Phone wire would probably work fine in most millivolt situations, but some thermostat wire has decent current going through it (like 24V control loops), so – as always – why not use the right stuff. It might leak more current and not complete the circuit in long runs….the lighter wire, that is.
What type of wire can I use for a thermostat?
The most common thermostat cabling is 18/5 (18 gauge, 5 conductor), because 5 conductors typically offer enough functions for a modern thermostat/low voltage device.
Can you use Cat 5 for thermostat wire?
Ethernet cable should work fine since thermostats use low voltage and low current. For simplicity, it’s probably easier to use each pair as if it were a single wire.
Can I use speaker wire for thermostat?
Aside from use as a power cord, you might consider running speaker wire through your walls in low-voltage applications, such as thermostats, sensors and hard-wired smart-home devices.If you want to run the wire through a heat duct, you’ll need wire with the CL2P or CL3P rating.
What happens if you wire a thermostat wrong?
Potential consequences of improper installation could include: Electric shock. Blowing a circuit breaker. Damaging the thermostat unit, the electrical system or even the AC/furnace unit itself.
What gauge is standard telephone wire?
24 gauge
Telephone wire comes in two gauges, 22 gauge and 24 gauge; 24 gauge is today’s standard. There are two types of common modular plugs; the RJ-11 and RJ-14. The most common is the RJ-11, which uses only two of the telephone wires in a four (or more) strand wire.
What size wire is in Cat 5?
24-gauge
CAT5 is currently the industry standard for network and telephone wiring. CAT5 contains four pairs of 24-gauge copper wiring and ends in a standard RJ-45 jack. This type of copper wire cabling is known as twisted pair cabling and is only recommended for a maximum distance of 100 meters or 328 feet.
How many amps can thermostat wire handle?
The thermostat wire is sized for mechanical durability, not for current carrying capacity. Codes may require the circuit to be Class 2, 30 volts and 100 VA maximum, usually 24 volts and no more than 4 amps. It could be much less than 4 amps and most of the capacity may be required for the relays in the HVAC unit.
Can I use stranded wire for thermostat?
Nest thermostats don’t support stranded wires, they require solid-core copper wires.
Can any wire be speaker wire?
The most basic answer is “yes, if you use regular electrical wire a speaker could work” — as long as you have two same-size conductors for positive and negative, you’ll get sound. There are differences in the metal used and in shielding (for some speaker wire, but not all).
Can Romex be used as speaker wire?
Romex makes for great speaker wire. The only problem is it’s too thick to terminate to connectors.
How many wires should a thermostat have?
The most basic thermostat has 2 wires; usually a red and a white wire. Two wire thermostat wiring is used for furnaces only and usually doesn’t need a C or Common wire. That’s why we only need two wires: Red wire for power (24h).
What is the blue wire for on a thermostat?
The Blue or C Wire
C wires or varying colors apply to every thermostat, but blue C wires belong to thermostats attached to a heat pump. Blue wires are for heat pumps. This wire connects to terminal B on your thermostat.
What happens if you touch thermostat wires together?
You Touched R and C wires. This causes the current in the circuit to be high, which may quickly overheat the wires. In a typical household circuit, the circuit would be protected by a circuit breaker (or fuse) which is designed to open (trip) to prevent damage to the wires in this situation.
Is telephone wire 22 gauge?
The higher the number – the thinner the wire. Typical household wiring is AWG number 12 or 14. Telephone wire is typical AWG 22, 24, or 26.
How many wires does a telephone cable have?
four wires
Though four wires are typically used in U.S. phone cabling, only two are necessary for telecommunication. In the event that a second line is needed, the other two are used. They are also sometimes used to provide power for telephone dial lamps (6 volts AC, as in the Princess phone), or other features.
Can you use Cat5e for telephone?
So yes you can rewire all your cat5 cables to be RJ45 compatible and use them to connect computers. You can’t have your phone on the computer network unless you can convert to voip (voice over IP).
Which is better Cat5 or Cat5e?
The difference between Cat5 and Cat5e is that the Cat5e has a higher throughput speed of 1,000 Mbit / s. Also called Gbit / s. This is 10 times faster than the throughput speed of a Cat5 cable. When in doubt about either choosing a Cat5 or Cat5e cable, we can advise you to go for the Cat5e cable.
What is the max speed of Cat5e?
1000 Mbps
Cat5e can support network operating speeds of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps or 1000 Mbps. The gigabit rates are the maximum speed for Cat5e cable. When used for voice and data applications below max rate, Category 5e has a cable length limitation of 100 metres.
How much current can a thermostat handle?
Thermostats for electric heaters run at 120VAC and have to handle the ampacity of the heating circuit. Typically I see amperage ratings for these line voltage devices ranging from about 10.5A up to about 22A. or example a Broan 120VAC – 240VAC Model 87W line voltage thermostat handles 15 amps.
Does the C wire carry current?
Typically, the wires that provide the power (often called the hot wires) are labeled Rc (cooling) and Rh (heating). They provide a source of 24V power coming from the HVAC control board.That’s what the other wires do. So, the c wire doesn’t actually provide the power.
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