#1 and #2 insulated wire question

Hey, tough to search for this question as the only answer i get is #1 is not smaller then 16 guage.

Say i have two peices of wire with the copper portion sized at 12 guage. Difference being one is solid core and the other is stranded wire obviously smaller than 16 guage. Would that make the stranded #2 as the strands are smaller than 16 guage?

Thanks for the help!

I think something that would answer alot of questions for many people is if someone posted some pics of #1 and #2 wire especially wire that just barely meets the criteria

if you don't know the size of #2 pencil lead you better go buy one and find out !!

Originally Posted by Mick

#1 Copper is stripped wire that is bigger than a #2 pencil lead. Stranded goes by the size of the individual strands.

Thanks Mick.

Was in the processes of trying to by some wire and the seller insisted it was number one. Now i know for certain it was number 2.

To me wire is wire. A pound of thin stranded is the same to me as a pound of thick solid. Why the difference? Is there a loss when melting the smaller stuff?

If no one knows, that's okay. Just something I've wondered for awhile and finally asked.

Originally Posted by gueroinchicago

I think something that would answer alot of questions for many people is if someone posted some pics of #1 and #2 wire especially wire that just barely meets the criteria

Im in the process of grading all the wire I get right now by copper content. When I get a significant variety and the percentages caclulated for each wire i'll post some pics up and their percentages. So you can basically match up the type of wire and know that, that wire is 56% copper weight, 38% copper weight etc. Makes buying wire much easier for those that do.

just another way for the scrap yards to make money...I'm sure they claim that the smaller it is, the harder it is for them to handle or some such malarky.

linc, I apologize, I didn't notice that you had not read Mick's post yet, when I posted, but there are other threads that address this ,too. Mick wrote an especially good one for beginners, if you haven't read that yet, you would enjoy it.

Dee: I don't know if your response was directed at me, I for one do know the difference between #1 and #2, I simply thought that with the number of people that have asked this question it would answer the question for those that want to see an example rather than comparing it to a pencil. I did a basic search for "pics of #1 wire" and found nothing. Seems to me this would answer the question for all those people who don't know any better. No reason to respond with the idea that one doesn't know the size of a #2 pencil. Who knows maybe your having a bad day.

It's all dumb. ALL the copper my yard gets goes into the same gaylord.......whether it's wire, piping, pots.....whatever. They do do that just so they ca make more money. I don't complain cuz my yard has good prices to begin with.

I'm not having a bad day, I'm always like this ! lol sorry g, you are right....I shouldn't be so snappy...it just sometimes seems like some people don't want to do any homework. Experienced electronic people prob feel that way about me when I keep asking them to make a picture and show me EXACTLY what you need to short out so that you don't get "hossmatized" !!

lol hossmatized. I need to get off the computer and go work on a load of scrap.

I asked a couple of things at my local yard yesterday and was disappointed to hear that most of my wire is brazier and only worth the same as if I had burned it. It's the stuff out of the yoke on the back of a tv. He said that the wire in the cable in the back of a tv that looks bright to me is probably the same.

Originally Posted by Mick

If you want to get really technical, here is the ISRI site for metal specifications. I think the #2 pencil lead guideline is also from ISRI and used by many scrap yards.

http://www.indianmetals.com/categori...opperspec.html

If you want to get really technical, the "#2" refers to the hardness of the pencil lead, not its thickness. (And yeah, it's not lead either, it's graphite.)