![]() Choosing the Right Wire SizeĬhoosing a wire size will depend on the gauge and length you need. Essentially, a thicker wire will have less resistance and carry more voltage at a longer distance. If you measured the resistance at different frequencies, you’d find that the resistance increases as frequency increases. Resistance acts upon both a direct current and alternating current to create a “skin effect.” Simply put, as a signal frequency increases, the current flow of the wire concentrates toward the skin (outside) of the conductor. AWG and ResistanceĪWG is also related to resistance. This is why AWG wires are always slightly bigger in diameter than solid wire. While you can tightly wind or braid wires, there will always be some type of small gap between the strands. Since smaller gauge sizes are more durable and flexible, it’s common practice to use them with higher AWG numbers when stranding conductors for bending or vibration applications. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the AWG number, the smaller (or thinner) the wire will be. In fact, jacketing and insulation are not size determining factors of AWG. Such measurements are made on only the wire and not on the wire’s jacketing or insulation. Circular mil is the area of a 1/1000 (or 1 mil) diameter circle. Oftentimes the term “circular mil” is used. AWG is determined by first figuring out the radius of a wire squared, time pi. Since 1857, wire gauge to MM2 made determining a wire’s current-carrying ratings easier. Request A Quote PowerFlex Subscribe To Email AWG to MM2 Explained Wire Size Conversion Chart - American Wire Gauge to square millimeters The table below illustrates the conversion of AWG to MM2 (or MM2 to AWG) for easy conversion of wire gauge to mm2. As a general rule of thumb, for every 6 gauge decrease, the wire diameter doubles, and every 3 gauge decrease doubles the cross-sectional area. standardized wire gauge system used to note the diameter of rounded, non-ferrous electrical wiring. Information was referenced from: ABYC E-11: AC & DC Electrical Systems on Boats.Toggle Sub-Nav Wire Gauge Size Chart: American Wire Gauge (AWG) to Square Millimeters (MM2)Īmerican Wire Gauge (AWG) is the U.S. Any exposed metal of the wire is a point where moisture can travel along the wire and get into the electronic components at the end of the wire. In the Marine industry, you MUST use adhesive lined butt connectors to prevent moisture from ruining the connection.Avoid making right angle turns on sharp edges as this will eventually cut through the wire insulation, use grommets where necessary.Audio system and lighting system incoming power should not share the same terminal blocks to help prevent a buzz sound on the speakers.Use a common ground near the battery and DO NOT connect into a long shared ground line that boats sometimes have, otherwise this can add noise to speaker systems.This helps avoid picking up noise in your audio system. Do not run in parallel in the same bundle or conduit as low voltage signal cables such as audio input wires.A good rule of thumb is to use the next heavier gauge when possible. This changes the current drawn by the lights and can sometimes require selecting a larger wire size. A boats battery doesn’t always produce 12V, and can run as low as 10V under certain operating conditions, or up to 14V when charging.ABYC requires minimum of 16AWG on most single conductor wire runs (so even if the table or calculator says 18AWG, you should use 16AWG if running a single wire).ABYC Wire Sizer App (Available on Apple Store and Google Play).An Online Calculator (we recommend this one Link Here).Wire gauge table charts below (select the table for your system voltage).Your voltage drop requirement (Lumitec always recommends using 3%) - Voltage drop is the change in voltage along the wire due to resistance in the wire.ĭetermine the correct wire gauge by using one of several tools:.Distance of wire run (from the power source to the light AND BACK).If powering multiple lights add up the current draw per light rated for your system voltage. This will depend on system voltage, (Lumitec light current draw information for 12vDC and 24vDC is found on the light product pages on this website). The total current draw of the number of lights you are planning to power on the circuit.Your vessel’s system voltage, this is typically (12V or 24V).The higher the AWG number, the smaller the wire diameter.Typically, an installer will select the smallest wire they can for their application to save on material cost. ![]() In the U.S., wires are sized by the AWG (American Wire Gauge) system. (Distance from Battery to Light x 2 = Total Wire Run)
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