety of applications

www.alphawire.com

https://www.weicowire.com/prebonded-ul1007-ul1569-300v-105c-pvc-hookup-wire.html#simple_1396

(alas, PVC, didn't see a silicone option but wasn't looking for it either)

...and whatever other wire-companies you can sniff out.


I'm not entirely sure, but I thought Barry was sourcing his wire from Alphawire.



I've got a bit of the pre-bond left, but I've been using some other stuff that's not prebonded (got it on sale) and the PVC outer melts if you stare at it too hard — but that's what I've been using and just as Nostradoomus says: stripping down, getting twisted, and bonding with that wire.

 

[Ginsly]

it doesn't take much to just strip, twist, and bond your wires yourself...just sayin lol

Indeed, but like I mentioned - the topcoat adds some rigidity all along the length of the wire, which would be nice. The non-bonded silicone wires are like spaghetti!

I'm not entirely sure, but I thought Barry was sourcing his wire from Alphawire.

Huh, is that right? Barry’s best has PVC coating, but it’s really nice to work with. Wonder why he stopped carrying it.

 

[giovanni]

May be a long shot, but have you checked Adafruit?

 

[jwin615]

Teflon/PTFE coated Mil-spec single core silver plated copper baby. M16878/4 type E(UL1213)or type EE(UL1170); avoid type ET as it's super thin wall insulation can be tedious to strip without getting into the wire, at least IMO. It's also so thin, it's easily nicked. I would only use ET for bodge wire. There's a little learning curve in stripping it but once you master that, it's so nice to work with. If I knew you were in the market, I would've sent you a sample. Teflon is nearly as heat resistant as silicon(200+C with SPC) but way tougher, hence the little bit of learning curve in stripping. There's also a spec of ptfe wire that is 7 strand SPC conductor, so it's a little more flexible and crushable but stray strands aren't really an issue.
Theres a few sellers on eBay but I usually go through Apexjr com

 

[Ginsly]

May be a long shot, but have you checked Adafruit?

Oddly, their wire listings don't specify what the jacket material is! I assume PVC...

Teflon/PTFE coated Mil-spec single core silver plated copper baby. M16878/4 type E(UL1213)or type EE(UL1170); avoid type ET as it's super thin wall insulation can be tedious to strip without getting into the wire, at least IMO. It's also so thin, it's easily nicked. I would only use ET for bodge wire. There's a little learning curve in stripping it but once you master that, it's so nice to work with. If I knew you were in the market, I would've sent you a sample. Teflon is nearly as heat resistant as silicon(200+C with SPC) but way tougher, hence the little bit of learning curve in stripping. There's also a spec of ptfe wire that is 7 strand SPC conductor, so it's a little more flexible and crushable but stray strands aren't really an issue.
Theres a few sellers on eBay but I usually go through Apexjr com

Ah! Wasn't aware of this! Might be worth it, even if stripping is a bit of a hassle... That 7-strand PTFE wire sounds like a good fit, I'll check that out- thanks!

I didn't really take into account that I'm going to start using shielded wire for the In/Out jacks. Picked up some of that grey & blue shielded wire from AES, but might try some of this when that runs out. A couple people here recommended it.

 

[iamjackslackof]

it doesn't take much to just strip, twist, and bond your wires yourself...just sayin lol

It doesn't, but to me it's one of the more tedious parts, and often the difference between getting pedals built, and procrastinating by doing other stuff instead, like posting on forums

 

[finebyfine]

I’ve never found it in consumer quantities - I forget if I found it in bulk - but I’ve spent many hours looking. Following this thread with cautious optimism!

 

[giovanni]

Oddly, their wire listings don't specify what the jacket material is! I assume PVC...


Ah! Wasn't aware of this! Might be worth it, even if stripping is a bit of a hassle... That 7-strand PTFE wire sounds like a good fit, I'll check that out- thanks!

I didn't really take into account that I'm going to start using shielded wire for the In/Out jacks. Picked up some of that grey & blue shielded wire from AES, but might try some of this when that runs out. A couple people here recommended it.

I thought I had seen some silicone wire from Adafruit, here it is!

 

[Ginsly]

I thought I had seen some silicone wire from Adafruit, here it is!

If you look at the pics of it, there’s no topcoat sadly… It’s pretty much the same thing as those roll-boxes by Plusivo, etc…

Seems like this just isn’t a thing! But why?

 

[KreoPensas]

Silicone insulated wire changed my miserable existence.

 

[KreoPensas]

https://bntechgo.com/ I get boxes of 10 colors, 35 ft or 50 ft rolls. They do sell on Amazon, fwiw.

Not so sure about the topcoat but a simple twist of the insulation during stripping and the stuff behaves differently than other similar wire I've gotten from random Amazon vendors

 

[Ginsly]

https://bntechgo.com/ I get boxes of 10 colors, 35 ft or 50 ft rolls. They do sell on Amazon, fwiw.

They’re tinned strands, not topcoat bonded. Big difference. You can easily twist and bond the ends, but since it doesn’t have a topcoat running through the whole length it doesn’t hold shape.

 

[KreoPensas]

Definitely not tinned. It is plated.

I understand what you are trying to say.

 

[Ginsly]

Definitely not tinned. It is plated.

Regardless, no topcoat bonding all strands together unfortunately. Looking for that plus silicone- so far, no dice!

 

[Erik S]

Regardless, no topcoat bonding all strands together unfortunately. Looking for that plus silicone- so far, no dice!

Is the topcoat you’re talking about the same as “pre-bond”?

 

[giovanni]

Is this what you are looking for?

 

[GAStan]

Any particular reason not to use single strand/solid core, @jwin615 already mentioned some. I use 22awg solid extensively in my pedals, 20awg solid in my amps. VERY easy to work with. I use it with PVC insulation but am used to it. Not sure if it's available with Silicon.


A word about Teflon/PTFE insulation: do not breathe the fumes if you overheat it, it can cause symptoms that have been named "Teflon flue". It smokes at 450°F-500°F.