Tinned Copper wire function

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Budhi.Rahardjo

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Dear all,
One of tinned copper wire's function is as part of grounding wire/as grounding cable to be used connected to the grounding grids my question is any of you have experienced to use tinned Copper Wire as another function in the system.

Regards,

Budhi Rahardjo
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
The only tinned copper wire I know about was vintage stuff. The tin plating was to enhance the solderability of the copper and reduce the reactivity with certain insulation compounds.
 
physis

physis

Senior Member
To be honest I think the question is moot. It would only make a difference during fabrication and as mdshunk said, it's really only an issue when you're building the thing. Other than that, outside of really, really, shoving the envelope, in the long term, there's really not any significant difference.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
The only time I was required to use tinned wire was when we did the grounding system for a cellular site. It was #2 solid copper. We used exothermic welding for all splices and connections.

My guess is that the tinning improves the life span of the wire underground.
 
physis

physis

Senior Member
Maybe I'm wrong, but lead and tin versus copper? And then there's copper under the lead and tin?
 
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gndrod

Senior Member
Location
Ca and Wa
tinned surfaces

tinned surfaces

physis said:
Maybe I'm wrong, but lead and tin versus copper? And then there's copper under the lead and tin?
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Hey Sam,
Another good day at the office with my soldering iron. Tinned copper takes on different characteristics for higher strand tensile strengths in addition to metal compatible faying surfaces. The old tin lead as used when I was in Aerospace was used very sparingly in certain areas.

Most tin-lead migrates into the outer circumference of the copper conductor by about 40% thus reducing its ability to hold together under flexing or vibration....it goes twannng real quick. Solder usage was upgraded to coin silver solder but still the heat degradation was too much for silver migration in outerspace environments. The solder would 'whisker' along insulated surfaces and cause all sorts of mysterious havoc.

Anyway, around the turn of the 70's we switched over to crimping or swagging circuits to ground bonds. Results were excellent. Just thought a tidbit from the past was worth mentioning. rbj
 
sandsnow

sandsnow

Senior Member
Location
Southern California
physis said:
:D I could give you a list but my point is basically that there's no code requirement for tinned wire.
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I would throw 310.9 out there. It does not require tin per se. Tinning might be an acceptable material to meet this requirement. Of course there could be other materials that would be acceptable.
 
boater bill

boater bill

Senior Member
Location
Cape Coral, Fl.
All of the paper mills I had equipment installed had tinned copper control and power wiring.
H2S could be a real problem.
We also put on a conformal coating on the control boards of the equipment that might go out in the process floor.
 
physis

physis

Senior Member
Hi Larry, it's been a while, how have you been?

310.9 doesn't mention solder, just type.
 
physis

physis

Senior Member
sandsnow said:
Just great Sam, how about you? I've been distracted by forums of a different nature. http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/

So wouldn't tinned be a type of conductor?
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I've been OK Larry.

Would tinned be a type of conductor? Well, every thing has a "type" or something, tons of them have much more than one. Just based on 310.9 though I don't see "a type suitable for the application" as a requirement for tinning. That's all I meant to say.
 
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