TUOFENG 12 Gauge Silicone Wire -6 Meter [3 m Black and 3 m Red] 3.3mm² Soft and Flexible Electrical Wire for DIY Projects and Electrical Applications

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If this AWG metric calculator doesn't provide you with the information you need, please get in touch with the technical experts of The Cable Lab who will be pleased to answer your questions or calculate the appropriate AWG/metric size for your installation.

AWG is also commonly used to specify body piercing jewelry sizes (especially smaller sizes), even when the material is not metallic. [2] Formulae [ edit ] Select which electrical system you will be using. Either DC/AC Single-phase or AC Three-phase. That means the calculator can be a simple DC wire size calculator, all the way up to an AC three-phase tool.The most common method of referring to conductor sizes uses the cross-sectional area, expressed in mm². The following AWG metric conversion table converts AWG to mm and inches, and also lists the cross sectional area (mm2). AWG Metric Conversion Chart (AWG to mm)

While the AWG is essentially identical to the Brown & Sharpe (B&S) sheet metal gauge, the B&S gauge was designed for use with sheet metals as its name suggests. These are functionally interchangeable but the use of B&S in relation to wire gauges, rather than sheet metal gauges, is technically improper.

The AWG tables are for a single, solid and round conductor. The AWG of a stranded wire is determined by the cross-sectional area of the equivalent solid conductor. Because there are also small gaps between the strands, a stranded wire will always have a slightly larger overall diameter than a solid wire with the same AWG.

So we want to select a cable to make sure that the voltage drop is not so large that it will cause problems, but what is acceptable and how do we calculate the right cable size to use? Well the generally acceptable voltage drop for DC circuits is around 3-4% and we can use V = IR (see Electrical Circuit Basics) to calculate the voltage drop for a cable if we know the current draw of the load and the cable's resistance per metre. By definition, No. 36 AWG is 0.005 inches in diameter, and No.0000 is 0.46inches in diameter. The ratio of these diameters is 1:92, and there are 40 gauge sizes from No.36 to No.0000, or 39 steps. Because each successive gauge number increases cross sectional area by a constant multiple, diameters vary geometrically. Any two successive gauges (e.g., A and B ) have diameters whose ratio (dia. B ÷ dia. A) is 92 39 {\displaystyle {\sqrt[{39}]{92}}} (approximately 1.12293), while for gauges two steps apart (e.g., A, B, and C), the ratio of the C to A is about 1.12293 2 ≈ 1.26098. Secondly, it has a greater working temperature range with a maximum of around 105ºC compared with around 70ºC for standard PVC. This makes it more suited to use in areas close to the engine. All elements of an electrical circuit have resistance, including electrical cable, which means that there will be energy loss in the form of voltage drop experienced along the length of the cable. Just as a bulb converts electrical energy into heat and light due to its resistance, and so induces a voltage drop, a copper conductor has resistance and will convert some of the energy it conducts, causing a voltage drop in the same way. The difference is that voltage drop across a bulb (or other load) is useful as that's what makes it work, but voltage drop along cable and other passive parts of a circuit is not desirable as it's not a useful conversion of energy. In most situations the detrimental effects can be minimised by using shrink sleeving, sealed connectors, adhesive lined terminals, protective gels etc. to keep moisture out, but in some applications where the environment is particularly aggressive, for example marine use, it might be preferable to use cable with tinned conductors. This is simply where the standard plain copper conductor has has a layer of tin applied before being sheathed in the insulation.Tin doesn't react in the presence of moisture, yet retains good conductivity, and so improves long-term performance of the cable. The downsides are that it is slightly more expensive and there is a more limited range of sizes and colours available compared with plain copper. Earth braid straps that have no insulating layer are typically tinned for protection as a matter of course.

See also

The n gauge wire diameter d n in millimeters (mm) is equal to 0.127mm times 92 raised to the power of 36 minus gauge number n, divided by 39: The n gauge wire resistance R in ohms per kilofeet (Ω/kft) is equal to 0.3048×1000000000 times the wire's resistivity ρ in There is a general rule of thumb that says if you're unsure whether the cable is large enough for the job, go up a size. This is a bit crude and not very scientific but it's not a bad rule to apply as increasing cable size can't do any harm. Expressed in Amperes (Amps or A) and is the maximum continuous or 'working' current that the cable can safely carry.