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3-conductor shielded OK substitute for 2-conductor shielded?

J

John Courte

Well Known Member
I'm wiring my avionics stack, and I have run out of 2-conductor shielded 24ga wire.

I have a ton of 3-conductor 24-ga shielded wire, and I was wondering if it's acceptable to use the 3-conductor in place of the 2 conductor I need by using only 2 of the 3 wires and clipping the 3rd one off at the insulation.

thanks,
-John
 
It will work just fine. Whenever I use 3-conductor shielded when I only really need 2, I sometimes just connect the extra wire to ground.
 
Yeah guys, of course it will work....but think of all the excess WEIGHT that he'll be adding to the airplane! ;)
 
Haaaa hhhhhaaaaa. Great answer. You know I was just thinking about this the other day. People get all excited about four nutplates adding extra weight, for example, when, really, it'd be a lot healthier if we just lost a little of our OWN weight to compensate.

Well played, sir.
 
Ha, I just came in from the shop where I was installing 12 nutplates just because I might (long shot) want them there some day.
 
Neal@F14 said:
It will work just fine. Whenever I use 3-conductor shielded when I only really need 2, I sometimes just connect the extra wire to ground.
Click to expand...

Seems to me that you would want to connect the extra wire to the shield at the end that the shield is grounded and leave the other end free. Ground loops????

Bruce Patton
 
bpattonsoa said:
Seems to me that you would want to connect the extra wire to the shield at the end that the shield is grounded and leave the other end free. Ground loops????

Bruce Patton
Click to expand...

Yes, since the extra wire is inside the shielding just let it float.

Grounding will have no effect unless you ground at both ends and make a loop - which is usually not good as Bruce says...:)
 
In fact, I'd be sure to heat shrink over the clipped wires so they don't inadvertently contact something.
 
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