So I am building something that is going to be soldered together permanently. Would it be better to use solid core or stranded wire, or does it matter at all? What I have read is that people recommend solid core for prototyping, but I have never read anything about which is better once you are doing a final project. Certainly commercial products seem to use stranded, but I wanted to get more opinions.
For wires on the PCB solid waires are fine. But for loose wires use stranded wires, they don't break that easy.
If your PCB is mounted firmly (cables are tied etc) and you need higher currents solid wire can be used. But don't let them move/vibrate.
As above.
Stranded wires are used where movement is possible as the strands move around each other and don't bend as much at the point of soldering.
If you use solid wire and it continuously flexes, it bends close to the solder join and will break due to metal fatigue.
Weedpharma
I work at an electronics company and we don't even stock any solid wire except for bare bus wire. That might not be totally "fair" because we mostly do PC boards and not much cabling and wiring... We probably only use about 15-20 different colors & sizes. We do make quite a few ribbon cables.
If you open your computer or your TV, you might not see any solid wire...
I do use solid wire with breadboards because you can plug it directly into the breadboard. I've made several permanent projects this way.
Thank you for the responses. After hearing what people say I will use stranded. I think it will work better for a long term application.