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How can I tell whether speaker wire is 14 gauge?
On Jan 20, 2:13*pm, Joe wrote:
On Jan 20, 1:01*pm, "Robert Green" wrote: Got some new speaker wire from an Amazon vendor today. *It was claimed to be 14GA but looks to be a bit less. *The wire is marked 14GA but the bag says BRX-14 and nothing about gauge or size of any kind other than 100' (I probably should measure that, too). *When the bag appears to describe an industry standard but doesn't, I get suspicious. *Well, even more suspicious than usual. *(-: Lately I've found that many things, from wires to batteries, that have standard ratings here in the US are fudged there in China. *Batteries marked 2500 and marketed as 2500mAH are actually in the sub 1200 range. *Wire marketed as Cat 6 came in a bag re-labeled with a small dot label that said "6" applied wherever "5" appeared on the bag. *The wire itself was actually marked Cat 5. In this case, the wire jacket is that of typical 14GA wire, but the copper strands are almost identical to the remnants of a spool of Gemini EIGHTEEN gauge wire. *They appeared to have jumped two full wire sizes in this scam or mislabeling. The Chinese AA NiMh fraudsters are so common whole sites are devoted to tracking them down. http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2010/03...bty-batteries/ Anyway - what's the test for 14GA stranded wire? *I've got the typical multislot stripper crimpers to use as a gauge and electronic calipers. *Any other tests? -- Bobby G. Measure one strand of wire with your micrometer. Count the strands of wire. Calculate the area of the total copper cross section. Look up the specs for 14 gauge wire in any standard text, whatever. If the cross sections are equal you have the right size wire. Alternately, 14AWG should be 2.525 ohms per 1000' give or take a hair. If you trust that the spool is the length that it says it is, and you have a sensitive meter. nate |
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