I want to praise an Ali Express cable seller (extensive review included) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: SharpEars
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 10, 2015, 11:25:03 pm
content: So, I've placed two orders through Ali Express so far. I got scammed on my first order (with WENJUN TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD ) and received 12 AWG cable that was supposed to be 600/0.08 mm (40 AWG strands), but was actually 65/.25 mm (30 AWG strands). The cable was supposed to be tinned copper and from all of the testing I did, that appeared to be the case. However, the cable had more than twice the resistance it was supposed to have. So, they either used crappy Hung Low copper or some sort of alloy to make the strands. Also, the seller argued to no end that the geometry was 600/0.08 even though I disputed the order, winning the dispute and getting a refund in the end, and posted pics of the actual geometry sent which did not at all match the item description. This combined with the resistance measurement and his ship was sunk!On to my second and far more successful order. This order was placed with "Bring good things to life" at the following link:http://www.aliexpress.com/item/UL-3135-14AWG-Silicone-wire-Conductor-construction-400-0-08-3135-14-silica-gel-wire-14AWG/1821974351.htmlYeah I know, the Chinese and their funky choice of company names, but bear with me. I ordered 20 m total (10 m black and 10 m red) of 14 AWG 400/0.08 cable. The red cable measured 11.25 m, so I got excess. I have not yet measured the black cable, but I would imagine that it would be in the same ballpark.Good seller selling point #1: Always send slightly more cable than is ordered! In this case, the excess was over 10% - a very generous amount.As already mentioned, the cable was supposed to be 14 AWG 400/0.08 (40 AWG strands). I cut off an inch and counted (no, not up to 400!) and that seemed to be in the right ballpark. The cable, having 400 individual strands, was very flexible as advertised and generally seemed of high quality.Good seller selling point #2: Make sure that your cable matches the description of its geometry and voltage rating!I checked to make sure that it was tinned copper and not CCA (flame test) or steel bearing strands (magnet). Finally, it was time for the real test: resistance across the entire run.Lo and behold, it actually measured reasonably well at an extrapolated 8.736 ohms/km (2.663 ohms/1000 ft).I compared the measurement with known good measurements:Source #1 from a decent Hung Low factory (http://p.globalsources.com/IMAGES/PDT/SPEC/941/K1079859941.pdf) that rates their identical geometry cable at 8.96 ohms/km (slightly worse than the cable I received) at 20 degrees C, I measured at about 22 degrees C.Source #2 from a univ. stranded wire chart (http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~ecelabs/appnotes/PDF/techdat/swc.pdf) which shows a range from 7.58-8.86 ohms. The closest geometry they had at 165/34 AWG was measured at 8.17 ohms which is slightly better than the cable I received, but at a different geometry.Source #3 Calmont Wire & Cable a company in California (http://www.calmont.com/pdf/calmont-eng-wire-gauge.pdf) which has a very similar geometry at 413/40AWG (mine is 400/40AWG, if you remember). Claremont's cable measures at a whopping 9.5 ohms max resistance at 1km and of all of the examples I presented, I trust their measurement the most!Good seller selling point #3: The wire was actually made of tinned copper, not CCA, not steel, not sewing thread, not cammel hair, not lo mein noodles - actually quality tinned copper strands!And last, but not least important:Good seller selling point #4: The wire came in a reasonable amount of time (about three weeks, which is acceptable for an Ali order or any other order from a company in The Middle Kingdom)If there are any negative points to be made at all, one is that 22 m of cable was packaged tight into a tiny box probably to save on shipping costs (which were free for me). Also, their prices for 12 AWG and thicker cable are way too high. But, 14 AWG and thinner prices look great at least as of now. Do shop around and compare prices before ordering, because they could change at any time.Conclusion: 22 m of highly flexible high quality 14 AWG cable for $32 is not something you can shake a stick at.I am hopeful that others will post their success (and horror) stories so that we can create an EEVblog list of good Ali sellers to order wire (and maybe other electronics as well) from.So, if you're looking for cheap stranded highly flexible copper cable, you can't do much better or cheaper than "Bring good things to life" for 14 AWG or thinner cable at:http://www.aliexpress.com/item/UL-3135-14AWG-Silicone-wire-Conductor-construction-400-0-08-3135-14-silica-gel-wire-14AWG/1821974351.html

author: deadlylover
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2015, 08:54:07 am
content: Thanks for the review, I was after some more cable myself.If you have time to spare, another tip would be to contact the seller first and ask for a quote, they sometimes give a small discount or throw in some samples of things like banana plugs and such.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 16, 2015, 12:10:38 am
content: Thanks - I ordered a lot myself, that's a great price for the real mccoy! I don't normally buy stuff like this on ebay or ali, there are simply too many fakes and flat out ripoffs. I normally only bother for lots of things that are too cheap to fake.Just wanted to thank you for sharing and to let you know it's appreciated!

author: SharpEars
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2015, 02:59:05 am
content: Well folks, if you're in the US, I just found another good place to get cables cheap. For example, consider this:I got 20 feet of silicone insulated highly flexible, 12 AWG (claimed 680/0.08 geometry and I just sort of counted it to be 19-20 bunches of about 30+ strands, so yeah I can believe 680) tinned copper cable.The brand of the cable was Acer Racing Superworm and the extrapolated resistance measured to be 5.21 ohms/km - an excellent showing for high flexibility/very high strand count 12 AWG cable!I paid $18.74 US for the 20 feet (6 meters) with free (US) shipping. The seller gave me about an extra foot, so it was more like 21 feet.So yeah, this comes out to a bit over $3/meter (more pricey, I know), but it's very good cable based on the geometry I received and the resistance measurement. If anyone can find a cheaper deal on 12 AWG flexible cable that measures this well, I am all ears.Here is a link to the item on eBay:http://www.ebay.com/itm/251286772862