AWG (American wire gauge) American wire gauge is a standard to distinguish the diameter of the wire, also known as Brown & Sharpe wire gauge. This standardized wire gauge system has been in use in the United States since 1857. The value in front of AWG (such as 24AWG, 26AWG) indicates the number of holes that the wire must pass before forming the final diameter. The larger the value, the higher the level of the wire passing through the hole, and the smaller the diameter of the wire. Thick wires have better physical strength and lower resistance, but the thicker the wires, the more copper is needed to make the cable, which will make the cable heavier, more difficult to install, and more expensive. The challenge in cable design is to use the smallest diameter wire possible (reducing cost and installation complexity) while ensuring the maximum capacity of the wire is achieved at the necessary voltage and frequency.
Below is the comparison table of AWG and square area
AWG | Outer Diameter | area mm² |
Resistance ohm/KM |
AWG | Outer Diameter | area mm² |
Resistance ohm/KM |
|||
mm | inch | mm | inch | |||||||
4/0 | 11.68 | 0.46 | 107.22 | 0.17 | 22 | 0.643 | 0.0253 | 0.3247 | 54.3 | |
3/0 | 10.40 | 0.4096 | 85.01 | 0.21 | 23 | 0.574 | 0.0226 | 0.2588 | 48.5 | |
2/0 | 9.27 | 0.3648 | 67.43 | 0.26 | 24 | 0.511 | 0.0201 | 0.2047 | 89.4 | |
1/0 | 8.25 | 0.3249 | 53.49 | 0.33 | 25 | 0.44 | 0.0179 | 0.1624 | 79.6 | |
1 | 7.35 | 0.2893 | 42.41 | 0.42 | 26 | 0.404 | 0.0159 | 0.1281 | 143 | |
2 | 6.54 | 0.2576 | 33.62 | 0.53 | 27 | 0.361 | 0.0142 | 0.1021 | 128 | |
3 | 5.83 | 0.2294 | 26.67 | 0.66 | 28 | 0.32 | 0.0126 | 0.0804 | 227 | |
4 | 5.19 | 0.2043 | 21.15 | 0.84 | 29 | 0.287 | 0.0113 | 0.0647 | 289 | |
5 | 4.62 | 0.1819 | 16.77 | 1.06 | 30 | 0.254 | 0.0100 | 0.0507 | 361 | |
6 | 4.11 | 0.1620 | 13.30 | 1.33 | 31 | 0.226 | 0.0089 | 0.0401 | 321 | |
7 | 3.67 | 0.1443 | 10.55 | 1.68 | 32 | 0.203 | 0.0080 | 0.0316 | 583 | |
8 | 3.26 | 0.1285 | 8.37 | 2.11 | 33 | 0.18 | 0.0071 | 0.0255 | 944 | |
9 | 2.91 | 0.1144 | 6.63 | 2.67 | 34 | 0.16 | 0.0063 | 0.0201 | 956 | |
10 | 2.59 | 0.1019 | 5.26 | 3.36 | 35 | 0.142 | 0.0056 | 0.0169 | 1200 | |
11 | 2.30 | 0.0907 | 4.17 | 4.24 | 36 | 0.127 | 0.0050 | 0.0127 | 1530 | |
12 | 2.05 | 0.0808 | 3.332 | 5.31 | 37 | 0.114 | 0.0045 | 0.0098 | 1377 | |
13 | 1.82 | 0.0720 | 2.627 | 6.69 | 38 | 0.102 | 0.0040 | 0.0081 | 2400 | |
14 | 1.63 | 0.0641 | 2.075 | 8.45 | 39 | 0.089 | 0.0035 | 0.0062 | 2100 | |
15 | 1.45 | 0.0571 | 1.646 | 10.6 | 40 | 0.079 | 0.0031 | 0.0049 | 4080 | |
16 | 1.29 | 0.0508 | 1.318 | 13.5 | 41 | 0.071 | 0.0028 | 0.0040 | 3685 | |
17 | 1.15 | 0.0453 | 1.026 | 16.3 | 42 | 0.064 | 0.0025 | 0.0032 | 6300 | |
18 | 1.02 | 0.0403 | 0.8107 | 21.4 | 43 | 0.056 | 0.0022 | 0.0025 | 5544 | |
19 | 0.912 | 0.0359 | 0.5667 | 26.9 | 44 | 0.051 | 0.0020 | 0.0020 | 9180 | |
20 | 0.813 | 0.0320 | 0.5189 | 33.9 | 45 | 0.046 | 0.0018 | 0.0016 | 10200 | |
21 | 0.724 | 0.0285 | 0.4116 | 42.7 | 46 | 0.041 | 0.0016 | 0.0013 | 16300 |