Can I use speaker wire to wire flexwatt in parallel?

[Munizfire]

It's prolly copper

[Jessica Loesch]

Is that bad

[Munizfire]

Not that I know of, copper isn't the best conductor, but its a pretty good one tho. It gets the job done more than well on many situations

[llovelace]

All electrical wiring should be done with copper.
Sorry it's taking so long to respond, my computer is acting possesed

[Vypyrz]

I'm not an electrical expert, but I have some basic knowledge, and I would be cautious or skeptical at best about using it. Speaker wire may be able to handle the wattage load, but would it be able to handle the amperage. You would need to know:
1) How many amps the speaker wire is rated for.
2) What is the amp load of the circuit breaker that the outlet is on?
3) How many ohms of resistance does each piece of Flexwatt provide before the electricity reaches the speaker wire?

I may be over-thinking this, but it just seems that using a different kind of wire in the system could affect the current going to that particular piece of Flexwatt, which could affect the temperature that piece of Flexwatt operates at.

Hopefully, someone with more knowledge about this type of thing will have a better answer.

[don15681]

I'm not an electrical expert, but I have some basic knowledge, and I would be cautious or skeptical at best about using it. Speaker wire may be able to handle the wattage load, but would it be able to handle the amperage. You would need to know:
1) How many amps the speaker wire is rated for.
2) What is the amp load of the circuit breaker that the outlet is on?
3) How many ohms of resistance does each piece of Flexwatt provide before the electricity reaches the speaker wire?

I may be over-thinking this, but it just seems that using a different kind of wire in the system could affect the current going to that particular piece of Flexwatt, which could affect the temperature that piece of Flexwatt operates at.

Hopefully, someone with more knowledge about this type of thing will have a better answer.

to help him out, volts x amps = watts

speaker wire is used for speakers. it could work for what you're doing. but I don't recommend it. your flexwatt is rated at so many watts per foot. add it up for your total watts. go and buy wire that has a higher rating than what you added up. so if you added up say 550 watts, that will pull 5.5 amps (watts divided by volts = amps) since you're plugging into an outlet in your home the voltage won't change but you now can figure out how to get amps or watts.
if you didn't know the volts, simple, watts divided by amps = volts.

use the right wire. is 20 dollars or even less for the proper wire worth burning your house down.

[Steve-J]

x2 ^^ The lightest duty AC cords can be 16 gauge but 14 is more common for medium duty. you can get a cheap extension cord at the hardware store for 3 bucks and cut to size, then you will have the proper type of wire. I wouldn't use speaker wire unless I was really in a pinch and then it would have to be the heavy duty large gauge wire. Best bet is to get some proper gauge insulated wire for the intended purpose, why invite possible issues?

[Jessica Loesch]

use the right wire. is 20 dollars or even less for the proper wire worth burning your house down.

Of course not, it has nothing to do with money. I just have some extra around the house and was curious. I know nothing about wiring except how to do it, that's why im asking.

[Amon Ra Reptiles]

We get the 6 ft extension cords from the dollar store. There only a dollar and work great. I don't know enough about electrical engineering to trust using speaker wire. But then again I'm the girl who won't leave the drying running when no ones home for fear of something going wrong and the house burning down lol. The whole flex watt and snake racks kills my OCD lol.

[don15681]

Of course not, it has nothing to do with money. I just have some extra around the house and was curious. I know nothing about wiring except how to do it, that's why im asking.

my post wasn't to bash you. but give you some info on how to figure what you need to do it safe. you had the common sense to ask, where some others don't.
to do it right will only cost a few dollars and you'll be able to sleep a whole lot better at night.