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Just out of curiosity, has any one here tried running 28 or 30 ga wire (1.1 or 1.2mm with insulation) on their utility poles to light streetlights or even power a led in a structure, spotlights, signs, etc...?
A single 28ga line can carry up to 2.4 A at 5 VDC. Most common LED's require voltage of between 1.2 to 3.6 volts with a current rating of about 10 to 30 mA. While 12 to 20 mA seems to be the most common range.
I would think that solid conductor would be easier to work with then stranded for sharp bends, but the appropriate droop may not be as easy.
Yes, agreed I'd have to be careful unwinding it from the spool and handling to keep from causing any bends or kinks, that's where stranded might make a better appearance for the droop. I was thinking that a heat gun might help it relax before stringing it.
Yes, agreed I'd have to be careful unwinding it from the spool and handling to keep from causing any bends or kinks, that's where stranded might make a better appearance for the droop. I was thinking that a heat gun might help it relax before stringing it.
To get it more straight, you might be able measure your length, and put one end in a vise and use vise grips to give it a couple of tugs to straighten it. That's how I straighten my wire for chain-link fencing and tree armatures. Granted that's floral wire, and would be stiffer than the wire your proposing. so breakage may be an issue.
Best way would be to get a few of your poles, poke them in foam and see if you can get the results your looking for. Worse case is you can re-use the wire elsewhere for your lighting, feeders etc. if it fails. You wont be out nothing.
Yes, and test run with about three or four poles would be the best way to experiment and see what works or not! I'm way ahead of myself on this but will try it and post some photos in a couple weeks.
I have a bunch of LEDs, a couple spools of 28ga / 30ga wire and I'm big on reuse and repurposing stuff I have on hand so that's part of the appeal to trying this.
Yep. I take a multi-strand 14 or 16 gauge wire, then pull off the insulation for 4 to 6 inches. Then unwrap the individual wires from the group. These wires are not insulated, of course. Then your can connect to what ever power sources, and run the wires on telephone poles or power poles. Just be careful to separate the wires. They are only carrying a small current at low voltage, so not a big deal but you don't want to kill your power supplies. I use this method on signal bridges, with CA glue to hold the wires and separate them in the bridge area and down to the bottom of the layout. Great for connecting 0201 or 0402 LEDs.
