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Calculating multi-strand wires

Andy S

Postman
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
533
This query is prompted by the fact that the online coil calculator I'm using includes heat flux and heat capacity.

I believe that a twin stranded wire - e.g. a simple twist - has half the resistance of a single strand and can therefore be treated as a pair of single strand coils in parallel. However, I worked out the cross sectional area of two strands of 24g and found that it was the same as a single strand of 21g, and sure enough when I plug in the numbers for a dual coil build of single strand 24g the calculator gives very similar results to a single coil of 21g in terms of resistance and wire length, but the heat capacities are very different and the calculator predicts different voltages to achieve the same heat flux. The calculator can do multiple coils but only knows about single strand wires, so my question is if I'm making for example a single coil using a 24g twist, should I tell the calculator it's a dual 24g or a single 21g?
 
This query is prompted by the fact that the online coil calculator I'm using includes heat flux and heat capacity.

I believe that a twin stranded wire - e.g. a simple twist - has half the resistance of a single strand and can therefore be treated as a pair of single strand coils in parallel. However, I worked out the cross sectional area of two strands of 24g and found that it was the same as a single strand of 21g, and sure enough when I plug in the numbers for a dual coil build of single strand 24g the calculator gives very similar results to a single coil of 21g in terms of resistance and wire length, but the heat capacities are very different and the calculator predicts different voltages to achieve the same heat flux. The calculator can do multiple coils but only knows about single strand wires, so my question is if I'm making for example a single coil using a 24g twist, should I tell the calculator it's a dual 24g or a single 21g?
My answer would be stop using steam engine coil wrapping and use the wire wizard section where you can add the relevant information and not try to trick a calculator as it offers no benefit to you, add the correct information get the correct answer, try to bypass the correct information and end up with the wrong results which is pointless [emoji6]
 
Worth mentioning that the wire wizard is available on the Steam Engine website but not the Android app.
 
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