PTFE hookup wire - help!

[Thermionic Idler]

During the latest bout of insomnia, I figured out a nice new wiring colour scheme for Project Redwing, which would allow easy differentiation of B+, ground nodes, signal phase, the different heater lines etc.

The upshot of which is that I need some 20 AWG 600V rated PTFE hookup wire, ideally silver plated copper (I think the standard is BS3G210 type B) in the following colours: Red, Green, Blue, Purple/Pink, Black, White and Grey.

I'm likely to only need a metre or two of each colour (some of the circuitry will be on PCB's), and I have been tearing my hair out trying to find a supplier that sells by the metre. I'm constantly being met with 'Enquire here', or the sole option of 100 metres of the stuff on a reel, which would cost me a fortune for seven colours and leave me with hundreds of metres of hookup wire that I don't need.

It seems my only option is being forced into the arms of AliExpress or eBay, and I have no way of telling how trustworthy these sellers are - my family's safety kind of depends on me not being scammed with 300V rated stuff sold as 600V. Has anyone any recommendations beyond just giving up on the idea and wiring the whole thing in one colour?

[Greg]

Why not use one colour only and identify with different coloured heat shrink or even small zip-ties as tags? Can be positioned at both terminal ends but anywhere else you might find helpful. Just an idea……..

[Nick]

Or numbers? I wired my BSA b25 with black wire with numbers on the ends (and updated the schematic for future owners)

[Thermionic Idler]

Why not use one colour only and identify with different coloured heat shrink or even small zip-ties as tags? Can be positioned at both terminal ends but anywhere else you might find helpful. Just an idea……..

I did think about that as an option, it does seem easier to get hold of heatshrink in various colours. That might be the way to go, or Nick's suggestion.

Lunch was quite helpful in getting me to take a more pragmatic outlook (or stop being an idiot, depending on your perspective). I realised the only colour in my list above that actually needs to be 600V rated is the red for the B+ lines (I already have a separate scheme for signal +ve and -ve phase). Otherwise the voltages don't go over 12.6 apart from the grey cathode wiring, and the most that will see is 75 - 80V on the 300B's.

The 300V rated stuff does seem to be easier to find in the colours I need (albeit on eBay) leaving only the red that has to be 600V rated. And whilst I don't have any 20AWG, I do have a reel of 24AWG from Alphawire which IS rated to 600V, and given the B+ lines never have to pass more than 150-200mA it makes most sense to just use that. I'm not sure why I was obsessing over the B+ having to be 20 AWG as well.

[shane]

This bloke may be able to help:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383949047065 ... media=COPY

[Morgan Jones]

Amateur radio rallies are your friend. https://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/ I bought a carrier bag full of PTFE-covered wire on reels for £10. Beware that the stuff is horrible to strip. And you want solid core for a tight heater twist. Also, https://www.bvws.org.uk/ but you need to become a member to bid at their auctions.

[Thermionic Idler]

Amateur radio rallies are your friend. https://rsgb.org/main/news/rallies/ I bought a carrier bag full of PTFE-covered wire on reels for £10. Beware that the stuff is horrible to strip. And you want solid core for a tight heater twist. Also, https://www.bvws.org.uk/ but you need to become a member to bid at their auctions.

Yep, I know about the stripping challenges, I got a set of wirestrippers from RS which have a series of AWG-specific holes rather than being universal, I found those work like a charm on PTFE.

I remember at the back of my mind something about solid core being preferable for heaters and I couldn't remember where I'd seen it - obviously must have been in your book.

So I've rationalised my colour scheme down a bit to use my existing stock as much as possible, which was probably smarter than coming up with some fantasy protocol that didn't match at all with what I had already. I don't have any 20 AWG but I realised the 16 and 18 AWG stuff would probably be better for grounding connections anyway, and the 24 AWG is fine for B+ and signal / cathode, with some additional heatshrink per Greg's suggestion. It's lost some colour (at one point it was going to look like the Pride flag in there) but it means I now only have to buy 20 AWG solid core heater wiring, in green, blue and white.

And thinking about it, the PVC stuff will probably be fine for that - in fact I think PVC has more flexibility so again, possibly better for the required twisting?

I'll certainly bear those radio rallies in mind. Thanks, all.

[simon]

If it helps Dave I've a little red and white silver plated copper ptfe wire and could send you a meter or so of each if that's what you need?

This is the red stuff that came from Rapid
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20250105_192211.jpg (48.98 KiB) Viewed 4221 times

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This is the white stuff from Farnell
.

20250105_192306.jpg (32.03 KiB) Viewed 4221 times

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I think I've got som yellow too that's the same gauge as the white.

[Thermionic Idler]

If it helps Dave I've a little red and white silver plated copper ptfe wire and could send you a meter or so of each if that's what you need?

This is the red stuff that came from Rapid
.
20250105_192211.jpg
.
This is the white stuff from Farnell
.
20250105_192306.jpg
.
I think I've got som yellow too that's the same gauge as the white.

I think I'm sorted now Simon, but thanks very much for the offer!

[simon]