ionbeam
2 FUN
As Brun has noted earlier, all wires aren't created equal. Should you actually find wire with written specifications, you should look for the wire that has a high temperature rating and have oil/gas resistant insulation. Wire that has few, large strands are fine for DC power though they will be stiff to route. Communication gear would like to have more, finer strands of wire within the insulator jacket. High frequency electricity travels near the outside of the individual wire strands in a 'skin effect' so wire with fine strands handle these signals better. While a bit spendy, PTFE insulated wire will exceed any motorcycle temperature, abrasion and oil resistance you can throw at it. Again as Burn stated, PVC insulated wire is good; irradiated PVC is better.
In the following picture shamelessly ripped off from Radman, totally without his knowledge or permission, you will note two ways the wires are handled.
The power wires (+/- 12 VDC, 5 VDC, etc) are in long straight parallel runs. It is compelling to like this as a neat, orderly way to manage a lot of wires. [billy Mays] But wait! [/billy Mays] Note the wires in the lower right hand side of the picture. Those wires are signal wires that are done as 'twisted pairs' (the places that term can go…). Wires electromagnetically radiate signals. In long parallel runs they have a lot of opportunity to both radiate and pick up noise. When dressed in twisted pairs the signal fields tend to cancel each other out, preserving a clean signal. Straight wire runs are fine for relays, lights and radar detectors. It will help communications and audio equipment if their power wires are twisted (if possible) and it will help if your audio signal wires are twisted. Locate a child, put a glove on one hand, let them hold two wire ends together, chuck the other end of the wires in a screw gun and slowly turn it on. In mere seconds you will have a spiffy twisted wire pair.
You don't have to run twisted pair wires, but if you have the time it will provide an additional layer of audio noise prevention.
[The twisted pair wires in the picture are typically for LED and switch wires which can have higher surge currents as they are rapidly turned on/off. More critical signals are handled by the gray internally shielded Belden type wire.]
In the following picture shamelessly ripped off from Radman, totally without his knowledge or permission, you will note two ways the wires are handled.
The power wires (+/- 12 VDC, 5 VDC, etc) are in long straight parallel runs. It is compelling to like this as a neat, orderly way to manage a lot of wires. [billy Mays] But wait! [/billy Mays] Note the wires in the lower right hand side of the picture. Those wires are signal wires that are done as 'twisted pairs' (the places that term can go…). Wires electromagnetically radiate signals. In long parallel runs they have a lot of opportunity to both radiate and pick up noise. When dressed in twisted pairs the signal fields tend to cancel each other out, preserving a clean signal. Straight wire runs are fine for relays, lights and radar detectors. It will help communications and audio equipment if their power wires are twisted (if possible) and it will help if your audio signal wires are twisted. Locate a child, put a glove on one hand, let them hold two wire ends together, chuck the other end of the wires in a screw gun and slowly turn it on. In mere seconds you will have a spiffy twisted wire pair.
You don't have to run twisted pair wires, but if you have the time it will provide an additional layer of audio noise prevention.
[The twisted pair wires in the picture are typically for LED and switch wires which can have higher surge currents as they are rapidly turned on/off. More critical signals are handled by the gray internally shielded Belden type wire.]
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