Hey all i was wondering if it is okay to increase the size of the wire from a strain cell to a load amp? I am using 30 gauge wire on the strain cell and would love to splice some 22 gauge onto it to make my solder joint a bit more sturdy. Any suggestions?
It is always OK to use thicker wire if it does not constrain you physically.
Sick thank you! @Grumpy_Mike
ALWAYS use stranded wire to connect your devices.
stranded or solid? Is this a mistake?
Anything made of copper and is being flexed will cause the copper to "work harden". When that happens the copper becomes brittle and will soon break. Solid copper wire will break at the point where it is flexed. Stranded copper wire is twisted, so movement makes the strands twist rather and bend and work harden.
Soldering either wire makes the wire flex right at the solder joint. Solder with lead bearing solder will flex somewhat and make the connection last longer. Lead-free solder is really hard and inflexible and either type of wire will eventually break at the solder joint.
Ideally, your entire wire length should be stranded wire, not a mix of wire types.
Hope that helps.
This would go better with an example of exactly what you have? A strain gauge or a load cell?
The above image are strain gauges. I have never seen a strain gauge use stranded wire. Every strain gauge I have worked with was normally 28 or 30 gauge wire as seen above. Often these wires were attached to pads and any additional wire was a matter of choice.
A load cell using strain gauges normally has stranded wires exiting the cell. At that point it matters not really. Here is an example of a load cell in one of my older scales:
The strain gauges are integral to the load cell. Stranded is just fine. So it depends on what you are calling a strain cell.
Ron