Thanks so much for the additional resources! Iāve been reading everything you send me.
I noticed something pretty significant (maybe) today when looking at those āpre crimpedā 26awg molex wires you linked - they are made from Phosphor Bronze, which only has about 15% of the conductivity of regular copper.
The 28awg ones I bought (cheap from China ) - they seem to made from aluminum wire - around 60% of the conductivity of copper. Even if Iām incorrect , and they are āzinc copperā, they still have a conductivity of about double the phosphor bronze. So now Iām leaning towards the 28awg wires for that specific reason, but I could be incorrect in my assumption.
The regular single PSU (RPI3) will only be used for the solo units located in different offices. For the clusters, Iām gonna use a high AMP arcade PSU (5v) which should be able to handle several units each easily
I am also making the cables minimal length. The RPI3 5.1v has 18awg wire. I am going to cut off about 6 inches of the cable to accomade the 3-4 inches of extra wires Iāll be soldering. That way its still a bit shorter than the original was.
So Iām gonna go with the 28awg for now and hope for the best. Im thinking 28awg aluminum/zinc wire might be better than 26awg phosphor bronze wire.
I would actually prefer to use single wire leads, directly on the VIN pins, but havenāt had any luck finding connectors that small. This way I could say goodbye to the silly JST connector altogether. If I get really desperate, Iām just gonna solder directly to the VIN pins and forget this silly 1.25mm JST connector crap (mostly joking )
Why use a connector that requires a $250+ crimping tool to make half decent wires - rawr lol.
EDIT: Also, I decided to drop the ābarrel connectorā and go with these instead:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MYDR1IK/ref=ya_st_dp_summary?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have a local source for them, dirt cheap. They may not be as visually appealing, but I know for a fact they are 18awg. I ordered 5 different barrel connectors, and they ALL had thinner wire than advertised when I ripped them open to check. I wanted the prewired ones with tails. I know I can get ālegitā barrel connectors, with better awg but it becomes much more costly - hence the alternative!