> For the power and ground connections for each chip, a friend suggested I
>should solder 16-gauge wire from a tie point or the power connector
>straight to each chip and/or its bypass cap. The only 16-gauge wire I have
>is stranded, and it's a mess to work with -- too large to work with easily
>and the strands mean it won't really bend and stay on the tie point or pin.
What kind of juice do those chips need? 16 gauge seems awfully heavy for
any ICs I have worked with. I assume you know guages, but 16-18 guage is
standard lamp cord and will let you draw 5-10 amps on 110 volt. This
sounds good for a main power input to a transformer, but all ICs I have
worked with only pull at max a few amps at much lower voltages, so you
should be able to use much thinner wire.
I would check your amp requirements, and move to an 18 or 20 guage solid
or even higher if you can... phone station cord is usually 24 guage, but
don't mix it up with the 26 guage multipair cord... the usual obvious
difference is, station cord is 4 colors red/green/yellow/black....
multipair cord is 2 (or more) pairs of striped wire (blue, orange, green,
brown, slate all striped with white for the first 6 pairs)
But that aside, if you strip the standed cord, tiwst the strands in your
finger, and then tin the end with your solder iron (heat the end, and let
it draw solder into it, until it has a nice coat), it will be MUCH more
managable (although it still in general won't stay where you bend it,
other than the tinned end, lightweight alligator clips work wonders for
holding things in place).
-chris
<
http://www.mythtech.net>
Received on Sun Oct 21 2001 - 19:46:32 BST