Wiring for LED's

[greyphantom1000]

Hey just wondering i have a 3mm LED and was wondering what is the smallest gauge wire i can use. Thanks!!

 

[Grendels]

The gauge of wire depends up on the current and not anything else. LED's don't draw a lot of current, so I wouldn't worry about the gauge of wire you want to use.

On the diorama I am working on, I use a very small magnet wire. It is about the width of a human hair. I would not go that small unless you really need to. Wires of that size are very hard to solder.....

 

[greyphantom1000]

so if for instance i was using 2 AA batteries?

 

[TiM]

anything you like, equipment wire comes in various sized down to 32 awg and multi strand or solid core. Or, scavenge phone wire, bell wire etc. for free. 8)

 

[Grendels]

When you start using 100 LED's then you need to worry. But for a few and batteries, just use what you want. It won't matter.

 

[greyphantom1000]

thanks a lot u guys! that helps. With the led's i ran in that 1/100 scale gundam kit i used the smalles gauge electrical wire the home depot had that comes on the massive ral and it was too thick. Where i work we have 25' phone cables raining down from the ceiling so i'll try that

 

[TiM]

One small thing to bear in mind - phone wire is multi-strand so won't necessarily hold a bend if you want to keep wiring in a certain position, it flexes.
Single strand equipment wire is cheap as chips on e-bay, I got a pack of several colours, 5m of each + 10m black & red 26 gauge for about £4.

The phone wire is ~0,5mm conductor diameter when twisted, solid core is available in 0,2mm 0,4mm 0,6mm etc.