I am about to re-wire my first valve radio, because the existing wires have perished and are crumbling away.

I am rewiring a AWA Radiola 527-MA

I have read an article saying that I should be using 18 S.W.G gauge wire on the filament circuits and 22 S.W.G gauge for the rest, and another article quoted 24 S.W.G for all wiring.

What gauge wire should I be using?

Also, any suggestions as to where can I buy the range of PVC insulated wire in the various colours.
If I was to rewire in the original colour scheme I would need. Brown, Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, White and Maroon

22 gauge is adequate for all radio chassis wiring, what is more important is the voltage rating of the insulation. 400v would be ideal but not that easy to find, 250v is more common provided your B+ voltage doesn't exceed this. There's some cloth covered cable on Ebay in all the colours but the insulation is not rated. I salvaged a small supply from an old TV chassis. You can get some colours by stripping down old 240v leads but make sure the cable inside has a rating on it and is sound.

Electrical wholesalers want to sell 100m rolls which is a bit much, especially when you need multiple colours. Someone else here might know of a source of reasonable quantities of suitably rated coloured wire.

Cheers

Warren

EVATCO in QLD has the stuff, and sells by the metre:

http://evatco.com.au/miscparts.htm#wire.

I've been curious about the Evatco wire. I've heard that cloth covered 600v 20 gauge wire is okay in an amp but a bit bulky in a radio chassis.

I've used it when restoring the Airzone model shown in my avatar. It wasn't significantly thicker than the original rubber-insulated stuff that had disintegrated.

A tip with this material: You can make a neater job if you put small lengths (say 1 cm or less) of heat-shrink on the ends of the stripped wire to stop them from fraying. Be sure to do that before using the soldering iron, of course.

Good tip with the heatshrink GTC. I'll have to get some of that wire and see how it goes. I think the AWA 527 that Radio Collector is working on uses a much thinner plastic insulated wire. I've yet to find a source for this in the appropriate rating in small quantities, it's all cloth covered and doesn't look quite right in the later AWA's. I actually get more enjoyment from restoring the "guts" of my radios. The cabinet I find quite tedious and is only to please others.

Warren

Thanks for the great advice.

The heatshrink on the cotton covered wires is a great tip GTC.

As Scraps points out the AWA has plastic insulated wires and I was going to try and rewire as close to the original style as possible.I guess I will have to keep hunting.

At least I know I should be looking for 22 gauge wire with insulation rated at 400V.

Thanks
Peter

At least I know I should be looking for 22 gauge wire with insulation rated at 400V.

Let us know if you find anybody selling it by the metre.

You can get 600 volt stuff from various places here, but only by the roll.

Andrew Kay,

akay5507yahoo.com.au

sold me cotton covered wire by the metre some months ago.

He did not have black, but a good range of other colours.

^ Yeah, there's plenty of cotton around, but the guys are looking for high voltage plastic covered stuff.

OK I missed that. Andrew used to provide a restoration service but is now retired and selling off components etc. He may have plastic covered too.

I guess it's worth a try. I've emailed him.

Okay, Andrew replied, as follows:-

"I just use the standard 'hook-up' wire available from Altronics etc. The one I have used in dozens of radios is 'medium' grade:

http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=W2267.

In odd cases where more insulation is needed (very rare) I use plastic sleeving over the wire.

I am not geared up to sell consumables like wire etc."

I didn't think to ask Andrew, I just assumed he didn't sell it so didn't bother. What a great source of knowledge he is. Altronics cable is perfect for most chassis wiring, 300v 21AWG, all the colours of the rainbow and it seems to be sold by the metre at a reasonable price. They even have 18AWG. Thanks GTC for the detective work.

I don't think I've heard of Andrew before this. What was his resto business called and where was it?