Are thicker wires better for piezo durability?

[Desmond]

Looking to buy 27mm piezos for my A2E cymbal conversion, I see that some come with thicker wires (typically 22 or 24 AWG) than others (32 AWG). Are the ticker wires better for durability?

[cure1973]

Looking to buy 27mm piezos for my A2E cymbal conversion, I see that some come with thicker wires (typically 22 or 24 AWG) than others (32 AWG). Are the ticker wires better for durability?

Good question hope someone knows the answer! I would personally say yes especially if using block connectors to join wires. The really thin piezo wires are a pain!

[bwilburn79]

Desmond, I'd encourage anyone to buy piezo's in bulk and solder them yourself. (If you care to take the time to do so) I think you come out cheaper and better off in the long run. I bought a lot of 50 piezos off ebay from a US supplier for about $0.75 each. I use 20 gauge stranded hookup wire and a generous dollop of solder to make my connections. Then I use hot glue to reinforce the connections. I've sacrificed half a dozen piezos along the way to perfecting my soldering technique but not once have I wished I'd bought prewired piezos. I'm pretty sure there are others who use even thicker wire (possibly 16 gauge speaker wire?) in their projects as well. JmanWord comes to mind.

[JimFiore]

I always solder my own and I can't see the sense in using anything heavier than AWG 22. It just makes soldering that much more difficult because of the extra heat required. I also glop some silicone II caulk over my connections so that there isn't any mechanical stress directly on the solder joint.

[BWaj]

My experience is thicker wires are both more difficult to solder and more likely to disconnect over time. Makes sense because the wire is heavier so as it rattles around in use and transport it puts more stress in the connection.

As others have said, adding hot glue or silicone caulk as stress relief helps much more than heavier wire.

I hit pretty hard for an e drummer and play a lot, I've never had a trigger fail at the solder point. If you're having that issue, I think it may be a bad solder more than the wire thickness.

[keith1200rs]

I general the most durable wires are the thinnest so look for a wire with as many strands of fine wire as possible. You can get wires with names such as 'extra-flex' with 100 to 200 strands of very fine wire which are extremely durable. They also use a silicone outer which is far more flexible than PVC - this helps prevent fractures where the outer is stripped away. Keith

[Desmond]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Though it's counter-intuitive, I can see how a thinner, more flexible wire could make for greater durability by transferring less mechanical energy/stress to the solder joints. As for soldering these myself, I think I'll go with a pre-wired piezo for now. My soldering skills are really rudimentary and -- since this is my first conversion -- I need to go as plug-and-play as possible.

Thanks again!