# Types Wire is often categorised by its use. The two most common types in industry are Power and Control cabling. The most important aspect of this though is the voltage rating, whether the cable is "Mains" rated or not. ## Size Units: mm^2 or Gauge ## Strands Multistranded cable is more flexible. The more strands that it has the more flexible. Single strand cable is very stiff. Litz wire is extremely flexible. ## Colours For mains rated cable we want - Brown (Active) - White (Active) - Red (Active) {Orange instead?} - Blue (Neutral) - Black (Neutral) - Green / Yellow (Earth) For DC circuits (Batteries) we want - Red - Black For hook up wire (small cables used for connecting to PCBs, that are not mains rated) we use the colour as a simple wire identifier. So we want a range of as many colours as we can get. # 2nd Hand Wire We use a lot of wire for prototypes and testing. It would be good if we can reuse some of it rather than wasting it. - Can't be a tangled mess - Must be easy to organise - Grouped by how it is likely to be used ## Short offcuts Anything under 1m. ## Single wires Anything up to a couple of meters. Coil it up. Clip off any frayed ends. ## Long wires ## Multi-core Cable Treotham sell cable by the meter. Öflex Classic ## Wire harnesses Wire harnesses can be a lot of effort to make up. Sometimes they can be reused. If they are worth keeping then they should be individually bagged. ## Mains Cable ### Single phase ### Three phase ## Battery Cable Single core, high current rating. Where do we get wire - [Electra Cables](https://electracables.com.au) -