A newbie question

[iknewit]

Having just found this forum recently, I've come across new words that I've never heard before. One of those words is bifilar. This word is mentioned in many places, but when you're a total newbie, it leaves you asking, "what the hell is it?"

What kind of wire is it? Magnet wire? Ordinary wire? Do you buy it as bifilar wire or is it just a method of winding? Where do you buy it?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but when you're just starting out with this stuff, you are literally starting from scratch.

Any info will be eagerly welcomed.

[sucahyo]

two wire at the same length wounded in a coil and treated as one wire is called bifilar. Or maybe aomeone has better explanation than mine.

[ren]

not necessarily "treated" as one, but wound as one

trifilar = 3 wires
quadfilar = 4 wires
quint

and so on and so on....\

regards

[sucahyo]

I see. thanks .

[Xenomorph]

Two wires (that can be mag wire or any other conductor) wound on a coil former in a parallel fashion or in a braided/twisted fashion. The currents through the individual wires are normally different, but there is set-ups where the ends of the two wires are connected in series, so that the same (magnitude of) current flows through both wires (but in opposite directions) which cancels out the magnetic field.

Wikipedia will be your friend for your future questions : Bifilar coil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can buy it for example here : Copper Magnet Wire AWG 36, 5,000 Ft Red Solderable - eBay (item 150449323805 end time Jun-02-10 20:26:57 PDT)

The most simple application of a bifilar coil winding concept is sometimes being realized with a so-called Joule-Thief:
Joule thief - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You might wanna start with things like that, if you just get into circuit building and then go from there.