Why Cars Use Stranded Wire Instead of Solid • Cars Simplified Electrical Basics

The stranded vs solid wire debate goes out the window when it comes to cars! Cars use stranded wire everywhere! Why is that? This short basics video explains this for beginners in DIY automotive electrical.

Stranded wire is full of copper strands that can each bend on their own. Automotive electronics use stranded wire in 99.9% of applications. Solid wire is one single piece of copper in the wire, which is more rigid. Standard house wiring is typically solid wire. In both cases, sizes will vary based on other electrical engineering factors, such as how much amperage will pass through the component.

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[CarsSimplified]

Have you ever encountered solid wire on a vehicle? If so, what vehicle, and where was the wire used?

[Turdpuncher]

I used a 4 guage ac wire from lowes to run a car audio system before, it worked ok on my mids and highs amp but it sucked on the sub amp . It wouldnt supply enough current for some reason, even though it would hold the voltage just fine . I never used it again after that but i always wondered why it wouldnt . It wasnt solid wire, but the strands were thicker than car audio wire. They were also stiff. It was weird, i could hook up a single 4 ohm subwoofer to it and it would work fine. When i hooked up my dual two ohm subwoofer to it, it would barely play. It was rated to put out 1200 watts at 1 ohm, and i checked my grounds and power with a dmm. Never understood it, other than it being an issue with being able to supply amperage at a low voltage or maybe a resistance thing. I have known several people get the same results when using it. I guess thats why people dont use it in car audio lol.

[joshmorgan]

I really like your topics, presentation and everything about your channel. Thanks brother!

[marvinsalee]

There's more to this than movement. Electrons flow in the outside of the wires not through it. At lower voltages stranded is needed for this reason. Movement does play a small role but if you look at off grid solar installs you will see that stranded is almost always used on the dc side.

[hoists]

awesome video, We have some new car lights, could you help us to test it, thank you .

[musclecode]

what camera are you using ? you almost look unreal engine like ! :D

[ForgeAheadwithMike]

So in my new camper install, I already ran some solid wire (not connected yet). ALL of my wire is INSIDE the camper – no wires are exposed to the elements.
So, as long as my connections were good and tight, couldn't we use solid wire? And if we had solid wire, couldn't the pigtails be lightly sanded for better grip with the terminal screws?