I am currently making a lighting setup and i have been searching far and wide for a brick and mortar and then online stores for someone who sells 26AWG single or double wire for my sound and Cold Cathode modules. I know of websites that have 22 and 30 AWG wire, and im wondering if i can use one of those instead and get the same result. Im totally lost when it comes to wire sizing as i usually use stock wire/cable that comes with components but since they are too small in my current project i am in need of a canadians ource. Anyone know of any sources or know if i can use 22 or 30AWG wire instead of 26???

No reason you cant use a slightly higher rated wire i dont think.

Lower number = thicker wire. Try a phone wire or cat5 wire. Many of them use wire you are looking for. Just looking at some cat-5 from the 'Depot, it has 24 awg which should be just fine. Thicker wire is used to carry larger amounts of amps. I'm certain there is a table online listing what wire can be used for what amp draw. I know 14 awg is 15 amps, 12awg is 20amps, and 10awg is 30 amps on most types of insulation. Also, most wires you come across are capable of handling up to 600 volts. Although I dont think phone or cat-5 wires are good for THAT high of voltage. Just some simple electrical facts.

I checked out the local Home Depot and was unsuccessful. I am only looking for a standard plastic covered wire wether it has a single wire or a dual wire dont really matter. I think i am just going to buy some 22 AWG wire from 123Leds.com i guess is my only choice....gonna get screwed on pric per foot and shipping to canada though but oh well.

The wire i have that came stock on the modules is 26AWG / 300Volts, and there is 4 cathodes and a sound module so max current is approx 1.2 to 1.5 amps, so the should i go with 22 or 30 AWG wire from 123leds.com?

Go with the 22 AWG. 30 is to small and can only handle a couple mA.

Nerdz is right on. When in doubt, error on the current handling side of the equation. The 22AWG wire will do the job just fine.

alright thanks. im gonna pick up 60 feet tonight.

Just for other Peoples Reference, Ive found the AWG Size table (along with other crap).

EDIT: Oh jesus! Formating...god..

Link: http://www.pupman.com/listarchives/1.../msg00189.html

Scroll Down a bit.




AWG Wire Sizes (see
table below)
AWG: In the American Wire Gauge
(AWG), diameters can be calculated by applying the formula
D(AWG)=.005·92^{((36-AWG)/39)} inch. For the 00, 000, 0000 etc.
gauges you use -1, -2, -3, which makes more sense mathematically than "double
nought." This means that in American wire gage every 6 gauge decrease gives a
doubling of the wire diameter, and every 3 gauge decrease doubles the wire
cross sectional area. Just like dB in signal levels. (Thanks to Paul D. for
setting this straight).


Metric Wire Gauges (see
table below)
Metric Gauge: In the Metric Gauge scale, the gauge is 10
times the diameter in millimeters, so a 50 gauge metric wire would be 5 mm in
diameter. Note that in AWG the diameter goes up as the gauge goes down metric
is the opposite. Probably because of this confusion, most of the time metric
sized wire is specified in millimeters rather than metric gauges.


COLOR="#FF0000">Load Carrying Capacities (see table below)
The
following chart is a guideline of ampacity or copper wire current carrying
capacity following the Handbook of Electronic Tables and Formulas for
American Wire Gauge. As you might guess, the rated ampacities are just a rule
of thumb. In careful engineering the insulation temperature limit, thickness,
thermal conductivity, and air convection and temperature should all be taken
into account. The Maximum Amps for Power Transmission uses the 700 circular
mils per amp rule, which is very very conservative. The Maximum Amps for
Chassis Wiring is also a conservative rating, but is meant for wiring in air,
and not in a bundle. For short lengths of wire, such as is used in battery
packs you should trade off the resistance and load with size, weight, and
flexibility.

AWG gauge	Diameter Inches	Diameter mm	Ohms per 1000 ft	Ohms per km	Maximum amps for chassis wiring	Maximum amps for power transmission
OOOO	0.46	11.684	0.049	0.16072	380	302
OOO	0.4096	10.40384	0.0618	0.202704	328	239
OO	0.3648	9.26592	0.0779	0.255512	283	190
0	0.3249	8.25246	0.0983	0.322424	245	150
1	0.2893	7.34822	0.1239	0.406392	211	119
2	0.2576	6.54304	0.1563	0.512664	181	94
3	0.2294	5.82676	0.197	0.64616	158	75
4	0.2043	5.18922	0.2485	0.81508	135	60
5	0.1819	4.62026	0.3133	1.027624	118	47
6	0.162	4.1148	0.3951	1.295928	101	37
7	0.1443	3.66522	0.4982	1.634096	89	30
8	0.1285	3.2639	0.6282	2.060496	73	24
9	0.1144	2.90576	0.7921	2.598088	64	19
10	0.1019	2.58826	0.9989	3.276392	55	15
11	0.0907	2.30378	1.26	4.1328	47	12
12	0.0808	2.05232	1.588	5.20864	41	9.3
13	0.072	1.8288	2.003	6.56984	35	7.4
14	0.0641	1.62814	2.525	8.282	32	5.9
15	0.0571	1.45034	3.184	10.44352	28	4.7
16	0.0508	1.29032	4.016	13.17248	22	3.7
17	0.0453	1.15062	5.064	16.60992	19	2.9
18	0.0403	1.02362	6.385	20.9428	16	2.3
19	0.0359	0.91186	8.051	26.40728	14	1.8
20	0.032	0.8128	10.15	33.292	11	1.5
21	0.0285	0.7239	12.8	41.984	9	1.2
22	0.0254	0.64516	16.14	52.9392	7	0.92
23	0.0226	0.57404	20.36	66.7808	4.7	0.729
24	0.0201	0.51054	25.67	84.1976	3.5	0.577
25	0.0179	0.45466	32.37	106.1736	2.7	0.457
26	0.0159	0.40386	40.81	133.8568	2.2	0.361
27	0.0142	0.36068	51.47	168.8216	1.7	0.288
28	0.0126	0.32004	64.9	212.872	1.4	0.226
29	0.0113	0.28702	81.83	268.4024	1.2	0.182
30	0.01	0.254	103.2	338.496	0.86	0.142
31	0.0089	0.22606	130.1	426.728	0.7	0.113
32	0.008	0.2032	164.1	538.248	0.53	0.091
Metric 2.0	0.00787	0.200	169.39	555.61	0.51	0.088
33	0.0071	0.18034	206.9	678.632	0.43	0.072
Metric 1.8	0.00709	0.180	207.5	680.55	0.43	0.072
34	0.0063	0.16002	260.9	855.752	0.33	0.056
Metric 1.6	0.0063	0.16002	260.9	855.752	0.33	0.056
35	0.0056	0.14224	329	1079.12	0.27	0.044
Metric 1.4	.00551	.140	339	1114	0.26	0.043
36	0.005	0.127	414.8	1360	0.21	0.035
Metric 1.25	.00492	0.125	428.2	1404	0.20	0.034
37	0.0045	0.1143	523.1	1715	0.17	0.0289
Metric 1.12	.00441	0.112	533.8	1750	0.163	0.0277
38	0.004	0.1016	659.6	2163	0.13	0.0228
Metric 1	.00394	0.1000	670.2	2198	0.126	0.0225
39	0.0035	0.0889	831.8	2728	0.11	0.0175
40	0.0031	0.07874	1049	3440	0.09	0.0137

22 would be the best idea