What gauge wire for SMD LED?

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KB02

KB02

Well-Known Member
Looking at some possible lighting upgrades for some of my locos. I've got a bunch of 2mm SMD LED's and was going to get some magnet wire to use with them. What size ire should I get?
 
I use 28AWG, which was mostly a random choice but has worked well. It's tiny enough to fit in and through most anywhere you need it to, and not so tiny as to be difficult to strip, solder, and otherwise work with. At that gauge you're basically looking at decoder wire (at least for the N/Z scale decoders I use) without the bulk of the normal insulation which quadruples the decoder wire's diameter.
 
Typical 2mm SMD LED draws 20mA. Ampacity chart shows 40 ga. wire as handling 90mA. So any wire from 40 ga. up will do. I use 30 ga. wire wrapping wire because its about the smallest I can handle.
 
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