Working with Wire

Contributors: Paul Smith, bboyho

Wire Thickness

The term ‘gauge’ is used to define the diameter of the wire. The gauge of a wire is used to determine the amount of current a wire can safely handle. Wire gauge can refer to both electrical and mechanical. This tutorial will only cover electrical. There are two main systems for measuring gauge, American Wire Gauge (AWG) and Standard Wire Gauge (SWG). The differences between the two are not critical to this guide.

The amount of current that a wire can carry depends on a few different factors, for example the composition of the wire, wire length, and condition of the wire. In general, thicker wire can carry more current.

Here at SparkFun, we typically use 22 AWG wire for prototyping and breadboarding. When using a breadboard or PCB, solid core is perfect because it fits nicely into the holes. For other prototyping/building involving soldering, the stranded core is #1, just be sure not to let too much current run through a single wire. It will get hot and could melt!

SparkFun carries a variety of both solid and stranded 22 AWG wire.

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Hook-Up Wire - Assortment (Solid Core, 22 AWG)

In stock PRT-11367

An assortment of colored wires: you know it's a beautiful thing. Six different colors of solid core wire in a cardboard dispe…

$21.50

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Jumper Wire Kit - 140pcs

In stock PRT-00124

This is a time saving kit of 140 jumper wires - cut, stripped, and pre-bent for your prototyping pleasure.

$6.50

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Hook-Up Wire - Assortment (Stranded, 22 AWG)

In stock PRT-11375

An assortment of colored wires: you know it's a beautiful thing. Six different colors of stranded wire in a cardboard dispens…

$22.50

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Large Jumper Wire Kit - 700pcs

33 available PRT-14671

This is a time saving large kit of 700 jumper wires - cut, stripped, and pre-bent for your prototyping pleasure.

$26.95

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However, there is still an option to use 30 AWG wire wrap if you need to go smaller.

Wire Wrap Wire - Blue (Solid, 30AWG, 100ft)

Retired PRT-14913

This is a 100ft spool of blue wire wrap wire. These wires are 30AWG with solid cores.

Retired

Wire Wrap Wire - White (Solid, 30AWG, 100ft)

Retired PRT-14914

This is a 100ft spool of white wire wrap wire. These wires are 30AWG with solid cores.

Retired

Tip: Wire wrap was first used to build prototype circuits. In this day and age, it is much less common. However, it is still useful for connecting to small pins on a surface mount component or PCB, projects with small spaces, or repairing boards (i.e. ""Green" Wire Repairs).

Wire Wrap connecting to a PCB's small SMD pins that are broken out on the Hardware Mouse Jiggler.	Wire Wrap used in projects with small spaces of the Heartbeat Straight Jacket.	"Green" Wire Repairs with a bad PCB design or damaged pad.

Working with thick wire? Wire wrap is also useful when splicing thick wire. For more information, check out the tutorial on Building an Autonomouse Vehicle.