About wires
 

Hey guys, quick question.

What type of wires should I use for my ICS m4? The inside wire colour is like silver. What type is that, and is it alright to extend the wire with copper?

Silver is a better conductor, copper is still an excellent electrical conductor, and it's a lot cheaper. People use silver wiring (really expensive) for audio/video since it usually gives a clearer signal. For airsoft use, stick to copper wire, it's not worth paying 50x the price of copper wires. Of course, there are different qualities in copper wires. Get one with a good insulation, I would go with a single-stranded wire for internals. Better conduction than multi-stranded but less flexible.

Just make sure not to take a wire that is too small, you'll increase the resistance and it's capacity to conduct before starting to heat up.

Hope it's clear enough, my syntax is bad, sorry.

Is it alright to connect two different types of wire to make a longer one?

Sure, why not? try to use 2 similarly sized wires (thickness, same AWG)

AWG: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

Well, different resistance? Or that doesn't play an affect as much for it to matter?

As long as the two wires are similar diameter, it'll be fine. As far as resistance goes, wire resistance is determined as resistance per thousand feet, so the difference between #16 and #18 is less than 2 ohms per thousand feet......really doesn't apply to our using a foot or two of wire in our guns.

Oh ok. Well I picked up some wires today at canadain tires. I'm not sure how big my wires are, but the outside of the wires look about the same. Also the number of the little wires look to be about the same. How can I be sure?

AWG.

isn't gold preferred for high quality audio systems? or is that just the plugs?

OH! I see it on the wire it's writen 16 or 18 AWG.... It's gotten smudge... If it's 16AWG, then that means it'll work fine with 18AWG wires right? Since it's larger?

It'll be fine, but depending on your gun set up and where the wires are run, you might not be able fit parts together, risk chewing up the wire insulation (especially if it has thick insulation),etc.

That wouldn't be a problem. Because the wiring that I need to weld together is just outside the body of my gun. Thanks guys for the great help!

Solder, not weld. And make sure you have some heat shrink to cover the solder joint, black electrocution tape won't work as well.

Man, back to Canadian tires I go.... Sigh... I guess the 5 rolls of electrical tape I bought is unless now... Sigh...

Thanks again for all the help! I really learn a lot about wires. Thanks.

Edit: What's the difference between 16AWG and 16 ag?

The new wires I got says 16 ag where as on my airsoft gun's wire it says 16 AWG... Did I buy the wrong type again?....

Also, I just realized those wire I got are for automotive, would that make a difference?...