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Pretty much what the questions says. I find myself in need of some wires and I want to get the "floppy" ones, but I realised I don't know what the actual technical term for it is and so I don't know what to search for.

Also, while we are at it - is there much difference between the two types in terms of durability?

KubaFYI
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  • The really floppy wire, like the kind on DMM leads, is usually made with silicone insulation. – BB ON Sep 23 '19 at 15:49
  • I think you might mean silicone (floppy) vs PVC (not so floppy formable) insulation. Especially for 22AWG wire, silicone is almost too floppy. Like uncooked spaghetii. – DKNguyen Sep 23 '19 at 16:06
  • Do you need continuous flex wire, or just wire that's really easy to get into a certain shape? – TimWescott Sep 23 '19 at 16:38

2 Answers2

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Solid wire

These contain one thicker wire inside, and after bending, they stay bent that way. Typical example is breadboard jumper cables.

Examples:

enter image description here

Stranded wire

Multiple very thin wires turned around each other, they bend easily and after bending, move back to their original form (or hang down due to gravity).

Stranded wire can come in various number of strands and thickness (see comment of TimWescott below).

Also there is stranded building wire (see comment of Nate Strickland below).

Example:

enter image description here

Remark of Hearth (see below)

think it wouldn't be a bad idea to mention that, for instance, silicone-insulated wires are much more flexible (and don't bounce back nearly as much) than, for instance, PVC insulated wires

Michel Keijzers
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    The stiffness of stranded wire is often dominated by the stiffness of its insulation. – Dave Tweed Sep 23 '19 at 15:48
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    @DaveTweed true, but even then the wire bounces back I assume. – Michel Keijzers Sep 23 '19 at 15:50
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    I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to mention that, for instance, silicone-insulated stranded wire is much more flexible (and don't bounce back nearly as much) than, for instance, PVC insulated stranded wire. I don't think there's any better place to put that information, and I feel like it probably should be on this site somewhere. Perhaps I'll make it its own question, actually; comparative merits of different insulation materials might be good to have here. – Hearth Sep 23 '19 at 16:22
  • @Hearth thanks for the comment, I added it in my question, but to be honest, I do not really have much experience with wires (I just knew the terms the asker was looking for), nor I don't want to take your credits. – Michel Keijzers Sep 23 '19 at 16:25
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    There's stranded and there's stranded. Usually when you see stranded wire listed by a distributor or manufacturer they'll tell you the number and size of the strands. – TimWescott Sep 23 '19 at 16:38
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    Within stranded wire, there's also stranded building wire, which has several thicker strands, and flexible cordage, which has a whole lot more thinner strands. – Nate S. Sep 23 '19 at 23:57
  • @TimWescott thanks for your comment. – Michel Keijzers Sep 24 '19 at 00:28
  • @NateStrickland thanks for your comment (thanks for learning something from your comment). – Michel Keijzers Sep 24 '19 at 00:28
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Stranded Vs solid core.

Also, while we are at it - is there much difference between the two types in terms of durability?

Yes, stranded wires are more flexible. Solid core wires under mechanical stress or motion can develop fatigue and crack much more easily.

With both you need to have strain relief. This basically means you need some way to keep the wire from experiencing stress, mostly at the point where the insulation ends.

This can be done with proper crimping, heatshrink and other mechanical fasteners. (or even tape or hot-glue)

Also, if your using ethernet cables, you should use solid core in the walls and stranded between the computer and wall (because the wire is usually experiencing mechanical stress from movement).

Voltage Spike
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