Has anyone any advice regarding stranded wire for winding coils for making homebrew regen radios? Is it as effective as say enamelled wire?

If you're talking about stranded celanese wire, as I think it is called, it works well and is used in factory made sets around the world. You may find it in some loop antennas as well. I am not sure about its benefits or how it affects the circuit.

Thomas

I've built several regen sets using regular enameled magnet wire. I don't see any need to use stranded, though I am sure it would work fine. Some of the folks who build crystal radios use Litz wire. This is stranded wire where every strand is insulated from the others. Supposed to be lower loss and higher-Q, but not really necessary for a regen radio.
Rich

:If you're talking about stranded celanese wire, as I think it is called, it works well and is used in factory made sets around the world. You may find it in some loop antennas as well. I am not sure about its benefits or how it affects the circuit.
:
:Thomas

I was more of ordinary coated hook-up wire.

:I've built several regen sets using regular enameled magnet wire. I don't see any need to use stranded, though I am sure it would work fine. Some of the folks who build crystal radios use Litz wire. This is stranded wire where every strand is insulated from the others. Supposed to be lower loss and higher-Q, but not really necessary for a regen radio.
:Rich
:
:
::If you're talking about stranded celanese wire, as I think it is called, it works well and is used in factory made sets around the world. You may find it in some loop antennas as well. I am not sure about its benefits or how it affects the circuit.
::
::Thomas

Litz...that's it. I always get that confused and I'm too lazy to look in a catologue to see which is which. Now there is such a thing as Litz wound, right? Isn't that the fancy way they wind commercial coils? It looks almost like it's woven or something.

Thomas

Thomas, you are thinking to honeycomb-wound RF coils. Those are pretty fancy. I have a few old RF chokes wound in that manner.
Brian, normal hook-up wire will work for coil winding, but you need a larger form to accomodate the same number of turns, since hook-up wire has a larger overall outside diameter compared to the same gauge of magnet wire. Magnet wire was specifically developed for coil winding. The goal was to get the maximum number of turns in the smallest space, and with the lowest cost.

More info on Litz-wound coils, check out Dave Schmarder's crystal and regen radio website.

Rich

:Litz...that's it. I always get that confused and I'm too lazy to look in a catologue to see which is which. Now there is such a thing as Litz wound, right? Isn't that the fancy way they wind commercial coils? It looks almost like it's woven or something.
:
:Thomas

Brian, if the insulation is fairly thin such as some hookup wire, it would probably be about the same as some of the space wound coils. Of coarse, all coils have a certain amount of spacing, which is taken into consideration during their design. With enameled magnet wire, the spacing is generally determined by the number of coats, and if more space is required for a special application, this is sometimes done by turning a threaded groove in the form. Back when cotton and silk covered wire was available, spacing was the main reason for its use. Both fabrics were available in a single or double cover, wound over either enamel or non-enamel wire. The thickness of cotton was more than silk, and some enamel had more coats than others, so numerous combinations were available to vary the spacing. This kind of thing applies mostly to RF coils in a radio receiver, so high voltage and heavy current is not usually much of a factor in determining the insulation thickness.

One advantage of space winding is that it gives a wider bandwidth with a given size tuning condenser. If the bandwidth is wider than needed on a space wound coil, then the wire length can be increased, resulting in a stronger signal. So, using the right kind of hookup wire may be just as good or maybe even better in some cases. I imagine the skin affect between stranded and solid wire would be a factor, but I don't know how much. Maybe solid wire has the advantage. One thing I can tell you for certain. New silk covered wire is prettier than plastic covered hookup wire. br

AES sells celanese-covered wire. Check their cat. nos. S-W203, S-W107, and S-W106.

Stranded wire may have just a bit more surface area than solid wire, but the effect will be minimal. The current flowing through the skin conduction layer is so small that it won't generate much loss. The purpose of Litz wire is to separate each strand so that its whole surface is used. If the strands aren't insulated from one another, most of the surface is pressed against an adjacent surface and doesn't contribute to reducing skin effect. I like the cloth or silk wire, too. Hard to find and expensive compared to enameled magnet wire.
Rich

