Conductors - But I dont understand electronics

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Conductors

For our purposes, this means wiring and usually of the insulated flexible variety, so that complicated circuits can be accommodated inside complicated hull shapes with lots of bulkheads and electronic gizmos to negotiate.

A wire, or cable, is made up of a central conductive core, usually multiple strands of thin copper wire, and an insulating outer sleeve. The sleeve is typically either PVC or a silicone-based compound, which is more flexible and resistant to heat. The most crucial factor as far as wiring is concerned is to use the right thickness/diameter. Too high a current passing through a cable will increase its temperature to the point where the insulation breaks down and melts and the conductor inside can short out against other 'live' components. Fires have been caused by burning insulation, too. Model boat circuits come basically in two types; those which include motors and those which don’t. The former will be subject to high currents while the latter will only carry a few amps at most. My own preference is to use thick multi-strand silicone-coated cable for power wiring, and thinner multi-strand PVC 'hook-up' wire for such items as sound units and lighting. The gauge of the silicone stuff is usually quoted in AWG (American Wire Gauge) and the following table will be useful when working out what gauge of wire you need:

AWG	Conductor dia.(mm)	Max current (Amps)
10	2.59	55
12	2.05	41
14	1.63	32
16	1.29	22
18	1.02	16
20	0.81	11
22	0.66	7

For other wiring I find that PVC insulated hook-up wire of 7 strands of 0.2mm dia. Conductor, usually termed 7/0.2, is okay up to 2 Amps while 10/0.1 is good for low-current lighting circuits. If you need very thin cable then I suggest buying multi-core alarm cable which contains 4, 6 or 8 different coloured insulated multi-stranded cables inside one outer sheath. Others have used telephone wire or enamelled copper wire, but you have to scrape off the enamel insulation on the latter type in order to make a decent joint.