Several of you helped a lot about a month ago regarding hooking up LED lights for an art project. I need one more piece to this puzzle. I uploaded a couple of pics which may or may not help. Basically I am connecting several groups of these together and need to know what kind of wire to use for this purpose. For example, one group may be about 12 inches from another. Would I simply need to run one wire from one group to the other to connect different groups in series?

The main question: what kind of wire should I use for this and what stores will have it? Radio Shack, Home Depot?

Thanks!

 

Choosing the right wire is a combination of convenience, required amp capacity, single conductor versus stranded, insulation, and probably a few other factors I'm overlooking.

To light a few LEDs (i.e. low current) across a short distance, you could get away with very fine wire, maybe 28 gauge or even smaller. If there is motion involved, get stranded wire. Solid wire is fine otherwise. You could use old lamp cord or speaker wire if you have some.

If you're going to buy something, buy something that will be useful for other chores. 22 gauge solid wire is sort of a standard for small (low power) projects using breadboards or perfboards.

 

The main question: what kind of wire should I use for this and what stores will have it? Radio Shack, Home Depot?

For current under half an amp, I'd use #30 stranded. You won't find it at Home Depot or Radio Shack. Radio Shack might have solid.

If you have some surplus flexible phone cords, they'll have #26 or #28 stranded wire.

 

thermostat wire, ethernet wire or whatever you can find..