A question about cabling.

[Wakefield Turntables]

1. Is it better to have one wide diameter core conductor or multiple strands of a narrower diameter for electricity conduction?


Thanks

A

[AlanS]

1. Is it better to have one wide diameter core conductor or multiple strands of a narrower diameter for electricity conduction?


Thanks

A

Does it sound different? If so it is the one you prefer.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Thanks, but thats not very helpful Alan.

[NRG]

At a guess I'd have to ask at what voltage and what frequency?

[MCRU]

Andrew,
If you read this (http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/sitefiles/15/2/2/152201/cables_explained.pdf) it will explain all you need to know (hopefully), there are 100's of variations on cable geometry when it comes to mains cables, the paper I have linked you to explains all about the different grades of copper, the best is UP-OCC which you have 2 of in the house already, the basic grade of tough pitch copper still appears in many mains cables although the manufacturer won't brag about it as its the cheapest copper there is. As far as flow of electrons and the reason the ultimate mains lead is so good (breathtaking and astounding are 2 customer comments ) is because single grain copper which is what UP-OCC is does not impede the flow, just like driving on a tarmac as opposed to other grades of copper which are like driving down a cobbled street.

Stranded or solid core UP-OCC are both exceptionally good, both do a good job, trouble is some are so thick you cannot wire a plug on, others like the Furutech Alpha 3 cable which is UP-OCC stranded is a fine cable but it's not shielded which IMO is no use in todays modern house-hold which is washed in a soup of RFI/EMI and the cable will pick up radio waves and act as an aerial if it isn't shielded.

So it all depends on the grade of copper and we have not gone into shielding and screening at all, that is really important too.

Hope that helps.

[Wakefield Turntables]

right, will have a read and report back, probably not for another day or so, thanks for the heads up Dave. :)

[Reid Malenfant]

It could be argued that some kind of Litz cable may well be best, even at mains frequencies ;)

I know that in the UK it's 50Hz & a full bridge rectifier & capacitor bank will charge at 100Hz, but in reality the caps are only being recharged in a split second. So assuming that they are charged over 1 milli second (1000th of a second) then the skin depth on copper cable is just over 1mm.

In effect it appears that a cable of over 2mm diameter won't use all of the conductor area & that's if the current pulses are 1/10th the period of the charging frequency :eyebrows:

I doubt they'd be that long in all honesty...

Wiki link to skin effect & a nice graph (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect)

[Reffc]

The best cable geometry for SQ really depends on the application. For signal cables which are current driven and exceptionally low voltage and current, self inductance is less of an issue than for higher current applications, and for reasons of minimising phase shift, keeping the section small diameter is advisable up to a certain point where physical integrity becomes the deciding factor. For this reason, in signal cables, a good compromise is a min 0.4mm multi-strand conductor (or even a small diameter litz). For speaker cables, where skin effect can start to come into play, a litz or multi-strand is again a good choice. For power cables, high currents etc mean that high self inductance is an issue and losses due to inductance and capacitance can become significant. The impedance is a combination of resistance and resistive effects of inductance and capacitance, so minimising these is a good idea. Solid cores are unsuitable for powercords for a number of reasons (high self inductance, lack of flexibility and risk of failure due to work hardening with flexure) so once again, a multi-strand is the better choice. Personally, I think that shielding is not only unnecessary in powerchords (just keep your ICs shielded), it also raises capacitance significantly.