Enamelled Magnet Wire

Find out more about the wire used to wind coils for generators and alternators

The two key components of any alternator or generator are Magnets (1) and magnet wire. Suitable magnets are now very easy to find and their prices have tumbled in recent years: See our article on buying Neodymium magnets (2) here. However the wire used to make the stator coils (pictured above) in the alternator is not easy to find and the increasing cost of copper has sent its price skywards.

What is Magnet Wire

Magnet wire is copper wire which has been coated (or enamelled) with a very thin layer of insulating material - e.g. varnish. This means that when it is would into coils, the individual coils do not short-circuit one another where they touch. In order to make an electrical contact with magnet wire it is necessary to either scrape or burn off the coating to expose the copper wire inside.

Scavenging Magnet Wire

With new magnet wire being so expensive, it is not surprising that many people have turned to alternative sources of wire. Old microwave ovens and power transformers are fantastic sources of magnet wire, and they can often be found in skips or for a couple of pounds at car boot sales. The microwave cooling fan motor alone contains around 30 metres of thin magnet wire.

The large transformer in a microwave (pictured above) has a decent quantity of much thicker gauge magnet wire as well as yet more thin wire.
Microwave ovens also contain a couple of useful magnets in the 'magnetron'.

Web Link References

(1) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Neodymium-Magnets.htm
(2) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Buying-Neodymium-Magnets.htm