This week I bought some 14 gauge stranded primary wire for my layout. The spool states that it is "12 volt primary wire" - it is 100% copper not copper clad - my questions are:
1. What is "primary wire"?
2. Is the 12 volt rating ok to use for dcs track connections?
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It's all good for what you want to do. Primary wire refers to wire suitable for winding the primary side of (typically - in this case) 12 volt ignition coils.
Not to worry. 14 gauge is 14 gauge. The word "primary" in this context is a term of art from the automotive industry, distinguishing the wire from "high-tension" wire, which is used to transmit "secondary" electricity from the coil output to the spark plugs. Since an automotive ignition "coil" is a transformer, not a coil, per se, (confused yet?) it has a primary winding and a secondary winding, so car guys use the word "primary" for anything that ain't a spark plug wire.
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