American Wire Gauge Conductor Size Table

AWG Conductor Size Table

What is AWG?

American wire gauge (AWG) is a standardized wire gauge system for the diameters of round, solid, nonferrous, electrically conducting wire.

The larger the AWG number or wire guage, the smaller the physical size of the wire. The smallest AWG size is 40 and the largest is 0000 (4/0).

AWG general rules of thumb – for every 6 gauge decrease, the wire diameter doubles and for every 3 gauge decrease, the cross sectional area doubles.

Note – W&M Wire Gauge, US Steel Wire Gauge and Music Wire Gauge are different systems.

Load Carrying Capacities (see table below)

Ampacity is the current carrying capability of a wire. It’s very important when you design your battery pack. You should to consider what size of wire to use.

In other words, how many amps can it transmit? The following chart is a guideline of ampacity or copper wire current carrying capacity following the Handbook of Electronic Tables and Formulas for American Wire Gauge.

As you might guess, the rated ampacities are just a rule of thumb. In careful engineering the voltage drop, insulation temperature limit, thickness, thermal conductivity, and air convection and temperature should all be taken into account.

The Maximum Amps for Power Transmission uses the 700 circular mils per amp rule, which is very very conservative. The Maximum Amps for Chassis Wiring is also a conservative rating, but is meant for wiring in air, and not in a bundle.

For short lengths of wire, such as is used in battery packs you should trade off the resistance and load with size, weight, and flexibility.

American Wire Gauge (AWG) Sizes and Properties Chart / Table

Table 1 lists the AWG sizes for electrical cables / conductors.

In addition to wire size, the table provides values load (current) carrying capacity, resistance and skin effects.

The resistances and skin depth noted are for copper conductors.

AWG	Diameter [inches]	Diameter [mm]	Area [mm ²]	Resistance [Ohms / 1000 ft]	Resistance [Ohms / km]	Max Current [Amperes]	Max Frequency for 100% skin depth

0000 (4/0)	0.46	11.684	107	0.049	0.16072	302	125 Hz
000 (3/0)	0.4096	10.40384	85	0.0618	0.202704	239	160 Hz
00 (2/0)	0.3648	9.26592	67.4	0.0779	0.255512	190	200 Hz
0 (1/0)	0.3249	8.25246	53.5	0.0983	0.322424	150	250 Hz
1	0.2893	7.34822	42.4	0.1239	0.406392	119	325 Hz
2	0.2576	6.54304	33.6	0.1563	0.512664	94	410 Hz
3	0.2294	5.82676	26.7	0.197	0.64616	75	500 Hz
4	0.2043	5.18922	21.2	0.2485	0.81508	60	650 Hz
5	0.1819	4.62026	16.8	0.3133	1.027624	47	810 Hz
6	0.162	4.1148	13.3	0.3951	1.295928	37	1100 Hz
7	0.1443	3.66522	10.5	0.4982	1.634096	30	1300 Hz
8	0.1285	3.2639	8.37	0.6282	2.060496	24	1650 Hz
9	0.1144	2.90576	6.63	0.7921	2.598088	19	2050 Hz
10	0.1019	2.58826	5.26	0.9989	3.276392	15	2600 Hz
11	0.0907	2.30378	4.17	1.26	4.1328	12	3200 Hz
12	0.0808	2.05232	3.31	1.588	5.20864	9.3	4150 Hz
13	0.072	1.8288	2.62	2.003	6.56984	7.4	5300 Hz
14	0.0641	1.62814	2.08	2.525	8.282	5.9	6700 Hz
15	0.0571	1.45034	1.65	3.184	10.44352	4.7	8250 Hz
16	0.0508	1.29032	1.31	4.016	13.17248	3.7	11k Hz
17	0.0453	1.15062	1.04	5.064	16.60992	2.9	13k Hz
18	0.0403	1.02362	0.823	6.385	20.9428	2.3	17k Hz
19	0.0359	0.91186	0.653	8.051	26.40728	1.8	21k Hz
20	0.032	0.8128	0.518	10.15	33.292	1.5	27k Hz
21	0.0285	0.7239	0.41	12.8	41.984	1.2	33k Hz
22	0.0254	0.64516	0.326	16.14	52.9392	0.92	42k Hz
23	0.0226	0.57404	0.258	20.36	66.7808	0.729	53k Hz
24	0.0201	0.51054	0.205	25.67	84.1976	0.577	68k Hz
25	0.0179	0.45466	0.162	32.37	106.1736	0.457	85k Hz
26	0.0159	0.40386	0.129	40.81	133.8568	0.361	107k Hz
27	0.0142	0.36068	0.102	51.47	168.8216	0.288	130k Hz
28	0.0126	0.32004	0.081	64.9	212.872	0.226	170k Hz
29	0.0113	0.28702	0.0642	81.83	268.4024	0.182	210k Hz
30	0.01	0.254	0.0509	103.2	338.496	0.142	270k Hz
31	0.0089	0.22606	0.0404	130.1	426.728	0.113	340k Hz
32	0.008	0.2032	0.032	164.1	538.258	0.091	430k Hz
33	0.0071	0.18034	0.0254	206.9	678.632	0.072	540k Hz
34	0.0063	0.16002	0.0201	260.9	855.752	0.056	690k Hz
35	0.0056	0.14224	0.016	329	1079.12	0.044	870k Hz
36	0.005	0.127	0.0127	414.8	1360	0.035	1100k Hz
37	0.0045	0.1143	0.01	523.1	1715	0.0289	1350k Hz
38	0.004	0.1016	0.00797	659.6	2163	0.0228	1750k Hz
39	0.0035	0.0889	0.00632	831.8	2728	0.0175	2250k Hz
40	0.0031	0.07874	0.00501	1049	3440	0.0137	2900k Hz