component leads

[barry wilkins]

What are the leads on components made of these days?
Used to be tinned copper wire ,but some seem to be iron or another alloy ?

Barry Wilkins

[eccerr0r]

Re: component leads

I took a magnet to my spare parts kit and found that most of my capacitors have ferromagnetic leads. Most of my resistors have non-ferromagnetic leads.

I suspect that since capacitors tend to be quite a bit more weighty than a resistor, the iron based leads provide mechanical strength.

But this sort of contradicts with my next experiment, onto my semiconductor pile... here it's a mixed bag...

[barry wilkins]

Re: component leads

I think it depends how old the components are some of my resistors are about 100 years old and are copper ,ones I bought recently are definitely not all copper .The wire is much thinner.

[stj]

Re: component leads

tin endcaps and tinplate on the wires.