[LionPlushie]

Hi guys,

Wishing to purchase the Vampire stranded cast copper wire, but i just saw the cheaper price for the Vampire single strand magnet wire. Wondering if there is any difference between the 2 and which is better.

Thanks.

 

[Emooze]

Magnet wire is solid and not meant for any sort of flexibility so if you're doing some internal wiring, it might be ok. Try to find the voltage ratings to make sure. But if you're making interconnects, go with something else.

 

[LionPlushie]

Hey thanks Emooze for your reply.

But was told to use Magnet wire to make LOD as they sounds great. If they are not flexible, is it better for me to get the stranded Vampire wire?

 

[jageur272]

Depends on the gauge of the wire. 26AWG solid wire and higher can be fine for interconnects. Anything bigger than that, stranded is the way to go for convenience (although I could care less for flexibility when I make interconnects, headphone cables are a different story though).

 

[LionPlushie]

Well. What's left for the solid wire are 20awgs. So i guess i shouldn't get those. But what about the SQ?

 

[Emooze]

The difference would be so minuscule that it would probably be overshadowed by the inconvenience. 20 AWG solid is barely going to flex and put a lot of stress on connectors.

 

[cobaltmute]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emooze /img/forum/go_quote.gif 20 AWG solid is barely going to flex and put a lot of stress on connectors.

You haven't done household electrical have you with 12 and 14ga.?

It will flex. The issue is more that you don't want to move it about a lot. To my knowledge, thick solid core is prone to cracking. That is not good in the long run and why you tend to have stranded in interconnects and solid in fixed installation.

 

[Emooze]

I was thinking more along the lines of a LOD. Portable amps and such don't typically have the most robust jacks.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Well, you could always go stranded AND magnet wire, i.e. litz.

1N34A has some nice 100/45SPSN for just 25 cents a foot (that's 100 strands of 45 gauge magnet wire with single polyurethane enameling and a single nylon serve).

The only drawback is that I don't recommend using litz wire unless you have or have access to a decent solder pot for tinning the ends before soldering it to your connectors.

se

 

[fzman]

magnet wire is enameled, and used primarily for winding transformers and inductors- where the wire will not be mechanically stressed, once wound.

the ccc copper sounds very good, and does well with audio cabling duties- leaving you with the comparisons of solid vs stranded, different gages of both, and different metalurgies for the two

 

[Steve Eddy]

Just an FYI, all copper wire today is made from continuous cast rod and has been for decades.

The Ohno continuous casting process (what's referred to as "OCC") included a heated mold so that the rod produced was essentially a single crystal.

However this process has absolutely nothing to do with the wire's electrical properties as crystal boundaries have no effect on electrical conductivity.

The reason for producing a single crystal wire rod was because when the copper is work hardened, as happens when it's being drawn into wire, the wire is most likely to crack or break at a grain boundary. This can be a problem when trying to produce very thin copper foils or very very fine copper wire.

What does effect electrical conductivity are defects (dislocations) in the crystal lattice itself, which are caused by work hardening. Or rather, the hardening is due to the dislocations. And OCC wire is no more immune to this than other continuous cast wire.

And in both cases, the dislocations due to work hardening can be eliminated by proper annealing of the wire after work hardening which is typically done with any wire intended for electrical use during the drawing process.

se

 

[johnwmclean]

“Looking at it another way, traditional copper has oxygen impurities of 200 to 500 parts per million (PPM), while traditional OFC copper reduces that to less than 10 PPM. With the OCC process, the figure is cut in half to less than 5 PPM of oxygen, and less than 0.25 PPM of hydrogen (compared to 0.5 PPM for OFC).”

Koyaan I. Sqatsi, although your conclusion is based on fact and science, there are many amongst who feel subjective analysis is viable alternative to a you hard line.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnwmclean /img/forum/go_quote.gif “Looking at it another way, traditional copper has oxygen impurities of 200 to 500 parts per million (PPM), while traditional OFC copper reduces that to less than 10 PPM. With the OCC process, the figure is cut in half to less than 5 PPM of oxygen, and less than 0.25 PPM of hydrogen (compared to 0.5 PPM for OFC).”

This is a complete misrepresentation of the Ohno continuous cast process, which I guess isn't surprising as the only places I've been able to find that text is on the websites of companies selling cables.

If you look at more of the blurb:

The OCC process for refining copper was developed and patented by Professor Ohno of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan and is licensed to our manufacturer for use in the production of wire and cable products for the audio/video industry.

This is ********. OCC is NOT a process for refining copper. OCC is a CASTING process.

While the copper may be "pure" in the sense of measuring gas impurities in the copper in comparison to standard copper refining techniques, Oxygen Free Copper (OFC) has undesirable effects that lead many to use more expensive materials such as silver for their conductive strands.

More ********.

As developed for A/V cable use, the OCC process utilizes a heated mold for casting and extruding, with cooling taking place in a separate process.

Again, more ********.

The Ohno continuous cast process was NOT developed for A/V cable use.

The result is a larger crystal size and increased purity that approaches the 6N, 99.9998%!

Approaches the 6N?

The regular old C101 OFHC copper produced by Phelps Dodge (now Freeport-McMoRan Bayway Operations) is certified 99.9999% pure. The full 6N. There's nothing special about 6N copper. And the last time I priced it from Phelps Dodge (about five years ago), it was selling for $1.10 a pound.

The benefits of using UP-OCC material in audio cables you get:

A true unidirectional copper crystal that is as free from impurities as possible to prevent corrosion

But apparently not as pure as readily available C101 OFHC copper.

And preventing corrosion? ********. UP-OCC is no less prone to corrosion than plain ol' ETP copper.

Low electrical resistance

Plain ol' ETP copper provides low electrical resistance as well.

Rapid signal transmission

No more rapid than with ETP copper.

Quote:

Koyaan I. Sqatsi, although your conclusion is based on fact and science, there are many amongst who feel subjective analysis is viable alternative to a you hard line.

Then why did you post this steaming pile of marketing ********?

se

 

[johnwmclean]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koyaan I. Sqatsi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Then why did you post this steaming pile of marketing ********? se

Cause I knew you’d waste 10 minutes of you life proving it was hyperbole

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnwmclean /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cause I knew you’d waste 10 minutes of you life proving it was hyperbole

Isn't that what's known as "trolling"?

se