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mingusdew
Penny Sorter Member
64 Posts |
 Posted - 08/25/2008 : 12:13:26
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Pardon my ignorance if this is a stupid question, I'm new to the whole scrap thing.
Anyhow, I just bought a new receiver for my car and when I was stripping the included wire for installation, I noticed it looked like silver when bare. I know silver is a good conductor, I just wasn't aware that its use in wire was common enough to be included with a "free" installation kit.
How often do people who recycle wire run into silver cabling, and does stripping it net you .999 fine silver? Or is it some kind of special purpose silver alloy?
If it's fine silver, I almost feel like taking the unit out of my car to replace the wiring with copper!
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Neckro
1000+ Penny Miser Member
Saudi Arabia
2080 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2008 : 13:30:23
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| Just try and melt some of it. Most of the time it's silver plated copper. |
Trolling is an art. |
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B-Power-B
Penny Pincher Member
USA
111 Posts |
Posted - 08/25/2008 : 19:07:04
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| I wonder if there are some things that used silver wire? Probably old electronics from back when things like silver wire and gold was the only known thing to use. |
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wavecrazed
Penny Sorter Member
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2008 : 16:08:45
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| It is probaly tin coated copper wire. Used in boats and computers. It does not rust as easy.Throw it in your number 2 insulated copper wire pile. Currently at retail it get about 1.00 a lb not stripped. |
scrappin" all over |
Edited by - wavecrazed on 08/28/2008 16:10:22 |
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Cerulean
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
993 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2008 : 12:47:35
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| Aluminum has been used for wiring too, especially back in the 1970s when copper prices rose. I see it all the time in cheap modern electronics too, as a cost-cutting measure by budget manufacturers. If the wire I find is not copper, it is usually aluminum. |
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Treasurekidd
Penny Sorter Member
USA
39 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2008 : 11:48:06
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| I was wondering about that. I stripped out 12 old early 80s computers recently, and a lot of the wiring was silver/aluminum colored rather than copper. I just threw it in with my other copper wire - I hope that wasn;t a mistake! |
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psi
Penny Collector Member
Canada
399 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2008 : 14:20:24
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Silver is more conductive than copper but the difference is not huge (looking at numbers for the pure metals at least). You have to ask yourself when/why this modest difference in conductivity would be worth the sizable extra expense.
Apparently ag wiring is used in high-end guitar amps and stereo equipment sometimes. The performance differences there would be debatable/subjective but the owner gets one more thing about the equipment to brag about. |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2008 : 17:10:30
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Silver has been used in cables for high end speakers and high end stereo equipment. I supect that if silver were used in your car reciever, mingusdew, it would have been advertised as such.
If you can, scrape or file the tip of the wire and see what the color is. It could be silver plated copper. |
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How Common is Silver Wire?
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