Stranded VS Solid

[crewchief888]

maybe a stupid question , but goes anyway

are there any advantages/ disadvantages solid wire VS stranded for home& garage use?

i was always told, stranded for DC, solid for AC
but i have no idea why.
ive seen stranded and solid wire running in houses and garages

questions, comments, advise

thanks guys

 

[mrb]

depends on wire ga, application, and devices being used...

 

[walrus]

If I'm pulling it into conduit, I want stranded

 

[crewchief888]

depends on wire ga, application, and devices being used...

12 or 16 g wire,
15-20 amp circuits
general garage lighting
110v compressor
electric tool use, drills, chop saw, grinders

reason i ask, i noticed today at HD when i was pricing supplies for adding a couple outlets and switches in my garage that solid and stranded wire are sold side by side
i;m not an electrician, and wouldnt want to run new service in my house, but have some basic idea on how to add on outlets and switches to what i already have. my plan was to add anotehr breaker, and pull another circuit into the garage, use the existing 20 amp circuit for the door opener,lights, and one outlet, and use 2nd cicuit for a small 110v compressor and a couple of outlets.
am i overthinking this?
adding a 2nd breaker box in the garage isnt an option, conduit from house to garage is underground,and covered in concrete

thanks again

 

[Radar1]

It depends alot upon your application. When there are short runs of Conduit I find I like solid, because sometimes you can tape the ends together and push the wire to the next juction box, or whatever. Solid is also easier to make up on a recepticle, when you bend and hook on the side of the device. Stranded is nice when you are wiring a motor, or when you have a really long pull in conduit. Yes you can hook stranded wire to recepticles and switches, it is just a little more tedius.

In the industrial/comercial world it is usually spelled out in the specs. for the job.

 

[crewchief888]

this is what i been looking for , it makes sense to pull the stranded through my existing run from the house to garage, just from eyeballing it, looks like theres 3 or 4 90 degree turns.
the runs between boxes will be short, 10 feet or less. i need to get at least a couple of outlets in the garage soon, and still want to be able to add a couple more as the need arises.
inside the garage i hadnt planned on bending much conduit, mostly making straight runs box to box for future expansion.



i'm feeling much better now....lol

 

[Radar1]

crewchieff888,
I know in some areas romex is the deal, and in other areas it is "bx" or "mc cable". You can use what your house already has. If you are not going to fish the walls in the garage, and run the wiring in the walls. I would use wire mold or EMT for physical protection of the insulation. Like in drops from the ceiling down to the recepticles etc. Hope the suggestions help, good luck with your project.
Radar1

 

[Radar1]

I just saw your last post. Didn't realize it was a seperate building. Yep Stranded sounds good.
If it were me I would change from stranded to solid at your first termination. It is just easier to hook the recepticles and switches.

 

[crewchief888]

garage walls are all open studs, planned on EMT and 4x4 boxes, 2 4 outlet boxes , 1 single outlet w/switch for the air compressor.
my compressor is eleavated about 5 feet off the floor, on a shelf, tucked in a corner, and is a pain to get to with my truck in there.

my plans ( eventually ) is to have another, much larger garage built directly behind the existing one, when the new one is up, demo the old one.
the existing garage was built in 1964 when the house was built, and is typical for a 1960's 2 car garage.
that way i'll have a large concrete pad in front of the new garage and gain some seperation between the garage and house.

 

[krooser]

I'm no electrician but I've never seen stranded wire used in conduit... but that's me.

 

[Big N8]

If your pulling it I would go with stranded. solids ***** to pull that far without a nice strait run.

 

[Big N8]

Also I will say this. Solid or stranded is like Chevy or Ford. It is all up to the person using it.

 

[djjsr]

FWIW, most industrial applications are stranded wire in conduit.

 

[sberry]

If this is a separate building pulling more circuits is a no-no. If it has pipe pull the wire back out, add heavier wire sufficient to the task, use a simple 6 space main lug panel and put a legal feed to the building. Its not very expensive or time consuming.

 

[kbs2244]

All the industrial work I have seen id stranded while most residential is solid.
Commercial is a mix.
The dividing line seems to be the possibly of vibration.
Circuits near motors and machinery use stranded since it is more flexible.

 

[D.J.]

This is what I always heard:

X 1 on it

i was always told, stranded for DC, solid for AC
[/QUOTE]

Something about the electrons that could be stacked around the diameter of a single vs a stranded (multi wire) system. Electricans or engineers could possibly answer this question!
Thanks D.J.
________
Replay starcraft 2

 

[Stuart in MN]

For general wiring 10 AWG or smaller, for the most part it doesn't really make any difference if you use stranded or solid. If it's connected to something that moves or vibrates (like an air compressor) you want stranded, but for lights and outlets solid is fine.

