Hookup wire may all look the same but each time has specific differences that are needed for certain applications. There are insulation thicknesses, temperature changes and flexibility of copper strands. It is a good idea to specify exactly what you need to your sales person in order for them to set you up with the right type of wire for your specific application. There are many different situations and someone who has been in the business for 20 years might offer something to better fit your needs.
PVC Wire
PVC wire is the most basic type of lead wire usually coming in UL styles 1007 and 1015. UL1007 wire is a 300 volt wire and UL1015 is a 600 volt wire with PVC insulation. You might normally see PVC in an assembly in your appliances or car stereo wire harness. The voltage and gauge sizes depends on the amount of power in the application. WesBell offers 10 different color options and a valued added spiral stripe. The stripe is just another way to add more colors to assemblies and harnesses that may need more than 10 colors.
Irradiated Hookup Wire
Irradiated wire is solder iron resistant. Common UL styles are 1429, 1430 and 1431 which differ in voltage in order; 150 Volts, 300 Volts and 1000 Volts. Coil winding and other types of coil manufacturing companies use irradiated hookup wire because it constantly comes in contact with the soldering iron. PVC insulation would melt immediately if on contact with a soldering iron.
Teflon wire has a high temperature insulation so that wires exposed in ovens and other hot areas will not melt the insulation. PVC wire cannot handle high heat applications but it’s much cheaper for the applications it’s called for. Each type of hookup wire is also made into cables if you need to run more than one wire at a time. Teflon cables and hookup wire cables are both readily available at most wire and cable distributors.