:Brian, if the insulation is fairly thin such as some hookup wire, it would probably be about the same as some of the space wound coils. Of coarse, all coils have a certain amount of spacing, which is taken into consideration during their design. With enameled magnet wire, the spacing is generally determined by the number of coats, and if more space is required for a special application, this is sometimes done by turning a threaded groove in the form. Back when cotton and silk covered wire was available, spacing was the main reason for its use. Both fabrics were available in a single or double cover, wound over either enamel or non-enamel wire. The thickness of cotton was more than silk, and some enamel had more coats than others, so numerous combinations were available to vary the spacing. This kind of thing applies mostly to RF coils in a radio receiver, so high voltage and heavy current is not usually much of a factor in determining the insulation thickness.
:
:One advantage of space winding is that it gives a wider bandwidth with a given size tuning condenser. If the bandwidth is wider than needed on a space wound coil, then the wire length can be increased, resulting in a stronger signal. So, using the right kind of hookup wire may be just as good or maybe even better in some cases. I imagine the skin affect between stranded and solid wire would be a factor, but I don't know how much. Maybe solid wire has the advantage. One thing I can tell you for certain. New silk covered wire is prettier than plastic covered hookup wire. br
:

:Stranded wire may have just a bit more surface area than solid wire, but the effect will be minimal. The current flowing through the skin conduction layer is so small that it won't generate much loss. The purpose of Litz wire is to separate each strand so that its whole surface is used. If the strands aren't insulated from one another, most of the surface is pressed against an adjacent surface and doesn't contribute to reducing skin effect. I like the cloth or silk wire, too. Hard to find and expensive compared to enameled magnet wire.
:Rich
:
::Brian, if the insulation is fairly thin such as some hookup wire, it would probably be about the same as some of the space wound coils. Of coarse, all coils have a certain amount of spacing, which is taken into consideration during their design. With enameled magnet wire, the spacing is generally determined by the number of coats, and if more space is required for a special application, this is sometimes done by turning a threaded groove in the form. Back when cotton and silk covered wire was available, spacing was the main reason for its use. Both fabrics were available in a single or double cover, wound over either enamel or non-enamel wire. The thickness of cotton was more than silk, and some enamel had more coats than others, so numerous combinations were available to vary the spacing. This kind of thing applies mostly to RF coils in a radio receiver, so high voltage and heavy current is not usually much of a factor in determining the insulation thickness.
::
::One advantage of space winding is that it gives a wider bandwidth with a given size tuning condenser. If the bandwidth is wider than needed on a space wound coil, then the wire length can be increased, resulting in a stronger signal. So, using the right kind of hookup wire may be just as good or maybe even better in some cases. I imagine the skin affect between stranded and solid wire would be a factor, but I don't know how much. Maybe solid wire has the advantage. One thing I can tell you for certain. New silk covered wire is prettier than plastic covered hookup wire. br
::

Where can you find silk covered magnet wire? any one know?

Hi William

AES, www.tubesandmore.com carries cellanese covered wire. This is similar to the older cotton covered wire. Do you really need silk? Haven't seen silk covered wire for sale.

Norm

::Stranded wire may have just a bit more surface area than solid wire, but the effect will be minimal. The current flowing through the skin conduction layer is so small that it won't generate much loss. The purpose of Litz wire is to separate each strand so that its whole surface is used. If the strands aren't insulated from one another, most of the surface is pressed against an adjacent surface and doesn't contribute to reducing skin effect. I like the cloth or silk wire, too. Hard to find and expensive compared to enameled magnet wire.
::Rich
::
:::Brian, if the insulation is fairly thin such as some hookup wire, it would probably be about the same as some of the space wound coils. Of coarse, all coils have a certain amount of spacing, which is taken into consideration during their design. With enameled magnet wire, the spacing is generally determined by the number of coats, and if more space is required for a special application, this is sometimes done by turning a threaded groove in the form. Back when cotton and silk covered wire was available, spacing was the main reason for its use. Both fabrics were available in a single or double cover, wound over either enamel or non-enamel wire. The thickness of cotton was more than silk, and some enamel had more coats than others, so numerous combinations were available to vary the spacing. This kind of thing applies mostly to RF coils in a radio receiver, so high voltage and heavy current is not usually much of a factor in determining the insulation thickness.
:::
:::One advantage of space winding is that it gives a wider bandwidth with a given size tuning condenser. If the bandwidth is wider than needed on a space wound coil, then the wire length can be increased, resulting in a stronger signal. So, using the right kind of hookup wire may be just as good or maybe even better in some cases. I imagine the skin affect between stranded and solid wire would be a factor, but I don't know how much. Maybe solid wire has the advantage. One thing I can tell you for certain. New silk covered wire is prettier than plastic covered hookup wire. br
:::
:
:Where can you find silk covered magnet wire? any one know?