what is the importance of silver wire quality?

Status
Not open for further replies.

dudubitn

Full Member
Jul 11, 2012
18
3
israel
Recently come into use wire silver without resistance for certain rebuildables, I would like to know why it is important the quality\ cleaning of the silver wire? If it is only for electric conductivity in the end?
silver Cleanliness levels of 999 or 9999 prices have come Jewelry prices and not a prices of equipment.

Does the using of silver with low quality will be bad?

thank you
david
 

dudubitn

Full Member
Jul 11, 2012
18
3
israel

Thrasher

ECF Guru
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Oct 28, 2012
11,176
13,742
Madeira beach, Fla
silver is one of the most conductive/least resistive metals around. and is strong. someone probably just decided to use it because of the amount that is commonly used in electronics manufacturing, and had ready access to it.

there is very little difference between 999 and 9999, just 9999 is about as pure as it can get, but really isnt needed if you want to avoid cost.
 

justinred

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Oct 7, 2012
991
555
56
PH

justinred

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Oct 7, 2012
991
555
56
PH

LongDraw

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Sep 3, 2012
942
631
Suburbs, IL
Does anyone notice a difference between using silver wire or nickel? I have silver now, but for the price I could get 5 times the amount of nickel compared to the silver. Also I am using 30 gauge of silver, if nickel is just as good would 30 or 32 gauge be best? I usually use 30 gauge kanthal, sometimes 32.

Thanks
 

justinred

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Oct 7, 2012
991
555
56
PH
I have tried both. Silver is softer than nickel. Really just user preference but I prefer stiffer nickel because it has similar stiffness to kanthal. With silver I have to be careful that it is not just silver twisting around a straight kanthal instead of them both wrapping around each other. Nickel has higher resistance than silver but are both negligible for our purpose. Same gauge as your resistance wire would be best but 30 or 32 shouldn't really matter much.
 

PhreakySTS9

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jan 26, 2011
1,130
617
Shayol Ghul, The Great Blight
There's a jewelry site that sells .999 Silver 30g NR wire for dirt cheap but I can't find it now that I need some, though this site has it it's not nearly as cheap, 50 cents a foot which really isn't horrible to get you buy until you can find a cheaper source. I mean heck, 5 bucks for 10 foot of silver wire should hold you great for a while.

.999 Fine Silver 30 Gauge Round Dead Soft Wire
 

UncleChuck

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Apr 20, 2011
1,581
1,812
38
Portland
Anyone care to explain something to me:

How is using silver wire to connect your coil going to accomplish anything when the rest of the device will be introducing more loss in the system than a very short length of a non-silver wire?

Basically what I mean, whatever PV you're using most likely has some copper wire in it to make connections. The connetion between the PV and the atty is most likely either steel or brass. You've got many connection points and paths of flow in a PV that aren't silver, so how are you going to see any difference in performance when there are other weak links all over the place in the system?

A very small length of copper or steel wire is going to somehow introduce undesireable amounts of resistance into the system, yet steel on steel 510 connections, connections between the battery tube and the battery cap, etc etc.

To me it just kind of seems like removing your car radio to reduce weight while you still have huge heavy 50-way adjustable seats with hot/cold/massage/etc - basically pointless.

I can totally see using silver wire for safey reasons. I thought i heard somewhere that copper shouldn't be in contact with juice in any way at all, not sure exactly why. But silver has always been known as safe for being in contact with stuff you are going to be ingesting.
 

mekks082

Senior Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Sep 24, 2012
252
81
Denver, CO
Anyone care to explain something to me:

How is using silver wire to connect your coil going to accomplish anything when the rest of the device will be introducing more loss in the system than a very short length of a non-silver wire?

Basically what I mean, whatever PV you're using most likely has some copper wire in it to make connections. The connetion between the PV and the atty is most likely either steel or brass. You've got many connection points and paths of flow in a PV that aren't silver, so how are you going to see any difference in performance when there are other weak links all over the place in the system?

A very small length of copper or steel wire is going to somehow introduce undesireable amounts of resistance into the system, yet steel on steel 510 connections, connections between the battery tube and the battery cap, etc etc.

To me it just kind of seems like removing your car radio to reduce weight while you still have huge heavy 50-way adjustable seats with hot/cold/massage/etc - basically pointless.

I can totally see using silver wire for safey reasons. I thought i heard somewhere that copper shouldn't be in contact with juice in any way at all, not sure exactly why. But silver has always been known as safe for being in contact with stuff you are going to be ingesting.

The silver wire does not get hot, it avoids bad taste/hot legs in parts not in contact with the wick.

That is what I always though anyways.
 

Thrasher

ECF Guru
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Oct 28, 2012
11,176
13,742
Madeira beach, Fla
The silver wire does not get hot, it avoids bad taste/hot legs in parts not in contact with the wick.

That is what I always though anyways.
this is correct, it also provides no resistance to the coil assembly meaning just the coil gets hot, and does not add to the overall resistance as some RBA require fairly long leads.
Also silver is hypoallergenic, meaning it is safe to use in something we eat or drink with no toxicity. as nickel can be toxic and allergenic to some, people have gone to using silver as a safer alternative
several atty's like the line for instance use silver electrodes becuase they run through the juice.
 

dwcraig1

Vaping Master
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Mar 17, 2012
9,012
49,165
Imperial Beach, California
Last edited:

HandbananA

Super Member
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Oct 24, 2012
934
1,044
USA, Florida
I also bought some wire from a craft store that was supposed to be sterling silver. Although, I'm not going to use it. I wanted to test it first, so I took a lighter to it. Heating it up made it kinda bubbly and form a crud. Next I tested it hooked up to a coil. Just as before with the lighter, the area where the Kanthal and hobby wire met the same thing happened... albeit on a much smaller scale. It's obvious to me that the hobby wire is coated with something. It may also may be plated but I'm not sure.

Here's what I bought at Hobby Lobby... although I'm concerned about it's quality. Can anyone confirm that this is ok to use?
On-a-Wire 32-Gauge Silver Beading Wire | Shop Hobby Lobby
 
Last edited:

dwcraig1

Vaping Master
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Mar 17, 2012
9,012
49,165
Imperial Beach, California
I also bought some wire from a craft store that was supposed to be sterling silver. Although, I'm not going to use it. I wanted to test it first, so I took a lighter to it. Heating it up made it kinda bubbly and form a crud. Next I tested it hooked up to a coil. Just as before with the lighter, the area where the Kanthal and hobby wire met the same thing happened... albeit on a much smaller scale. It's obvious to me that the hobby wire is coated with something. It may also may be plated but I'm not sure.
Same test on 999 fine silver resembles melting solder, no crud. After reading this post I just had to test mine
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread