just got a motion detector to secure the side of my property, the china made motion detector has braided aluminum wires I haven't seen anything made with aluminum wires in years for modern electronics?
any advice
On 3/4/2009 10:04 AM flir67 spake thus:
What makes you think they're aluminum? They're probably shiny silver-looking, which is what most small stranded wire looks like when you strip it. But probably not aluminum, so just go ahead and use it.
This may strike you as a bit odd and you may think I'm pulling your leg but this is a true story. Back in 1974 I was working for an electrical supply house when aluminum Romex was being sold. We also had copper clad aluminum Romex which had thin copper layer over the aluminum center. One day we got in a roll of 18 gauge thermostat wire that freaked me out. When I picked up reel, it was very light. It was like picking up a porous fire brick and expecting the weight of a standard brick. I stripped back the wire and found it to be copper clad aluminum. I've never seen aluminum electrical wire that small again. It wouldn't surprise me if the Chinese have developed very small aluminum wire because of the high cost of copper.
TDD
It's much more likely to be tin-plated copper, or a tin-copper alloy. If you're worried, see if you can solder it with tin-lead solder -- if you can, it's not aluminum.
thanks for all the help, got another problem, the junction box is smaller than the new ones. the house was built in 1979. the screw pattern of this new light faceplate doesn't fit the old box. is their any retro fitting available or a face plate to convert the old to the new. removing the box is not possible. its cemented into the brick wall.
What are the dimensions of the existing box? Is it round, square or octagon?
TDD
On 3/4/2009 12:51 PM flir67 spake thus:
What you need is a "universal crossbar", available just about everywhere. It's a circular plate with lots of holes and cutouts, made to mount light fixtures of any screw spacing to boxes of any screw spacing.
thanks, you really know what your talking about. I found a kind of "universal crossbar box extender that has the old work and the new work holes. this should work fine. thanks again.
Back around 40 years ago I remember when the price of copper rose to a point where I started seeing TV CRT yokes and power transformers wound with aluminum magnet wire.
About 20 years ago the fan in the microwave oven we had back then stopped working. I found that the shaded pole motor winding was aluminum magnet wire and one end of the winding had broken loose from the terminal lug it was crimped under. I reconnected it it with a dab of conductive epoxy and it held up fine for several years until the magnetron gave out and we got a new microwave oven.
Jeff
A lot of the big wire I've run has been aluminum. The city electrical code around here prohibits any aluminum conductors smaller than #2 in house wiring. All the drops from the power company are aluminum and there are few problems with properly installed wiring of that type. The stuff I've seen burn up was because of the wrong type of connectors, devices and lack of anti-oxidation compound. Ignorance kills.
TDD
On 3/4/2009 10:36 PM The Daring Dufas spake thus:
I'd never use aluminum in my own work. Not that there's anything intrinsically wrong with it, as you describe; just that I'm not experienced enough with it not to worry about problems.
Hasn't the cost of copper dropped over the last few months (along with oil)? According to Bloomberg, it's selling for about $168 a pound (copper futures:
The price for a number of items manufactured with copper hasn't dropped yet. Last week, I replaced a 90 volt DC drive motor for a good customer and because of the high price, I told him where to get it so I wouldn't have to mark it up. A few years ago, the same motor cost around $300.00 and this newest one was more than $500.00. Even with the lower cost of things, nobody's spending any money. Perhaps if BeeHO would shut up, the market would quit dropping and the economy would perk up. We need some work! Money stimulates my package.
*snicker*TDD
Conductive epoxy eh????? Thanks for the tip .............. hadn't heard of that before. Terry.
On 3/5/2009 8:17 AM Joe spake thus:
I hear it makes great rocket fuel.
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