Stranded copper wire for filaments?

[pizzyflavin]

Hello everyone, I bought a 5E3 kit from Torres and I'm wiring the filaments right now. I decided to use the two 18 AWG wires in the kit for the filament wiring because the drawings were unclear on colors...(drawings used blue wire...there is no blue wire in this kit)

I just noticed the two lengths of wire that I twisted together have different innards. One is stranded copper and the other is stranded silver looking wire. Both are 18 AWG, can I use this to wire my filaments?

Thanks,
Ricky

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

Hello everyone, I bought a 5E3 kit from Torres and I'm wiring the filaments right now. I decided to use the two 18 AWG wires in the kit for the filament wiring because the drawings were unclear on colors...(drawings used blue wire...there is no blue wire in this kit)

I just noticed the two lengths of wire that I twisted together have different innards. One is stranded copper and the other is stranded silver looking wire. Both are 18 AWG, can I use this to wire my filaments?

Thanks,
Ricky

Yes.

[pizzyflavin]

Thanks Bruce,

I wired the filaments, but then my OCD kicked in and I ordered some cloth covered wire from tubedepot. I removed all the wiring for the filaments, and the cloth wire should be here tomorrow.

I've decided to do almost the whole kit in cloth covered wire, and will use my own color coding since the Torres colors don't match whats in the kit.

Thanks again!

[cubby01]

My OCD would have had me taking advantage of the copper vs silver so that after twisting I would have the same color wire running to the same pins. ie copper to pin 2 on the 6v6s and pin 9 on the 12AX7's. I have no clue if it makes any difference though.

[tedmich]

Glad your hobby is proving satisfying!

IMHO cloth covered wire is not too much fun, but hey to each there own!

Don't want to go too far down the OCD path on wire:
Audiophile Vindication! - Cables Are Different And Now There's The Science
unless you enjoy it...

[Groover]

My OCD would have had me taking advantage of the copper vs silver so that after twisting I would have the same color wire running to the same pins. ie copper to pin 2 on the 6v6s and pin 9 on the 12AX7's. I have no clue if it makes any difference though.

I think it does make a difference in some cases - the power tubes in a push pull stage should have their heaters wired in the same polarity, to take advantage of the noise-cancelling aspect of the push-pull stage. So you were on the right track with your color-coding idea. I just run a stripe down one of the heater wires with a Sharpie before I twist them together.

[koen]

Yeah, I do that too with a Sharpie, but just 1-2 cm on each side, no need to mark the whole wire

[Dave H]

I just run a stripe down one of the heater wires with a Sharpie before I twist them together.

Or you could just use different coloured wire

[jrfrond]

Drawing a line on a wire is a pain in the ass! I usually just use green and green/yellow to have a phase reference, and personally, I like stranded wire all around, with Teflon insulation, thank you. However, I use PVC-jacketed wire for heaters. Even though I use a drill to twist my heater string nice and tight, Teflon, being what it is, doesn't hold the twist so well.

[Groover]

I suppose it depends on how many amps you build or re-build. At my level having to stock an extra color (green/yellow stripe) of wire would be a PITA!