Types of wire for Coils?

[wdesilvey]

I am the ULTIMATE newbie!!

Have read (ans MOSLTY understand) several different plans. But, am diong these wind gereration thing on a virtually non-existent budget. I have LOTS of stuff wirewise, including an almost full roll of old fashioned 4 wire telephone cable. Will this suffice for coil windings? Will the insulation hold up?

Also, since I have a good deal of multistrand copper cable, can this be cleaned, dipped in a nonconductive epoxy, and used??

Thanks!!

[Tritium]

Plastic insulation hold up?  NO!

Clean and dip could work but is a great big job with many pitfalls.

Best bet is scavage wire from degaussing coils in old monitors and tv sets then use multiple wires in hand for winding your coils.

Thurmond

[Norm]

Most of us are lucky to sucessfully wind coils

without getting internal shorts using good quality wire.....

it's really not worth the time and effort to make

your own magnet wire....all the time while you are

winding a coil....you're saying to yourself..gee

I hope this works.

 A little tip....go to scrap yards...get a couple

of solenoids from car starters they have lots of

nice magnet wire in them.

Start from there....forget the telephone wire and

multistrand copper cable....unless you can sell

it for scrap copper and buy new magnet wire.

Also be careful when scrounging around for coil

wire from old motors...some are coated with

varnish and look like copper...but are actually

aluminum wire not really suitable for DIY coils.

 

[ghurd]

The space used by the insulation means less turns of smaller wire in a given space,

meaning thicker (longer) expensive magnets, higher coil resistance, less output, etc.

It's only "low budget" if you do not have to make it 10 times before it works.

GM starters I had yield about 3.3 ounces of ~19 gauge.

Big (bigger the better) older TVs have a Lot of wire, maybe 21~23 gauge, sometimes a couple/few pounds.

Bigger is more feet of thicker wire.

Magnet wire is by far the easiest thing in the whole system to scrounge for free.

It should be a non-issue.

I wouldn't use it for a serious windmill,

But for 1st projects and experiments it should be fine.

G-