# Further Lessons Learned - Cheap Chinese Junk



## BrokeCurmudgeon (Feb 8, 2016)

I am inherently cheap and always look for the cheapest price.:smilie_auslachen: That being said, I purchased some Chinese wire to re-wire my layout. It was 16ga stranded wire and looked to be copper. After giving up on directly soldering the track power to the rails, I decided to use AF 690's instead. Because the wire was stranded, I tinned the ends with solder in order to fit nicely into the 690's. Well, typical to form, I placed the 690's so that the Base side was on the inside of the track. Today I started to reverse the 690's so that the Base was on the outside. But, the tinned part of the power wires break off at the point of solder and no-solder because the wire is brittle. :smilie_daumenneg:
I can only conclude that the wire is not copper but steel with a copper coating and that the heat of soldering made the wire brittle. Maybe someone may have an opinion different? At any point, I will only by quality 100% copper wire now.:laugh::laugh::laugh:


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## cramden (Oct 13, 2015)

I use the rainbow wire (stranded) for wiring the track and accessories. I don't tin the ends, just twist the ends tight and slip them into the 690's. Try the wire without tinning the ends. Sometimes you need to adjust the wire holders so they hold tight.


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## drbobderrig (Nov 12, 2018)

so now a guy has to check the stupid label to make sure that it is 100% copper. I was tempted a few weeks ago to buy that wire at Harbor Frieght... $35 for multlple rolls of different gauges of wire... but I didn't and just got what I wanted at an auto supply store. Solder still sticks to that.
dr bob


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## highvoltage (Apr 6, 2014)

If heat is making it brittle, it sounds like it might be copper clad aluminum.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Broke, we are still learning life lessons. That cheap wire is a problem on my
flyonel diesels. Lionel was so cheap. The wire is silver, not even copper covered. 
Wires are breaking at solder points like crazy. You would think Lionel would know better.
I will eventually replace wires with copper wire. I really had not thought about the silver wire till you posted this. That's the problem.

Look for the 100% copper label.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

The strands in 16ga stranded wire would be very fine, I think unlikely to be a copper plating over some other metal. It might be just very cheaply made copper wire.
For my Christmas layouts I just use Primary wire I buy at the local Pep Boys. I can buy different gauges and multiple colors to facilitate wiring the layout. I likely use less than 100' of that wire per layout because much of the wiring is rainbow wire for the turnouts and semaphores. The buildings I use are mostly Snow Village so those are 120V C7 sockets interconnected with lamp cord and wire nuts.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Copper clad aluminum, it's junk!


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## BrokeCurmudgeon (Feb 8, 2016)

If the wire is copper then it must be some kind of alloy with little copper. I have been soldering wire ever since Uncle Sam taught me how to in 1965. I have never had this kind of problem with the wire becoming brittle and then breaking at the junction of solder and no solder. I am sure that automotive hookup wire from a auto parts store would be better to use as long as one were to keep his eyes open. And Rainbow wire of good quality would be preferred. Buy USA! Thanks all for the comments!


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Thanks for the info John!


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## drbobderrig (Nov 12, 2018)

Anyone remember aluminum wiring they put in mobile home etc in the early 60's or so. Big trouble with that stuff....
dr bob


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The aluminum wire wasn't the root cause of the problems, it was a dissimilar metals issue. They didn't match the fixtures like outlets and switches with the characteristics of the aluminum wire. After the issues surfaced, the CU/AL compatible was invented to cure the issue. That didn't work that well, so then they came up with CO/ALR specifications to solve the issue. Nowadays most heavy gauge wire in residential and commercial building is aluminum, when you get smaller than #8, they switch to copper.


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## drbobderrig (Nov 12, 2018)

exactly..even with aluminum you gotta use no-ox ( or something like that on the connections) Bad connections lead to heat which leads to bad things happening


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I shop off the beaten path and buy wire that way. Look for a local electrical surplus dealer. We have on in Manchester. I got all my small gage wire there. At a yard sale I found a roll of 18 gage speaker wire. Big roll over a hundred feet. Best next thing to being in heaven. You have to love wifi speakers all that nice wire unusable.


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