I read through the DCS Companion book, and it recommended 16/2 stranded wire. I've seen some suggest 14/2 and figured better safe than sorry, so I've decided on 14/2. I bought speaker wire since it's so easy to tell the hot from the common. I've never used speaker wire in the past other than as feeders from a bus, but I'm doing star/homerun wiring this time with no bus.
Silly question, but I guess I'm wondering if there's a difference between speaker wire and other wire.
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Wire is wire. No difference.
I've had good results in some cases. I've used it, low voltage lighting cable, OGR wire, etc.
The stuff to watch is, this wire aluminum coated with copper? That doesn't like soldering and connections can corrode fast. Better to crimp or wire nut connections with this stuff.
I agree with Rich. I believe aluminum wire got a bum rap because it was used in houses in the 1960's and it expanded and shrank a bit faster than copper leading to a (potential) fire hazard where it connected with copper. I don't think that applies with low voltage. I'm reasonably sure I've used stranded aluminum wire on my layout and I haven't had any soldering problems.
Gerry
Thanks guys, and Merry Christmas.
You can find cheap stranded copper wire on Amazon that is what I use on my layout.very easy to use in my experience it is more pliable than regular wire
@Rich Melvin posted:Wire is wire. No difference.
Well, I'm going to have to offer a small exception to that statement. As long as you buy real copper wire, that's pretty much true. However, if you end up with the cheap Chinese CCA stuff that's copper coated aluminum, it's pretty much junk, and there is a significant different, both in soldering it and it's performance. I can personally attest to getting burned by CCA junk before correcting my mistake. 
Here's one of many pages on the different characteristics of the two types of wire.
I use #12 Copper Clad Aluminum "speaker wire" for my buss. Crimp-connectors and/or standard wire nuts. No problems which is no surprise because overkill. I would NOT attempt to solder the stuff. 18Ga CCA speaker wire for track-power drops.
The reason aluminum wire got a bad rep is because it must be mated with electrolytically compatible terminals or else electrolysis produces high-resistance at connections which in turn leads to high temperatures which eventually leads to fire. CCA (coating the aluminum conductors with copper) eliminates the problem for low voltage low power applications (speaker wire). Aluminum wire is successfully used today for [high power] home service entrance because all terminal products are made with compatible metals.
I don't have an issue with service entrance and large appliances using aluminum wire, they specifically design for it and size the wire to suit. They also use specific terminations that are fully compatible with pure aluminum wire.
I'm well aware of the aluminum wiring issue of the 60's and the problems it created. Even with the AL/CU fixtures, aluminum wire is no panacea, it's brittle and more easily damaged, doesn't bend as well, and is higher resistance.
However, any wire I'm going to have to solder needs to be pure copper. The CCA wires is very difficult to solder, if you get it to solder at all. IMO, CCA wire has no place near a layout, and most certainly will have no representation with my layout that I'm wiring now!
The speaker wire I bought purports to be copper, not aluminum. Assuming accurate advertising, I'll stick with Rich's "wire is wire" statement.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, I'm going to have to offer a small exception to that statement. As long as you buy real copper wire, that's pretty much true. However, if you end up with the cheap Chinese CCA stuff that's copper coated aluminum, it's pretty much junk, and there is a significant different, both in soldering it and it's performance. I can personally attest to getting burned by CCA junk before correcting my mistake.
Copper Clad Aluminum vs. Pure Copper Cables
I spent a long time with my other hobby. I built speakers and amp racks to run my sound system. I made the mistake of buying the CCA wire. I was shocked that some of the joints I soldered looked as if they were 100s of years old. They would break if flexed and that's how I first discovered the problem. So every single joint had to be redone. Combine that with some poor quality knock off NL4 speaker connectors that I bought and nothing was working reliably.
Don't solder that stuff!!!
@raising4daughters posted:The speaker wire I bought purports to be copper, not aluminum. Assuming accurate advertising, I'll stick with Rich's "wire is wire" statement.
And since that is actually pure copper wire, his statement is accurate. I'd simply say "copper wire is copper wire". CCA is NOT copper wire, IMO it's junk.
The economics of aluminum wire v.s. copper applies as the size of the wire becomes larger. Most residential homes would have aluminum service entrance wires. Electric Range, Electric Dryer, and Air Conditioning are probably wired with Aluminum. There are oxide inhibitors used on terminations. More commercial aluminum termination would be done with compression cable ends and special tools. Most of the wiring outside your home is aluminum. I worked on two rewire projects, the last 40 years, that had Aluminum, (non-metallic sheath cable) (Romex). Receptacle/Switch replacements are done with Cu/Al devices, designed for Aluminum wire termination, which should be available from most Electrical Supplies.
Don't confuse aluminum wire with Tin plated copper wire. Better speaker/sound wire can be tin plated. There are other applications for tin plated wire.
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