Same color Speaker wire How do you tell what's (+) or (-)?
11-15-04, 11:45 AM
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Same color Speaker wire How do you tell what's (+) or (-)?
Okay this is probably a stupid question but I'm new to this so bear with me. I Bought a roll of 16 gauge speaker wire (Panasonic Brand)at Menards. Didn't notice till I got home that both sides appear to be copper rather than the usual, one side silver, one side copper that I have experience with. How do you tell differences if any or do you just have to make sure the leads of each end are correct?
11-15-04, 01:05 PM
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Look for one side to have a different shape to the insulatating jacket, sometimes one side is round the other is more square, sometimes one side has a hump, sometime both are the same but the printing is only on one side, and sometime one side is printed with a - - - - - indicating the negative side. It doesnt really matter which side you use as long as you are consistent on both ends and dont crossover the polarity.
11-17-04, 06:52 AM
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If you can't find any distinguishing features, get an ohmmeter or a continuity tester. At one end, mark one of the insulating jackets with magic marker. Now use the continuity tester to determine which wire is the same wire at the other end, and mark it too. You can also use tape, shrink tube, anything that will mark one of the wires at both ends to provide some color contrast.
This may even save some money as you can use any kind of "zipcord" of sufficient wire gauge and don't need to pay a premium for "speaker cable" which normally has some way of distinguishing one wire from the other.
The electrons don't really care about the color of either the wire or the jacket; they just need to get to the right terminal. The color is solely to aid you visually in wiring it correctly.
This may even save some money as you can use any kind of "zipcord" of sufficient wire gauge and don't need to pay a premium for "speaker cable" which normally has some way of distinguishing one wire from the other.
The electrons don't really care about the color of either the wire or the jacket; they just need to get to the right terminal. The color is solely to aid you visually in wiring it correctly.
