AWG Vs Current Flow Capacity
This write up is taken from http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html
The AWG table below is for a single, solid, round conductor. Because of the small gaps between the strands in a stranded wire, a stranded wire with the same current-carrying capacity and electrical resistance as a solid wire, always have a slightly larger overall diameter. The higher the number – the thinner the wire. Typical household wiring is AWG number 12 or 14. For telephone wires there are common with AWG 22, 24, or 26.
| AWG | Diameter (mm) |
Diameter (in) |
Square (mm2) |
Resistance (ohm/1000m) |
| 40 | 0.08 | . | 0.0050 | 3420 |
| 39 | 0.09 | . | 0.0064 | 2700 |
| 38 | 0.10 | 0.0040 | 0.0078 | 2190 |
| 37 | 0.11 | 0.0045 | 0.0095 | 1810 |
| 36 | 0.13 | 0.005 | 0.013 | 1300 |
| 35 | 0.14 | 0.0056 | 0.015 | 1120 |
| 34 | 0.16 | 0.0063 | 0.020 | 844 |
| 33 | 0.18 | 0.0071 | 0.026 | 676 |
| 32 | 0.20 | 0.008 | 0.031 | 547 |
| 30 | 0.25 | 0.01 | 0.049 | 351 |
| 28 | 0.33 | 0.013 | 0.08 | 232.0 |
| 27 | 0.36 | 0.018 | 0.096 | 178 |
| 26 | 0.41 | 0.016 | 0.13 | 137 |
| 25 | 0.45 | 0.018 | 0.16 | 108 |
| 24 | 0.51 | 0.02 | 0.20 | 87.5 |
| 22 | 0.64 | 0.025 | 0.33 | 51.7 |
| 20 | 0.81 | 0.032 | 0.50 | 34.1 |
| 18 | 1.02 | 0.04 | 0.82 | 21.9 |
| 16 | 1.29 | 0.051 | 1.3 | 13.0 |
| 14 | 1.63 | 0.064 | 2.0 | 8.54 |
| 13 | 1.80 | 0.072 | 2.6 | 6.76 |
| 12 | 2.05 | 0.081 | 3.3 | 5.4 |
| 10 | 2.59 | 0.10 | 5.26 | 3.4 |
| 8 | 3.25 | 0.13 | 8.30 | 2.2 |
| 6 | 4.115 | 0.17 | 13.30 | 1.5 |
| 4 | 5.189 | 0.20 | 21.15 | 0.8 |
| 2 | 6.543 | 0.26 | 33.62 | 0.5 |
| 1 | 7.348 | 0.29 | 42.41 | 0.4 |
| 0 | 8.252 | 0.33 | 53.49 | 0.31 |
| 00 (2/0) | 9.266 | 0.37 | 67.43 | 0.25 |
| 000 (3/0) | 10.40 | 0.41 | 85.01 | 0.2 |
| 0000 (4/0) | 11.684 | 0.46 | 107.22 | 0.16 |
The higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter, and the thinner the wire. Because of less electrical resistance a thick wire will carry more current with less voltage drop than a thin wire. For a long distance it may be necessary to increase the wire diameter – reducing the gauge – to limit the voltage drop.
| American Wire Gauge (AWG) | ||||||||||
| Length (feet) |
Current (amps) | |||||||||
| 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | |
| 15 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| 20 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 25 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 30 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 40 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1/0 |
| 50 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1/0 | 1/0 |
| 60 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1/0 | 2/0 | 2/0 |
| 70 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1/0 | 2/0 | 2/0 | 3/0 |
| 80 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1/0 | 2/0 | 3/0 | 3/0 |
| 90 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1/0 | 2/0 | 3/0 | 3/0 | 4/0 |
| SWG | inches | mm |
| 7/0 | 0.500 | 12.700 |
| 6/0 | 0.464 | 11.786 |
| 5/0 | 0.432 | 10.973 |
| 4/0 | 0.400 | 10.160 |
| 3/0 | 0.372 | 9.449 |
| 2/0 | 0.348 | 8.839 |
| 1/0 | 0.324 | 8.236 |
| 1 | 0.300 | 7.620 |
| 2 | 0.276 | 7.010 |
| 3 | 0.252 | 6.401 |
| 4 | 0.232 | 5.893 |
| 5 | 0.212 | 5.385 |
| 6 | 0.192 | 4.877 |
| 7 | 0.176 | 4.470 |
| 8 | 0.160 | 4.064 |
| 9 | 0.144 | 3.658 |
| 10 | 0.128 | 3.251 |
| 11 | 0.116 | 2.946 |
| 12 | 0.104 | 2.642 |
| 13 | 0.092 | 2.337 |
| 14 | 0.080 | 2.032 |
| 15 | 0.072 | 1.829 |
| 16 | 0.064 | 1.626 |
| 17 | 0.056 | 1.422 |
| 18 | 0.048 | 1.219 |
| 19 | 0.040 | 1.016 |
| 20 | 0.036 | 0.914 |
| 21 | 0.032 | 0.813 |
| 22 | 0.028 | 0.711 |
| 23 | 0.024 | 0.610 |
| 24 | 0.022 | 0.559 |
| 25 | 0.020 | 0.508 |
| 26 | 0.018 | 0.457 |
| 27 | 0.0164 | 0.417 |
| 28 | 0.0148 | 0.376 |
| 29 | 0.0136 | 0.345 |
| 30 | 0.0124 | 0.315 |
| 31 | 0.0116 | 0.295 |
| 32 | 0.0108 | 0.274 |
| 33 | 0.0100 | 0.254 |
| 34 | 0.0092 | 0.234 |
| 35 | 0.0084 | 0.213 |
| 36 | 0.0076 | 0.193 |
| 37 | 0.0068 | 0.173 |
| 38 | 0.006 | 0.152 |
| 39 | 0.0052 | 0.132 |
| 40 | 0.0048 | 0.122 |
| 41 | 0.0044 | 0.112 |
| 42 | 0.004 | 0.102 |
| 43 | 0.0036 | 0.091 |
| 44 | 0.0032 | 0.081 |
| 45 | 0.0028 | 0.071 |
| 46 | 0.0024 | 0.061 |
| 47 | 0.002 | 0.051 |
| 48 | 0.0016 | 0.041 |
| 49 | 0.0012 | 0.030 |
| 50 | 0.001 | 0.025 |



















