cheap cat5e

Aluminium will prove brittle compared to copper.

I thought that aluminium was a better conductor than copper actually ?

Might not like being bent, stretched though as much as copper and dont know how it would handle environmentally over time

Copper is the better conductor but aluminium is LIGHTER and CHEAPER hence the use in overhead town electricity wiring.

The aluminium in outside electricity wiring may not be pure aluminium but may be alloyed to enhance particular features. The wiring around my town is doing alright long term however I see there is still a lot of copper left in the system. There have been major upgrades around here recently and all new is aluminium. I guess they make a packet out of scrap copper when they take the old lines down.

Nope. Perhaps you are thinking of silver - but of course that is not going to be in anything cheap.

Andy Wood snipped-for-privacy@trap.ozemail.com.au

osed

That is probably what I was thinking, I have seen a lot of it go up, they were even putting it up for power mains (240/415) 25 years ago.

Ah, No I was thinking it might be better as it was being used more often in power lines where I thought lower resistance would be critical due to the currents involved. Obviously not.

On the other hand, if copper is the better conductor - and this CAT5 is being used for power over ethernet, or carrying any significant current in a non-network type application, aluminium conductors could be a problem with drops along the line - particularly on long runs.

"kreed"

I thought that aluminium was a better conductor than copper actually ?

However, for the same weight of cable, aluminium has half the resistance.

Both conductors lack strength, so cables strung between poles or towers have steel cores with copper or aluminium strands wrapped around.

... Phil