AWG - American Wire Gauge - is an U.S. standard for wire conductor size. The "gauge" is related to the diameter of the wire. With 8 gauge wire, the most frequently asked question is ‘Can 8 gauge wire handle 50 amps?’. Well, that does depend on the temperature (secondarily). The primary factor is ampacity is obviously the cross-section. If you’re looking for wire size for a 60 amp circuit (this can be for a 60 amp 220-volt circuit, breaker, battery output), you will need an AWG with at least 60 amp rated ampacity at 75°C. This wire size is one of the favorites for large-amp needs. It is the perfect 200 amp wire size with 200 ampacity (3/0 copper wire ampacity has 200A ampacity) at 75°C. It also has a very high 2.7 kA Preece fusing current (power factor is already factored in). At 120V, a 12 gauge wire can handle 3,000 watts (120V × 25A = 3,000W). Using the same electrical power calculation, you can see that the 12 gauge wire can handle up to 5,500 watts at 220V, and up to 6,000 watts at 240V. These results are for the copper wire at 75°C; the rated ampacity is 25A.

Hello Al, I have the exact same experience with my physics professors. But, in general, people use ‘wattage’ and ‘amperage’ and we try to explain this to people who don’t have university degrees in physics, engineering, and so on. Hopefully, if a college professor reads this, he or she won’t berate us on using these people-friendly terms. Reply You can consult the wire ampacity chart from the 1st Chapter and see that the most appropriate wire size for 100 amps is 3 AWG wire.

Privacy Policy

The AWG standard includes copper, aluminum and other wire materials. Typical household copper wiring is AWG number 12 or 14. Telephone wire is usually 22, 24, or 26. The higher the gauge number, the smaller the diameter and the thinner the wire. AWG 5 gauge wire is one of the less used wires. We rarely do use it but when we do it’s useful to know the dimensions of 5 gauge wire in mm (diameter) and mm2 (cross-section).

gauge wire is another very rarely used wire. It’s not used as an electrical wire. It’s usually used as a mechanical wire due to its tensile properties. AWG wire has a rated ampacity of 65 amps. That is a perfect wire size for a 60 amp circuit as you can read here. What about 12V and 24V batteries? If you use a 12 gauge wire with a 12V battery, you can get a maximum of 144 watts out of it. If you use the 24V battery, it’s double that; 288 watts. gauge copper wire is the 100 amp size wire if you look at the 75°C rated ampacity. Its diameter in mm that allows for such an electric current to pass through it is 5.827 mm.With this information, we can determine how many amps will an 80 gauge carry. For everybody wondering if the 8 AWG wire can handle 50 amps, here is the answer: Great article and very specific and detailed for the most common amperages! I think one key metric that you left out of this article is what the National Electric Code says about conductor sizing, specifically what the NEC says about sizing for continuously loaded conductors. If a load is expected to ever remain on for longer than 3 hours, the conductor needs to be rated for 1.25x the load rated amps. For instance in your 20 amps circuit, “ If you want to have an even safer circuit, you can use 12 AWG wire as the 20 amps wire size.” Well, if the 20 amp load is ever going to be on for more than 3 hours, then the NEC requires that you use 12 awg wire and it isn’t an option. I think it is an important distinction so that people understand that the wire be adequately sized for continuous rating and that they cannot opt for the cheaper 14 awg wire in this situation. Reply