For my Arduino project I need cables with multiple wires.
Some of these wires are for power supply (i.e. maybe 20 or 24AWG) and other wires are for signals (maybe 28 or 30AWG).
I looked in shops and online sites but I just can't find those cables anywhere. Maybe I search with the wrong words (multi conductor cable, multi core, etc) or maybe they just don't exist.
Best case I want "silicone wires" because they are so flexible.
Attached is a picture with a home made solution of two 24AWG silicone wires and three 30AWG silicone wires in clear heat shrink. Is that a good way to do this?
Silicone might be difficult to find but I got lots of hits when I Googled "multiple conductor cable". Or, if you're in the U.S. you can try DigiKey or Mouser.
You can get "telephone cable" in 2, 4, or 6 pair. Phone cable comes solid or stranded and of course you want stranded since you want it to be flexible. "Cat 5" or "Cat 6" Ethernet cable is 4-pair (8 conductors) and it's super common.
Attached is a picture with a home made solution of two 24AWG silicone wires and three 30AWG silicone wires in clear heat shrink. Is that a good way to do this?
There's nothing wrong with that if it works for you. It's time consuming so you wouldn't want to do that "in production".
DVDdoug:
Silicone might be difficult to find but I got lots of hits when I Googled "multiple conductor cable". Or, if you're in the U.S. you can try DigiKey or Mouser.
You can get "telephone cable" in 2, 4, or 6 pair. Phone cable comes solid or stranded and of course you want stranded since you want it to be flexible. "Cat 5" or "Cat 6" Ethernet cable is 4-pair (8 conductors) and it's super common.
There's nothing wrong with that if it works for you. It's time consuming so you wouldn't want to do that "in production".
@DVDdoug: Thanks for "telephone cable", I knew there must be a word for it...
@larryd: There are many places with silicone wire in lots of sizes and colors. But I din't find multi core cables (i.e. 5*30 AWG silicone wire.
I've also found it difficult to do general searches for specific multi-core wire configurations. There is a convention: {gauge}-{conductor count} or {gauge}/{conductor count} but it's not used universally. It is more common in mains wiring but there it's kind of confusing because the ground wire is not included in the conductor count.
There are a couple of "standardish" cable types with different-sized conductors. USB cable, for example will frequently have bigger power leads than signal leads. (eSATAp and firewire too?) Or you can use multi-conductor cable with all the same sized leads, and assign multiple leads to each power connection.
outside of existing standards, you're probably looking at custom fabrication and big $$$.
Paul__B:
I think you aced it there! First post said five wires, that is five wires. +1!
And a five metre length!
Thanks, I also found one with 5 wires:
In this case I want to use the cables on my motorcycle which has in some places some very narrow passages. This is why I try to make that cables not bigger than necessary.
A year or two ago I built two racing quads. One of them very small (RTF 84g). At that time I learned to appreciate silicone wires and also very small wires. If a 30AWG wire does the job (just to transfer signals) why use anything bigger?
This is obviously not absolutely necessary but nice to have.
Attached is a picture of the mini quad with 30AWG silicone wires. The jumpers show the real size of this thing.
Nice that the 5 core silicone is available. Surely, if they can make 5 core, they can make 6 core!! Would be nice for my small brushed 6 wire DC motors hehehe. Tough luck for me unfortunately.
Southpark:
Nice that the 5 core silicone is available. Surely, if they can make 5 core, they can make 6 core!! Would be nice for my small brushed 6 wire DC motors hehehe. Tough luck for me unfortunately.
A while back I stopped hunting for cabling for projects.
Since ordering a variety of gauges and colours with silicone insulation, cabling is no longer a upsetting exercise.
I now just make up wiring with the number of conductors and gauges I need.
westfw ........ that is awesome. I was searching ebay for 6 core and absolutely nothing like that came up. Thanks for your help and time for showing that link. Absolutely appreciated. I'm going to order from that link in just a moment! Thanks again.