Bus Bar Wire
What is Bus Bar Wire?
Bus bar wire is an uninsulated, unshielded, and unjacketed single wire type of conductor. It is commonly used as feeder lines from a bus bar. This means that bus bar wire is used to distribute power from a centralized bus bar to outlying equipment. Since it is a single piece of wire, it is solid rather than stranded. Bus bar wire is known for its flexibility and ease of installation compared to other types of wire. Since there is no insulation, there is no need to strip the wire which means fewer tools and less time involved. Bus bar wire is commonly tinned for added protection and corrosion resistance. Despite having no insulation or jacket, bus bar wire carries rugged durability ensuring its longevity. Now that you have a general idea of what bus bar wire is, let us take a look at why you would want to use a wire like this.
"Bus bar wire is used to distribute power from a centralized bus bar to outlying equipment."
Why use bus bar wire?
Bus bar wire offers multiple benefits that you do not get with other types of wire. For starters, it is soft tempered and will hold shape easily. This means that you can bend your bus bar wire to just about any shape needed and it will retain that shape without support. Additionally, bus bar wire is easy to weld or solder which cannot be said about some of the other types of wire out there. It also offers a high degree of flexibility, tinned copper, and 99.9% electrical conductivity. Another benefit of bus bar wire is that in case of fire, there are no gases released since there is no insulation to burn and the fire will not spread to the bare metal wire. You can see that this type of wire offers a range of benefits making it extremely useful so just where would you use it?
Flexible
Tinned Copper
99.9% Conductivity
Non-Spreading
Where would you use bus bar wire?
Bus bar wire is commonly used on marine vessels and in industrial settings as a convenient way to distribute power. More than that, this type of wire can be found in many other environments and applications such as panels, switchgear, panel boards, and busway enclosures. Their ease of installation and affordability make them a common choice of professionals. Bus bar wire is also used to connect high voltage equipment within electrical switchyards as well as low voltage equipment in battery banks. The applications are as varied as they are numerous meaning you will find bus bar wire in a multitude of industries.
What industries use bus bar wire?
As we said above, bus bare wire has extremely varied applications and as such, is found in a wide range of industries. You will find this type of wire in the marine, automotive, information, communication, and automation industries. It is utilized by all of these various industries for the benefits that it offers. Why would anyone choose to use an inferior type of wire when they can save time and money by using bus bar wire. When selecting the bus bar wire for your project, the first thing to consider is the gauge size of the wire itself.
What gauges are available?
In order to offer the most solutions possible, we carry bus bar wire in a variety of gauges sizes. This way you can find the size that meets your needs and helps you get your project done. Currently, we offer bus bar wire in 22 AWG, 20 AWG, 18 AWG, 16 AWG, 14 AWG, and 12 AWG. We have found that these are the most commonly sought sizes and the ones our customers ask for the most.
| Wire Gauge | No. CMIL Area | Nom. O.D. (In) | Approx. LB/M |
| 22 AWG | 650 | 0.026 | 2 |
| 20 AWG | 1056 | 0.033 | 3.1 |
| 18 AWG | 1648 | 0.041 | 6 |
| 16 AWG | 2673 | 0.052 | 9 |
| 14 AWG | 4251 | 0.065 | 14 |
| 12 AWG | 6872 | 0.083 | 23 |
Finding the correct bus bar wire to meet the needs of your project is not always an easy task. The best solution is to check the engineering specifications your project may require.
