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Please assure me I'm not going to burn my house down.

I recently bought some new mono class D amps to replace a stereo class D. I had a pair of identical diy power cords connected to the stereo amp and my preamp.

Well, with monos I was obviously going to use the identical power cords. So I needed a new PC for my pre, as the older diy version I had laying around just used thhn wire from Lowe’s and didn’t sound great. So, after some thought and research, I decided to make a PC out of cat 5 plenum cable. I kept it in its blue sleeve (containing 4 twisted pairs) and then I braided 3 lengths together for each conductor. I then took those three braids and braided them. What I have sounds incredible and I’m fairly confident that it is safe electrically.

Please reassure me. Or tell me I forgot about x, and that I should cease and desist. Or laugh at how cheap I am...

But really, I’m not going to start a fire here, am I? 8 conductors per length x 3 lengths for each conductor equals 24 strands of 24awg. Which equals 10awg for each conductor...
128x128toddverrone

Showing 2 responses by terry9

terry9
931 posts
 
I would be most concerned about termination. It is easy to braid wire together - and it's easy for wire to become unbraided at the termination. If the wire does unravel, then you may find one or two conductors carrying all the current. Then things unravel.

Second problem is teflon. If things unravel, those few conductors are going to get hot. If teflon gets hotter than about 500 F, things go badly wrong - it decomposes into highly toxic gases, including HF. You don't want to risk HF. Really, you don't.
terry9
931 posts
 
To address your point about 24 x 0.6 ~ 15 (amps), and braiding together,  the current carrying capacity of multiples depends on their exact physical relationship. That is, if insulated wires are close together, they will not be able to radiate heat as efficiently as if they were separated. Then wires might get hot. Hot (copper) conductors have higher resistance. This has the potential to create a positive feedback loop, and we are back to the potential for HF.

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