wire question

[Lolito]

Is all wire in motors  and resistors and ballasts  enammeled? can I recycle the wire out of such devices to make my own coils?

[vawtman]

Hi Lolito

 I stripped the wire out of a motor more or less to practice with. Would never trust it has permanent winding though.It seems the varnish coating used in final proccesing can breakup the original insulation.

 My experience.

[stephent]

Wire in motors--more then likely is enameled copper. But if the motor has been ran (heat)  it will more thn likely have hardened the enamel and it will crack when unwound -leading to shorting. (or even if the motor has gotten very hot, the wire itself could crack)

Resistors? ummmm usually if "wire wound" are nichrome type wire and only useful for using as-is for dump loads, etc.

Ballasts--well it could be copper, but lots of it these days are aluminum for less weight and cost. Aluminum wire has much higher typical resistance.

The best bet out of the 3 choices you gave are the motor "feild" windings probably, but then again reusing the wire could lead to coils shorting out.

But then it's your choice--time--and kronars/schekels.

[alancorey]

I think transformers are easier than motors to salvage wire out of, and microwave oven power transformers are common.  The secondary is likely to be very fine gauge and probably not useful.  Not sure how many might be aluminum.

Another source is the degaussing coils used in (CRT) color TVs and monitors.  It's a loosely coiled bunch of wire, usually inside an outer insulating tube, that runs around the face of the CRT inside the cabinet.  Usually very easy to get apart (no varnish or anything like that.)  Be careful to stay away from the high voltage connection to the CRT which is a wire with a rubber cap that attaches to the side of the CRT.  The CRT can store voltage for years.

It's all just used wire and it's really better to use new.  If there's any sign it's been overheated don't use it.  You probably won't find exactly the gauge you want so you'll have to play games winding 2 or 3 in hand to get the equivalent of larger wire.  For winding little test coils of 10 turns or so don't overlook CAT5 or telephone wire, even bell wire.

  Alan