Looking for recommendations of 20AWG conducting wire for LED strip projects please that can be purchased from Amazon (ideally a 3-wire). It seems to be such a hit or miss. This is a 3-wire one I bought and there’s like maybe 5 flimsy strands in there 
If you do the tug test on it, it just rips away 
For reference, the yellow wire on the left is my expectation (took it off something else) and the 3-wire on the right is what I got.
I have good results with Monoprice brand wire either purchased on their website or on Amazon.
20 is an odd gauge and you will mostly find smaller 22AWG since it’s used a lot with security systems or larger 18AWG since it’s the minimum gauge speaker wire.
I personally use 22AWG wire for most of my LED projects as a buddy gave me a box of security wire he had left over. It works great for a variety of projects and is rated for pulling in walls when I need to put the transformer in crawl space.
I think 22AWG will probably work, too. I'm using those no solder connectors for the LED strips and the ones I have calls for 20AWG, but could possibly work with 22AWG, too?
Those should work but those really depend on the outer wire shielding since they puncture the wire. I personally use "b connectors" that I learned about from my buddy who used to own a security/AV company. You simply twist the wires and then crimp the b-connector over the wire. They make outdoor rated ones too that have gel in them. Example:
https://www.amazon.com/Displacement-Connnector-26-16-Awg-Pk100/dp/B000JP7FIQ
Wago connectors are great for these situations too and accept a variety of different gauge wires and are easy to remove the wires. I found that Home Depot is a great source for them with similar/cheaper pricing than 3rd parties on Amazon. They have 3-5 conductor versions. Example:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/WAGO-221-413-Lever-Nuts-3-Conductor-Splicing-Connectors-12-24AWG-50-Pack-0221413K00-012/326483207
I'm talking about connecting LED strips to the wires though without soldering. I assume the wires need to fit in the holes of the plastic connectors. I have essentially 3x 4-foot segments for uplighting on our barshelves that need to be connected together via 30" long wires like below:
I usually just use screw wire nuts or Wago connects for a wire-to-wire connection.
Honestly, I'd look on Digikey, or Mouser, AutomationDirect, Gordon Electric Supply, Remington or Mcmaster Carr, before I bought wire from Amazon. There are many other options too. Most will give you a full spec of your wire, including manufacturer and UL information. And several ship as fast as Amazon. Heck, I often get Mcmaster orders the same day!
S.
Thank you! I'll check those sites out.
No sweat, if you don't find what you need, let me know, I probably have other vendors I've used at work.
S
I don't know where you live or if you are near a Home Depot but yesterday I saw some "trailer" connection wire on clearance. Seemed pretty hefty. I'm in New England so I don't know if this is in other Home Depots or not. Might be worth a try.
UPDATE: I failed to mention that these were flat (ribbon style) "cables" with 4 conductors. If you only need three wires you could easily "zip" one off leaving the other 3.
As you know, I created 14 LED Lightning projects, all they are driven by Pixelblaze.
Depend on running pattern (worst case is 100% white) and strip size current may go too high.
For instance, my vitual fireplace may draw upto 8A.
Providig a relible power to the led strip is very important. Unfortunately this requires relatively thik wires. Even for the short runs I am using 18g wires. Normally 16g wires works very well. For the very long strips you may need to do a power injection, i.e prowiding fat power wires to the middle of the strip.
From the other side Data line wire cold be just anything and very thin. Hoever in case you are using separate data line wiring it must be twisted pair, second wire must be connected to the GND on both sides. Signal integrity is very important for the addressable leds. Bad signal integrity may lead to the unwanted flickering.
UPDATE
I forgot for a min, yours strip is 24V and not too long which makes power distribution much easier. You should be OK with 20 AWG wires (18 AWG will be much better and still not too thik).
Do not consider 22AWG.
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