Why use aluminum wire in an (old) TV degaussing harness

In consumer electronics there is only one reason.

Price

Saving 10c on a run of 100,000 devices saves $10,000

the degausing coil doesn't need to be compact or have to low skin-effect losses so there's no compelling reason not to use aluminium.


Reasons for using aluminium wire in a CRT degaussing harness:

  1. The lower electrical conductivity of aluminium (only 63% that of copper) would be good enough for the degaussing application.

  2. The lower density of aluminium (only 30% that of copper) would make the harness lighter and easy to handle.

  3. The lower weight combined with the lower cost of aluminium wire (only 40% that of copper) would result in a cost saving of 88%.

  4. The cost saving would be considerable even should the wire gauge be increased for increased rigidity.