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Comparison of SWG (red), AWG (blue) and IEC 60228 (black) wire gauge sizes from 0.03 to 200 mm² to scale on a 1 mm grid – in the SVG file, hover over a size to highlight it. In engineering applications, it is often most convenient to describe a wire in terms of its cross-section area, rather than its diameter, because the cross section is directly proportional to its strength and weight ...
For example, the United States National Electrical Code, Table 310.15(B)(16), specifies that up to three 8 AWG copper wires having a common insulating material (THWN) in a raceway, cable, or direct burial has an ampacity of 50 A when the ambient air is 30 °C, the conductor surface temperature allowed to be 75 °C. A single insulated conductor ...
The main advantages of the powerCON are high current capacity in a small space (smaller than an IEC connector and double the current-carrying capacity) and locking action. The main disadvantages are cost and reliance on a single vendor.
A wire or cable has a voltage (to neutral) rating and a maximum conductor surface temperature rating. The amount of current a cable or wire can safely carry depends on the installation conditions. The international standard wire sizes are given in the IEC 60228 standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission.
By estimating the temperature of the cables, the safe long-term current-carrying capacity of the cables can be calculated. J. H. Neher and M. H. McGrath were two electrical engineers who wrote a paper in 1957 about how to calculate the capacity of current (ampacity) of cables. [ 1 ]
Power cables use stranded copper or aluminum conductors, although small power cables may use solid conductors in sizes of up to 1/0. (For a detailed discussion on copper cables, see: Copper wire and cable.). The cable may include uninsulated conductors used for the circuit neutral or for ground (earth) connection.
Accordingly, one pound of aluminum has the same current carrying capacity as two pounds of copper. [3] Since copper costs about four times as much as aluminum by weight (roughly US$4 /lb [5] vs. US$1 /lb [6] as of 2024), aluminum wires are one-eighth the cost of copper wire of the same conductivity.
SY cable should not be used on voltages above ELV in the UK as the braid does not meet BS 7671 for current carrying capacity under fault conditions. Only cables mentioned in BS 7671 should be used unless the designer can show that the cable used meets the same standards.