% of cu content in fine computer wire ?

[EcoSafe]

nothing else to do right now so I am stripping all tat junk wire I got screwed on last week to minimise my loss as much as I can.

while doing so I cut the case off of three starnd wire and come to very small (im guessin 28 ga or smaller) what suddenly occured to me was the tinness of the insulation on these individual wires. I would be willing to bet the percentage of copper vs insulation is much greater then so called #1 insulated. any of you wire guys ever check this out ?

[Dumpster-Dee]

VERY interesting observation olddude. Can't wait to hear from the pro's on this. The dumpster are going to be overflowing with all kinds of Christmas lights for the next two weeks. Are they big enough to put in "#2 insulated. My yard, as you know, only has insulated, communication and Christmas !

[EcoSafe]

dont know about christmas lights.. the insulation on these is way way thiner

[Dumpster-Dee]

wow....and you can strip them easily. You're good !

[EcoSafe]

I use my thumb nail

[sjones99]

Most yards dont even want christmas lights due to such low recovery

[Dumpster-Dee]

Both of the yards I go to take them....every penny counts as I always say....and this time of year the pennies add up nicely.

[CMHN]

Both of the yards I go to take them....every penny counts as I always say....and this time of year the pennies add up nicely.

Especially pre-1982 pennies, but that's another topic.

[GeorgeB]

For those of you who can scrap christmas lights, do it! As Dee mentioned, there will be TONS of it.

My yard wont take it...which sucks because a month ago I had 200+ lbs of it.

[CMHN]

I was about to throw away a couple of ear buds the other day and decided to see how hard it would be to take the wire out of them. Came to find out that I didn't even have to cut the insulation, just get the wire started and it basically cut itself out. Fastest wire stripping I ever did, I will never throw them away again without trying to get the copper out first.

[KzScrapper]

Worst case scenario with Xmas lights is to clip everything and turn it into insulated wire.

Edit: This is not worst case but how to make it better now that I read Hobo's post below. Thanks Hobo.

[hobo finds]

If you clip the lights by me you get #2 insulated wire .95 a pound last time I went. As is they are .15 - .20 a lb. Problem around here was that Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart was taking in old strands and giving you $5.00 off of new LED light set. So I only found a few strands so far this season.

[iScrap]

If you clip the lights by me you get #2 insulated wire .95 a pound last time I went. As is they are .15 - .20 a lb. Problem around here was that Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart was taking in old strands and giving you $5.00 off of new LED light set. So I only found a few strands so far this season.

Those big box stores have everything to gain and nothing to lose. First they take your old strands (good scrap) by getting you in the store to buy new lights with a $5.00 off incentive, after probably marking them up.