Although resistance in hookup wire often appears to be miniscule, its effect can be devastating to audio circuits even when large currents are not flowing. For power supply connections, suitable gauge wire is even more critical, as excessive dissipation can cause a hazardous condition. (i.e. magic smoke)
The table below can assist in making good choices for hookup wire. Amps is based on 500 circular mils per amp, MaxAmps on 438 circ-mil/amp (free air convection cooling required). This abbreviated table is taken from a post by Fr. Tom McGahee which may be found here. Note that some manufacturers claim much higher amperages/circ-mil; e.g. I have seen several 16 gauge IEC power cables rated for 10A operation. I am highly skeptical.
| AWG | Dia-mils | TPI | Dia-mm | Circ-mils | Ohms/Kft | Ft/Ohm | Amps | MaxAmps |
| 4 | 204.30 | 4.895 | 5.1893 | 41,740 | 0.2485 | 4024.7 | 83.48 | 95.19 |
| 5 | 181.94 | 5.496 | 4.6212 | 33,101 | 0.3133 | 3191.7 | 66.20 | 75.49 |
| 6 | 162.02 | 6.172 | 4.1153 | 26,251 | 0.3951 | 2531.1 | 52.50 | 59.87 |
| 7 | 144.28 | 6.931 | 3.6648 | 20,818 | 0.4982 | 2007.3 | 41.64 | 47.48 |
| 8 | 128.49 | 7.783 | 3.2636 | 16,509 | 0.6282 | 1591.8 | 33.02 | 37.65 |
| 9 | 114.42 | 8.740 | 2.9063 | 13,092 | 0.7921 | 1262.4 | 26.19 | 29.86 |
| 10 | 101.90 | 9.814 | 2.5881 | 10,383 | 0.9989 | 1001.1 | 20.77 | 23.68 |
| 11 | 90.74 | 11.020 | 2.3048 | 8,234 | 1.2596 | 793.9 | 16.47 | 18.78 |
| 12 | 80.80 | 12.375 | 2.0525 | 6,530 | 1.5883 | 629.6 | 13.06 | 14.90 |
| 13 | 71.96 | 13.896 | 1.8278 | 5,178 | 2.0028 | 499.3 | 10.36 | 11.81 |
| 14 | 64.08 | 15.605 | 1.6277 | 4,107 | 2.5255 | 396.0 | 8.21 | 9.37 |
| 15 | 57.07 | 17.523 | 1.4495 | 3,257 | 3.1845 | 314.0 | 6.51 | 7.43 |
| 16 | 50.82 | 19.677 | 1.2908 | 2,583 | 4.0156 | 249.0 | 5.17 | 5.89 |
| 17 | 45.26 | 22.096 | 1.1495 | 2,048 | 5.0636 | 197.5 | 4.10 | 4.67 |
| 18 | 40.30 | 24.813 | 1.0237 | 1,624 | 6.3851 | 156.6 | 3.25 | 3.70 |
| 19 | 35.89 | 27.863 | 0.9116 | 1,288 | 8.0514 | 124.2 | 2.58 | 2.94 |
| 20 | 31.96 | 31.288 | 0.8118 | 1,021 | 10.1530 | 98.5 | 2.04 | 2.33 |
| 21 | 28.46 | 35.134 | 0.7229 | 810 | 12.8020 | 78.1 | 1.62 | 1.85 |
| 22 | 25.35 | 39.453 | 0.6438 | 642 | 16.1430 | 61.9 | 1.28 | 1.47 |
| 23 | 22.57 | 44.304 | 0.5733 | 509 | 20.3560 | 49.1 | 1.02 | 1.16 |
| 24 | 20.10 | 49.750 | 0.5106 | 404 | 25.6690 | 39.0 | 0.81 | 0.92 |
| 25 | 17.90 | 55.866 | 0.4547 | 320 | 32.3680 | 30.9 | 0.64 | 0.73 |
| 26 | 15.94 | 62.733 | 0.4049 | 254 | 40.8150 | 24.5 | 0.51 | 0.58 |
| 27 | 14.20 | 70.445 | 0.3606 | 201 | 51.4670 | 19.4 | 0.40 | 0.46 |
| 28 | 12.64 | 79.105 | 0.3211 | 159 | 64.8980 | 15.4 | 0.32 | 0.36 |
AWG Wire Table for BARE COPPER Wire Compiled by a program written by Fr. Tom McGahee
Compiled by Fr. Tom McGahee tom_mcgahee@sigmais.com
Permission granted to copy freely so long as credit line above is included
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