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Acceptable to use thin non aircraft wire to coil of relays

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N6030X(at)DaveMorris.com
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:40 am Post subject: Acceptable to use thin non aircraft wire to coil of relays

Since it's going to be running right past your nose, what gasses does 

its insulation put off if it overheats?



Dave Morris



At 12:22 PM 10/19/2006, you wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  



We spent quite a bit of time trying to keep the panel of our Europa

Monowheel free of clutter.



There is a convenient piece of real estate between occupants in the

ceiling.



We are thinking pretty hard about making it a control panel and putting

small switches up there that would control coil of relays to run non

critical items, like position lights, strobes, landing light etc.



My partner has access to wire that is bout as thick as a model airplane

servo wire. They come in twisted pairs, from 3 pairs on up. It is probably

like the twisted wires you see inside computers, like the ones running

fans etc.



These wires would be running along side of headphone/mic wiring.



Does this sound acceptable?



Ron Parigoris

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nuckollsr(at)cox.net
Guest

Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:44 am Post subject: Acceptable to use thin non aircraft wire to coil of relays

At 05:22 PM 10/19/2006 +0000, you wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		  



We spent quite a bit of time trying to keep the panel of our Europa

Monowheel free of clutter.



There is a convenient piece of real estate between occupants in the

ceiling.



We are thinking pretty hard about making it a control panel and putting

small switches up there that would control coil of relays to run non

critical items, like position lights, strobes, landing light etc.



My partner has access to wire that is bout as thick as a model airplane

servo wire. They come in twisted pairs, from 3 pairs on up. It is probably

like the twisted wires you see inside computers, like the ones running

fans etc.



These wires would be running along side of headphone/mic wiring.



Does this sound acceptable?


	


    Depends on who you talk to. Wire, or more specifically

    the INSULATION on wire has evolved tremendously since

    Walter put his first generator and battery on an airplane.

    There are folks who will tell you that the only acceptable

    wires for replacement/new construction are modern products

    embraced by the military/certified aviation communities.

    You can still buy Mil-W-76 cotton weave over rubber insulated

    wire used on Walter's first electrified aircraft . . . very

    popular with folks restoring old cars and want them to be

    original. By the same token, one could quite legally replace

    a damaged or aged wire in a 1956 C-140 with Mil-W-76 wire

    as well . . . it's on the original TC, most of the wires

    in the airplane are 60+ years old, and a NEW piece of

    Mil-W-76 wire isn't going to be a risk any greater

    than the wires already in place. Further, if one wished

    to restore an old airplane to original stock, the "ratty

    old wires" lasted 50+ years the first time around . . .

    no reason to be extra-ordinarily suspicious of them the next

    time around.



    Obviously, modern insulations are lighter, environmentally

    tougher and easier to find. But just because it's "modern"

    doesn't make it an attractive choice. It seems that some

    materials thought to be an insulation-of-choice turned out to

    have passed all the tests we did for wires in the past

    but exhibit NEW characteristics that participate in some

    spectacular insulation failures.



    As a purely practical matter, wires smaller than 22AWG

    are a pain in the arse for airframe wiring. We moved a lot

    of wire from 22AWG to 24AWG in production and the folks

    who have to work with it are less than complimentary

    of "those (at)#$(at)#$!^ engineers . . ."  The stuff is

    just physically too-small/too-flexible/too-fragile

    to work well in the hammer-n-tongs environment that is

    a production line.



    You don't cite the pedigree of the wire's insulation and

    the sizes you describe don't sound like 22AWG (or larger).

    My recommendation is that you install wires no smaller

    than 22AWG (when you have a choice) and use Tefzel (Mil-W-

    22759/16 or /32). This stuff is easy to find, easy to

    work with and has an EXCELLENT track record in aircraft

    and many other applications. I'm not suggesting that

    the wire's you described are automatically a poor choice

    but I will suggest that Tefzel insulated wire in 22AWG

    or larger is exceedingly user friendly both for installation

    and cost of ownership.



    Bob . . .

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