18Watt.com

I just started wiring my 36w with 20 gauge. Is that sufficient?

Yes.

does copper/aluminum make a huge difference?

Copper is the standard for audio applications.

bummer. I ordered a bunch of wire copper from antique electronics and I need to look closer but im am 95% sure that it is aluminum. I dont think it is pre-tinned. Ill check when I get home but its a bummer cause I was gonna wire up my amp this weekend.

macombaland wrote:bummer. I ordered a bunch of wire copper from antique electronics and I need to look closer but im am 95% sure that it is aluminum. I dont think it is pre-tinned. Ill check when I get home but its a bummer cause I was gonna wire up my amp this weekend.

I don't think Antique Electronics even sells aluminum wire. It's probably copper that you bought. Aluminum wire isn't used much except for power transmission lines and things like that, as far as I know.

Ill have to check when I get home. I might be crazy and I was working in a somewhat dark room but I hope I'm wrong.

Copper wire is not necessarily copper-colored...

aluminum doesn't solder either, at all, so there's no way hobby electronics places could sell it...
it must be tinned, and hence "silver" colored

I have just restocked my amp building wire.
I have decided in future to use solely copper conductors - non tinned.
Experience has taught me that non tinned copper not only 'sucks' the solder to itself easier and quicker, it also proves visually that it is coated as it changes colour.

The term 'tinned' is a bit of a misnomer as there are two types of tinning.

Transformer manufacturers commonly use a conductor that is 'pre-tinned' with solder. That is excellent material to use, but very expensive.
The issue with bare copper is that it will naturally corrode, but with the methods used in amp building there should not be any copper left exposed.

Steve UK
www.valvepower.co.uk

macombaland wrote:I just started wiring my 36w with 20 gauge. Is that sufficient?

More than sufficient, even for heater wiring..20 AWG will handle up to 11 AMPS ! You could wire up 80-90 % of a 100 watt amp using 30 AWG.

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

interesting link PCollen...
i see from the table "skin effect" doesn't even start to apply to wire in audio applications till about 18 gauge and fatter. (based on the upper limits of average human hearing ability, 17khz or so, in my case less more like 12 khz)

and 22 gauge yields 16 ohms per a thousand feet. if you figure an amps got maybe 10 feet of wire in it that is pretty negligable(0.16 ohms total right?)
i appreciate links that can inject a bit of understandable science and rationale into the amp building thing

Quote: "I have decided in future to use solely copper conductors - non tinned.
Experience has taught me that non tinned copper not only 'sucks' the solder to itself easier and quicker, it also proves visually that it is coated as it changes colour. "

I have never had an issue with pre-tinned wire.After more than 150 amps.
I have had issues with non-tinned wire.
Your statement does not make sense to me.I solder all my connections in a high-light magnified environment and do not see any advantage to using non-tinned copper wire at all.

phsyconoodler wrote:Quote: "I have decided in future to use solely copper conductors - non tinned.
Experience has taught me that non tinned copper not only 'sucks' the solder to itself easier and quicker, it also proves visually that it is coated as it changes colour. "

I have never had an issue with pre-tinned wire.After more than 150 amps.
I have had issues with non-tinned wire.
Your statement does not make sense to me.I solder all my connections in a high-light magnified environment and do not see any advantage to using non-tinned copper wire at all.

What issues have you had with non-tinned wire ?

Where you have two conductors in one terminal, particularly one on top of the other e.g. on valve base terminals it can look fine from above, but after looking closely sometimes the bottom conductors are not entirely covered in solder or are coated on one side and need reflowing, I haven't experienced the same phenomena with non tinned copper. It also needs less heat to flow the solder, which must be a good thing ?
I too have built 100's of amps and after using a mixture of tinned and non tinned, I just prefer non-tinned. Except for the transformer wire I mentioned which is actually solder coated/tinned.

Steve UK
www.valvepower.co.uk

fwiw -

In my limited experience, it's the solder that conducts heat the most efficiently... I even prefer to use the solder rather than the tip to apply the heat itself. I.e. I try not to even touch the iron tip to the wire i'm soldering, I'd rather build a coat of solder on the tip, touch the coat of solder to the wire, hold it so that the solder conducts heat to the wire until the wire accepts the solder, and then back the tip off the wire. I find that pieces accept solder quickly this way, and I don't damage componentry by leaving the tip on the workpiece for a long amount of time.

that being said, I never really had an issue with tinned vs. not tinned but I would imagine tinned would be easier to work with, because there's already a layer of solder to do the heat conduction.

ymmv.

supah wrote:I even prefer to use the solder rather than the tip to apply the heat itself. I.e. I try not to even touch the iron tip to the wire i'm soldering, I'd rather build a coat of solder on the tip, touch the coat of solder to the wire, hold it so that the solder conducts heat to the wire until the wire accepts the solder, and then back the tip off the wire. I find that pieces accept solder quickly this way, and I don't damage componentry by leaving the tip on the workpiece for a long amount of time.

I have to say that this is one of the strangest approaches to soldering I've encountered. I don't see how you could possibly get consistent and good results but as long as you do, then carry on.

KennyO
soldering electronics since 1962 and still learning