240 Volt Wire Gauge Chart

You need to know the length of the wire run and the load current that will be on the circuit.

240 volt wire gauge chart. Voltage drop is usually caused by the wire resistance. The higher the gauge number the smaller the. Voltage enter the voltage at the source of the circuit. Basic wire sizing guide for us 120 and 240 volts.

Wire gauge refers the physical size of the wire rated with a numerical designation that runs opposite to the diameter of the conductors in other words the smaller the wire gauge number the larger the wire diameter. Common sizes include 14 12 10 8 6 and 2 gauge wire. Wire is sized by the american wire gauge awg system. The wire size chart below shows allowable ampacities of insulated conductors rated up to and including 2000 volts 60 c through 90 c 140 f through 194 f not more than three current carrying conductors in raceway cable or earth directly buried based on ambient air temperature of 30 c 86 f.

The smaller the wire size the more the resistance. The national electrical code nec recommends a maximum voltage drop of 3 percent for individual household circuits known as branch circuits this is a good goal to shoot for when sizing the conductors for an underground cable the following are the maximum lengths of cable you can use while still maintaining a 3 percent voltage drop for the given wire size awg and. The calculator allows entry of a voltage drop but caution should be used when doing so to make sure you are calculating the wire sizes in accordance with nec article 210 19 fpn no. The wire gauge indicates the electrical wire sizing as defined by the american wire awg system.

In other words as the gauge number gets higher the diameter of the wire gets smaller. Service cable is large insulated stranded copper cable usually refers to single 4 wire and up. For motors it is recommended to multiply the nameplate fla by 1 25 for wire sizing. When calculating a circuit pay special attention to the voltage drop on the wire.

1 current ratings for up to 1000 v pvc insulated single and multicore wiring cables ambient temperature up to 30 o c values for resistance are based on electrical resistivity for copper 1 724 x 10 8 ω m 0 0174 μω m and electrical resistivity for aluminum 2 65 x 10 8 ω m 0 0265 μω m. 4 the nec allows a maximum of a 3 voltage drop on the main branch of a circuit at the farthest outlet of power and 5 total to both feeders and branch. The gauge and diameter of the wire are inversely related. For example a 10 gauge wire is bigger than a 12 gauge wire.

Amperes enter the maximum current in amps that will flow through the circuit. The most common gauges are 10 12 or 14. Common us awg wire gauges and amps ratings. American wire gauge awg the lower the number the larger the wire guage.

Single phase voltages are usually 115v or 120v while three phase voltages are typically 208v 230v or 480v.