[SOLVED] Is PSU wire always made of coppper?

[Polaris20]

Is PSU wire always made of coppper?

If yes, why nobody use other materials?
If not, do some use tin or aluminium? Then are there any problems with it?

 

[felicityc]

Copper is an incredibly conductive material. It's why it's so valuable; it's why it's one of the highest theft items in construction sites and such. Some thieves will take all the copper from something and leave the product itself because the copper is what matters. It happens a lot in construction. Your home/apartment whatever uses copper for everything. Buildings are lined in copper wiring. Electronics in general use copper. Copper is plentiful but also very useful. Gold is also highly conductive but you know why that's not possible, since gold is expensive and scarce.

Tin has under 10% the conductivity of copper. Aluminium has half the conductivity or so. They are not feasible for this use. (however, in low power consumption things, you can actually use aluminium foil to bridge gaps in batteries to some simple objects. A trick like this was used on the g305 wireless to use a smaller battery (AAA) instead of the AA it was meant to use to lower weight in competitive shooters, since the AA battery was the primary cause of the weight itself. This is an outlier case, of course, and only possible because of the low power requirements of a small mouse. Note: do not try this if you don't know what you're doing)

 

[Polaris20]

Copper is an incredibly conductive material. It's why it's so valuable; it's why it's one of the highest theft items in construction sites and such. Some thieves will take all the copper from something and leave the product itself because the copper is what matters. It happens a lot in construction. Your home/apartment whatever uses copper for everything. Buildings are lined in copper wiring. Electronics in general use copper. Copper is plentiful but also very useful. Gold is also highly conductive but you know why that's not possible, since gold is expensive and scarce.

Tin has under 10% the conductivity of copper. Aluminium has half the conductivity or so. They are not feasible for this use. (however, in low power consumption things, you can actually use aluminium foil to bridge gaps in batteries to some simple objects. A trick like this was used on the g305 wireless to use a smaller battery (AAA) instead of the AA it was meant to use to lower weight in competitive shooters, since the AA battery was the primary cause of the weight itself. This is an outlier case, of course, and only possible because of the low power requirements of a small mouse. Note: do not try this if you don't know what you're doing)

I understand that and thank you for your kind answer, but my og question is whether it's possible or not using other metals rather than copper for ATX PSU lines (to save cost). Does it make sense for manufacturers to actually do that?

 

[felicityc]

I understand that but my og question is whether it's possible or not using other metals rather than copper for ATX PSU lines (to save cost). Does it make sense?

Not without using a more expensive material (which is what you want to avoid) or reducing power consumption a great deal, no, and the latter will not happen without significant changes to how power is consumed. Even then, copper would still be best. Not only is copper more conductive with electricity but it's also a very effective heat conductor or however you would word that.

The only materials I would expect to possibly replace copper in efficiency and capability would be some artificially made graphene magic sci fi thing which is always a possibility because technology is crazy.

 

[Polaris20]

Not without using a more expensive material (which is what you want to avoid) or reducing power consumption a great deal, no, and the latter will not happen without significant changes to how power is consumed. Even then, copper would still be best. Not only is copper more conductive with electricity but it's also a very effective heat conductor or however you would word that.

The only materials I would expect to possibly replace copper in efficiency and capability would be some artificially made graphene magic sci fi thing which is always a possibility because technology is crazy.

Thank you for answering. I asked this because someone claimed that he burned two psu cables with lighter, one got burnt and one didn't burn so the burnt one might using other material to cut cost. What do you think of this?
(gif: imgur.com/a/yiDmX10)

 

[jonnyguru]

Thank you for answering. I asked this because someone claimed that he burned two psu cables with lighter, one got burnt and one didn't burn so the burnt one might using other material to cut cost. What do you think of this?
(gif: imgur.com/a/yiDmX10)

Those don't look like PSU wires. Looks like speaker wire.

Did they not disclose where exactly the wires came from (like: what PSU)?

 

[Polaris20]

Those don't look like PSU wires. Looks like speaker wire.

Did they not disclose where exactly the wires came from (like: what PSU)?

IDK which psu, but those are ATX sata/molex wires.
BmqzIzB.png (567×385) (imgur.com)

 

[jonnyguru]

IDK which psu, but those are ATX sata/molex wires.
BmqzIzB.png (567×385) (imgur.com)

Ok. It didnt look like it in your original post.

I, for one, have never seen anything but copper PSU wire. Even with the cheapest PSUs out there. Aluminum has so much resistance, the wire would have to be four times thicker than copper to not see a voltage drop. Also, aluminum is super soft. And aluminum wire would break easily.

I wonder if what this guy is melting isn't the wire itself, but is a tin plating over copper.

 

[Polaris20]

Ok. It didnt look like it in your original post.

I, for one, have never seen anything but copper PSU wire. Even with the cheapest PSUs out there. Aluminum has so much resistance, the wire would have to be four times thicker than copper to not see a voltage drop. Also, aluminum is super soft. And aluminum wire would break easily.

I wonder if what this guy is melting isn't the wire itself, but is a tin plating over copper.

That makes sense, thank you for answering.
+ Just curious, the former one shines silver or gray after burn but latter one shines copper. What could be the difference?

 

[carocuore]

I understand that and thank you for your kind answer, but my og question is whether it's possible or not using other metals rather than copper for ATX PSU lines (to save cost). Does it make sense for manufacturers to actually do that?

Possible? of course. Seen dirt cheap PSUs with non-copper wiring, probably aluminum or some kind of chinesium alloy as it was really thin and fragile to the point you could cut it simply by bending it a few times.