Wired

John West

Senior Member
Yep - junk wire. Suitable in only certain situations. And likely NOT solderable. The audiophile guys who whine about the oxygen content of their copper speaker wire are gonna have a real screaming fit over this one.

Fortunately I have several spools of 22 gauge copper wire and I can parallel as much as I need in order to handle whatever current I have to deal with. Others likely aren't so lucky.

But keeping an eye on ever decreasing quality of materials is a fact of life in this day and age.

Ever since the day plastics came along things just ain't been the same. :(
 
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Rickharris

Senior Member
...

But keeping an eye on ever decreasing quality of materials is a fact of life in this day and age.

Ever since the day plastics came along things just ain't been the same. :(
Is that a yearning for bringing back double cotton covered wire?? Ah the good old days of rubber insulation and lead outer!

How did we all survive.
 

Dippy

Moderator
I don't get it, are they just saying it's X% cheaper but Y% worse?

And, as a huge aside sorry, it really is sad when people use materials prices to make massive increases in markups on end-products.

Article example: $49.95 "a few years ago" to £99.95 "or more" now.
In 2004 Copper USD ~$1.50 per pound weight
Now it's about ~$4 per pound.
So, if I have a pound of copper in my "amp kit" that should add $2.50 to the product. Hey, call it a fiver extra.

No, it's called pass-the-buck-whackup-markup. (and wages too of course).

Jeez, you can have fun with stats especially when the Public aren't savvy.;)
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Yep - junk wire.
Isn't it more the case - as for most other things - that there are applications where it is not ideally suited, other places where it suits just fine, and applications where it may be the best option ?

While CCA may be "junk" for particular applications it seems a wide-sweeping generalisation which is not correct.

Copper-clad wires don't seem particularly new though CCA does seem to have attracted more interest of late.

http://www.icf.at/en/6049/copper_clad_aluminium.html
 

techElder

Well-known member
For instance, I used to build very large "coils" (or solenoids) about 12 to 16 inches internal diameter (ID) for use in magnetizing heavy steel. This had to be applied and removed by hand.

I had to wind these coils with aluminum (AL-U-MIN-E-UM) wire for the weight factor. The conductance was OK if I didn't let the wire overheat.

Aluminum doesn't lend itself to soldering for field repair, so I had to use crimp-style connections throughout.

I would have killed for a cheap copper clad aluminum. Soldering would have made some things so much easier.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
It's also fair to point out that the article linked to in post #1 isn't being critical of CCA per se, just pointing out that there are differences to be aware of.

To me it's analogous to shopping with 'a kilo of this' being good for me, a 'kilo of that' only two-thirds as good; by weight the second is an inferior product. If the second costs half as much then, by price, the second is a superior product.

Which is 'best' depends on whether my criteria is weight or price.
 

Dippy

Moderator
"To me it's analogous to shopping with 'a kilo of this' being good for me, a 'kilo of that' only two-thirds as good; by weight the second is an inferior product. If the second costs half as much then, by price, the second is a superior product."
- is this a long-winded way to say "value" ? ;)
Analogies going into overdrive :)

I would add a cliche. So Horses-for-courses and Value.
 

gengis

New Member
Conclusion
At this point you might be thinking that CCA wire is bad and shouldn't be used, but that's not the case.
I'll go with the sweeping generalization for the time being to see how this all shakes out. The author may not be unbiased: "Garry Springgay is the owner of Cogent Audio Labs"

Aluminum has a lot of problems unless some dynamite new flux or solder is developed. They don't mention anything about tinned wire or bonded wire, or how it fares compared to copper in repetitive bending.

Manufacturer's here embraced aluminum cable for things like house wiring for heaters and electric ranges and other high current wire runs in residential houses. The switch caused a number of house fires - until they developed connectors and a paste made specifically for aluminum. It works and works well - but still requires the electricians to be more aware and careful, and repeated bending may still cause failures.

And what was that crack about double cotton covered? I was looking for some a few years ago! I did find some double silk in, appropriately enough, an antique shop. Pretty colors too. It is about the only stuff for winding self supporting pie coils for RF use. The covering compresses just enough to keep the wire in place before it is varnished.
 
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