179
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #191,589 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
This is copper clad aluminum (CCA), not pure copper
I ordered this product because it was a good price (too good) for pure copper wire. I have been trying to avoid copper clad aluminum (CCA) wire but it has completely invaded the market. Unfortunately, I've been had--This is not pure oxygen free copper (OFC). It appears to be CCA. I've attached a macro photo to show what I mean.
What I can't understand though is why this product page and the product packaging don't state that any aluminum is involved. The spool states, verbatim: "Conduit: High Purity, Oxygen-free Copper". This cannot be true. I cut a sample, stripped off the insulation, and scraped the strands with a knife. Sure enough, just like other CCA wire, the copper scraped off and revealed the silvery metal underneath. Amazon's product page states it is "Greater than 99.95% pure, oxygen-free copper conductors", but it seems more realistic to say that it is 99.95% aluminum and 0.05% copper (a micron-thin copper coating).
I am very upset by this obvious misrepresentation. It is incredibly simple to test for CCA wire versus oxygen free copper. That being the case, why do I see several reviews stating it is pure copper? Why, at the time of this review, does it have 5 stars on Monoprice and 4.5 stars on Amazon. The only complaints I've found is that the insulation is too thick for banana plugs or that the AWG rating is really 14, not 12. Are people not aware of CCA wire or has the product changed since those reviews?
I wont bother returning it. The market is so invaded with CCA and marked inappropriately that I can't be bothered to buy it online anymore. I suggest to anyone who has bought this to perform the scrape test yourself.
June 2013 · Electronics · verified purchase