Question about wires

[N.B.B.]

Hi All,

Could someone tell me why there are so many small copper wires within cables carrying electriciy?
You strip down a wire and you've got your color coded cables and then within those are a number of small copper wires. If I'm stripping a wire and I accidentally cut one of the small copper wires (but the remaining 10 are fine), will there be a decrease in the amount of electricity it can carry or will the risks associated with using that wire increase?

Thanks for your help!!

 

[dragontoker]

Hi All,

Could someone tell me why there are so many small copper wires within cables carrying electriciy?
You strip down a wire and you've got your color coded cables and then within those are a number of small copper wires. If I'm stripping a wire and I accidentally cut one of the small copper wires (but the remaining 10 are fine), will there be a decrease in the amount of electricity it can carry or will the risks associated with using that wire increase?


Thanks for your help!!

Stranded wire is used for flexible applications. Used when running in conduit or for applications where the wire is going to be flexed often, such as on appliances. Soild wire is a better conductor but shouldnt be used in flexible applications cause it will break.

When stripping stranded wire you dont want to lose any of the strands but if you sized your wire appropriately losing one or two strands wont hurt. You wont lose electricity but it will lower the amount of current/amperage the wire can handle by a very small amount.

 

[N.B.B.]

Cheers puffpuff!

 

[N.B.B.]

One more thing. (for anyone reading this thread)

I need to replace the hydrofarm type plug on the ballast I have because I don't live in the US and there are none available. The cable and the plug coming out of the ballast are rated 600v.
The IEC plug (used on the european Lumatek ballasts) I want to use to replace replace the hydrofarm plug is rated 240v. Is this a problem?
What should the cables leading from my ballast to the bulb be rated? Do they all need to be rated 600v?

Btw, my ballast is 600w.