Stepper Motor Wiring (Screened?)

[John S]

12 and a bit quid for 10 metres of screened MiL spec, post paid.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cable-Screened...mZ330339933966

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[irving2008]

12 and a bit quid for 10 metres of screened MiL spec, post paid.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cable-Screened...mZ330339933966

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Thats 4 cores of 7/0.2, equivalent to 24AWG/CSA0.23mm2... its good for 3.5A max in signal usage, but no more 0.6A for power transmission over any distance.

My preference would be http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FOUR-CORE-SCRE...mZ300306498039 which has twice the rating and is £9.50 for 15m (£15 inc P&P)

If you want alternate lengths, try CSE cables they sell 7/0.2 4 core screened at 42p and 16/0.2 at 53p/m plus VAT & P&P which is £15 for 10m (16/0.2)

[John S]

Yup definitely a better choice and there may be even better, I didn't spend a lot of time looking.

[pequod]

Interesting possibilites. I wouldn't put 4.2A through 7/0.2. Even 16/0.2 is pushing it. It all depends on what temperature rise you can tolerate in the wire. I'd prefer 32/0.2 and that is the problem - with price and availability. I spotted CSE and their prices are good, but they charge £7.50 minimum delivery. With the conversion costing hundreds of pounds, is this a "ha'peth of tar"? Maybe I'll try the unscreened wire and see what happens. I can always re-wire.

[bikepete]

Seems to me all of the above is relevant if you are building in the wiring, in which case you may as well use whatever cable will handle the load.

If (like me) your build has the cables unpluggagble via XLR sockets then my preference is to overbuild it to buggery in terms of cable so that they are mechanically robust.

Hence will be using 4-core SY cable, 0.5 mm^2 conductors, with OD of 7.3mm which is within the 8mm max for the XLR plugs:

http://www.eland.co.uk/electrical-ca...ble-cable.html

Screening is a bit of a bonus. Current capacity is 7A per wire so should be an adequate safety margin on that front too :-)

Can't remember the cost but last time I got some from a local electrical wholesalers it was very reasonable. Anyway I figure my time is the most valuable part of any 'hobby' build so I'd rather just do it once and make it bombproof so as not to have to go back and fix it later... especially with fiddly stuff like cables, which in my experience tend to get a hard life anyway.