Standard Copper Wire vs Silver Coated Copper Wire

Hey all,
I was looking into solutions for corroded copper wiring causing resistance and ultimately loss of voltage. I am waiting on some electrical components to finish my wiring project and have about 400ft of 12g wire and 200ft of 16g of wire, the wire i have is standard over the shelf stuff, which will do fine for what im doing but...

Now i have stumbled on this silver coated wire, that has a higher heat tolorance, claims to allow voltage to flow easier because the silver each wire is coated in conducts electricity better than standard copper. Which helps with voltage drop. The wires are coated in thicker insulation that are better to deal with abrasion.

I have heard that these can and can't be used in areas that may be exposed to moisture, that they too are able to corrode and mess up.

My question is has anyone used these wires before and do you know anything about these wires. Any real benefits or negatives?

 

[1996BLKBauer]

Sounds sort of expensive, if all the wire is coated in silver. Me personally, I just use OFC copper wire, or Oxygen Free Copper wire. It fairly cheap, and is pretty good against corrosion.

 

[Dano!]

I've been looking up part numbers for these wires, the only place so far that i can find them cheap is through eBay, at 30 bucks per 100 feet. (For 12g)

I found out about these wires through work, we use them in our aircraft equipment. It sound appealing to me. I was hoping someone had some experience with it on their truck.

 

[Anime]

The wire you want to use for durability and longevity is tinned copper wire.
Tinned copper wire lasts up to 10 times longer than non-tinned wire. It also resists water corrosion and provides enhanced conductivity.

Regular non-coated wire is cheap, very cheap, but it corrodes and of course eventually degrades to the point it's unsuitable and must be replaced.

Silver coating sounds appealing, but might not be the best for automotive applications. There is mil spec silver coated wire, but the reason silver is used in mil spec wires has nothing to do with conduction, it's to do with joint failure, since a silver plated cable prevents metal migration in the solder joint.

I've only ever used tinned copper wire for automotive power and audio applications, and even the cheapest stuff I've ever used has held up and is still doing it's job to this day. Some audio guys say they prefer using silver coated wires for some things and that it even gives a different sound when used for audio cables, but these might be the people who swear they hear a difference between $59.99 Monster cables and the $1.99 generics.

In terms of out of pocket bang for the buck, it's hard to beat tinned copper wire. If you can do better or about the same with silver coated wire, If you can get the stuff cheap enough and want to give it a shot, it should be okay, but I don't think you'll see any benefits or anything to do with voltage flowing any easier. Usually the only difference in wires, besides the coating, is the insulation. Wires don't usually need much, and it can actually be a pain to deal with wires that have insulation that is super thick, especially when you want to run a bunch of them.

If you're not getting a better deal than what you can get regular tinned wire for, I'd skip it. If you want to use it on a wiring project for some possible perceived benefits, that's up to you.

30 bucks for 100 feet of 12 gauge wire is about what shop cost is for Belden brand wire (now made in Mexico) is at Napa. If you can get decent stuff through ebay for about the same price, I'd wonder about whether or not there's much silver involved. Silver is a great conductor, but I doubt plating copper wire with it, even real pure silver, does much, since it's the wire that does the conducting, not the plating.