Just ruined a switch

[Todd Mulske]

Started wiring the switches; wouldn't you know it, the first one the contacts pulled out on me. It was a horn switch from madvapes; it wasn't a bad switch; it was my fault. Got the two leads soldered and stripped the other ends and when I was pulling the insulation off of the wire , the wire slipped through my hands and the contacts broke out. Piss me off a little, now "I will not be able to finish my mod till next week until I get another switch. I live in a rural area so no radio shack or other places that carry them to quickly grab one.

One question to ask. All I have on hand is 18 gauge wire, kind of stiff, what is the lowest gauge wire a person should go with if they never plan on exceeding 2.5 amps.

 

[kcofohio]

I have broke one of them off before, too. I worked mine apart (the switch) and was able to epoxy it back in place. The leads make contact with a washer like plate, completing the circuit.
As far as wire, I have seen some suggest 24 gauge wire, here is a link with a calulator for wiring;
American Wire Gauge table and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits with skin depth frequencies
Hope that helps.

 

[WillyB]

what is the lowest gauge wire a person should go

I guess that depends on how particular you are. Ever seen the wires in like an E-Power? Or in a cheap PT? They look like thread.

I guess everything adds up, but the resistance difference between 4" of 18g vs. 22g (that I use) cannot be measured with my (and most others) meters. But I may be losing about 0.02 watts.

With VV you adjust the watts where you want them anyway, and the drain on your cells due to that additional resistance is hardly worth worrying about. The other thing I often do is use the clumsy 18g (I like the solid) where it's easy, then switch to the thinner for trickier wiring.

 

[Quigsworth]

Depending on your voltage and resistance of your atty (you could be running 6v through a 1.5 ohm atty, which would give a TH that would make you cry) but you'd conceivably be pushing 4 amps before you cooked your batts, atty, switches, etc...if you wanted your mod to be electrically code compliant with an aim to get it ULC approved you'd need #14 awg wire (using free air rating)...all in good fun, lol...I use #18 solid ballast wire in all my mods just cause it hold a shape nice and because I'm an electrician I have lots of it on hand...as vapers, we burst, it's a cyclic duty so you could pound 1 -2 amps through #24 without worry...as far a copper losses go, you'd need one serious meter to detect it...wouldn't go much smaller though...just my opinion though

 

[P1NkY]

I hear ya, Todd. I also use 18g solid on my boxes (have a lot of fire alarm wire around from when I worked as an installer) and it IS kinda "heavy handed". My horn switch contact also broke off. I'd switch to stranded, but I hate having to deal with strands not wanting to go in the connector holes and splaying out as I solder them. Solid wire makes for neater solder joints IMO. I guess using a thinner gauge would work, also.

As WillyB mentioned, I took apart my non-functioning Joye510 battery and was dumbfounded when I saw the wire gauge they'd used! I swear, that wire looks thinner than the nichrome used for the coil! Which is why it failed, I believe. I was dry-burning my atty (yeah, I know you're not supposed to, but I'd done it many times before and was OK, guess it was one too many!) and the wire just melted off the PCB! If I ever get around to using that PCB for a tiny mod, I plan on using 30g enamel-coated magnet wire, as nothing else will fit!