Hi!

I have a La Marzocco GS/3. Something that I always wondered was why the wires in the machine are coiled...kind of like curled. It's almost as if they turned them into springs.

Something makes me think that they do this to change the resistance. I tried to look around, but couldn't seem to find anything related to this. Is there a reason for the wires to be coiled?

Thanks!

It does not change the resistance. Most vendors wind the wire because it is a precut length and it's a way to take up the extra length without using tywraps.

Long wires are good for maintenance to easily move components around without disconnecting. Also makes hookup easier. Coiling them keeps them neat.

Like Stan said, the way a wire is shaped makes no difference to its resistance. Length increases the resistance, so a longer, coiled wire will have sliiiightly higher resistance than a short, straight wire, but not because of the shape.

They leave some extra for maintenance and if the wires are too long they wrap the wire around a screwdriver to take up the slack so it looks nice.

BillC

Thanks for the information. It's great to have resources like this.

I'm also glad to know that the coils are mostly there for looks/maintenance, and not really function.

Thanks!

Assuming that it's roughly 16ga copper wire, a three foot length would add all of ~.012 ohms of resistance. Lighter wire, a hair more, heavier wire a hair less. i don't know that I've ever seen an espresso machine with components (not circuit board mounted) where that amount of resistance would be less than the precision on any internal resistors.

As has been said, leaving extra length for maintenance AND then there is less possibility for stress on the connector at the ends of those wires if there is a coiled section in the wire.