That whole thing about skin effect and the current carrying capacity of solid or stranded wire doesn't apply until you get into very high frequencies.

 

[Diablo]

When i was doing commercial we were using all solid, same with housing. But now that im an industrial guy i like my stranded. No difference just personal prefrence.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

When i was doing commercial we were using all solid, same with housing. But now that im an industrial guy i like my stranded. No difference just personal prefrence.

If this is a separate building pulling more circuits is a no-no. If it has pipe pull the wire back out, add heavier wire sufficient to the task, use a simple 6 space main lug panel and put a legal feed to the building. Its not very expensive or time consuming.

This is very true. You cannot have more than one circuit supplying a detached building. If you are running mutiple circuits for lights, receptacles, air compressor, etc, it is not allowed by code.

There are not rules on solid or stranded except that 8 gauge or heavier must be stranded per code section 310.3 when used in raceways (including conduit). For 10, 12, and 14 there are no requirements either way. #10 THHN individual conductors are kinda tough to pull in conduit for any distance, and for that reason, I use stranded #10. All of my #12 conduit pulls were done with solid THHN wire, which I much prefer as I like the solidness of the connection at the ends.

Charles

 

[tonydanzah]

stranded is better, people just use solid for ac as it is cheaper

 

[rockwithjason]

This is what I always heard:

X 1 on it

i was always told, stranded for DC, solid for AC

Something about the electrons that could be stacked around the diameter of a single vs a stranded (multi wire) system. Electricans or engineers could possibly answer this question!
Thanks D.J.[/QUOTE]

stranded wire actually has a slightly higher dc resistance. not enough to really make a difference in 99.9% of cases mind you but the fact remains. stranded is used when vibration is a concern as solid wires can suffer brittle fracture and break off. sometimes I use stranded if i have a large number of wires in a pipe. solid is easier to work with and doesn't require crimp terminals or devices with bite plates for termination. As far as the ac/dc debate it makes no difference until you get into high frequency ac, then you want stranded wire to counter skin effect.

 

[crewchief888]

i knew there had to be somebody smarter than me on this subject

i know what i want to do, and have a pretty good idea on how to do it.
if i'd just got to HD or lowes and buy what i need and get out i'd be better off, i start looking around and start to 2nd guess my idea/ descision.
i finally had some time to look at what i already have, 3/4 emt from main box in house to garage, 30 amp breaker, new 10g wire.
bought his hose 5 years ago, and upon inspection found a breaker doublelugged from when the central AC had been installed. sellers had new box installed, and new service run to garage and garage rewired to meet current code.
current code called for an outlet within 3 or 4 feet of the door opener, a single GFI outlet and a switched overhead light. all new conduit,12g wiring, and boxes were installed. i just need 3 more outlets for convienence. heaviest load i have is my lincoln promig 140, air compressor is seldom used ( i have a portable compressor in my service truck if i need a lot of air)
ive been welding, with and a couple of lights on, and had the compressor kick on, and had tripped a 15a breaker that breaker's been replaced with a 20 and no problems after that.
this suckass garage is one of the reasons i had moved my truck and tools to a rented building, but since a recent argument with the landlord about one of his employees ripping me off, i'm moving stuff back to my home garage.

i'll get it figured out

thanks for all ya'lls input and opinions

 

[BackAgain]

Solid is cheaper, that's why it gets used. Some applications REQUIRE stranded wire, but none REQUIRE solid. I like solid for AC work because I think it's easier to strip and screw into the back of outlets and switches. I like stranded for DC since I'm twisting the wires and coming in contact with them, but it's low voltage.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Solid is cheaper, that's why it gets used. Some applications REQUIRE stranded wire, but none REQUIRE solid. I like solid for AC work because I think it's easier to strip and screw into the back of outlets and switches. I like stranded for DC since I'm twisting the wires and coming in contact with them, but it's low voltage.

I have only used solid wire in smaller gauge <12. Regarding DC; while most here only have some simple low voltage, my lathe is DC and at 240V 30amps not exactly low voltage.

Steve

 

[Evmaniac]

stranded usually gets used in DC applications because it handles vibration better, like in boats and autos. Solid wire is a real no-no on boats for that reason, just like wire nuts.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Stranded is a real pain to me to terminate on a light switch or other similar device. Solid works great for this.