Electrical – Small Wire gauges

small-gauge-wirewire

I would like to determine the wire gauge of small, Cu, multi-strand wire. Between 18 and 32 AWG. I can count the # of strands and measure the diameter of the wire strands with a micrometer. But what I can't do is figure out the AWG. Is there an app that takes as input # strands and strand diameter and spits out the AWG?

Best Answer

I don't know about an app, but it's pretty easy to google for a wire construction chart such as this one.

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Alternately, measure the diameter of one of the strands (assuming they are all equal), calculate the cross-sectional area per strand, multiply by the number of strands and calculate the AWG from the total cross-sectional area, as so:

AWG = \$ 36 - 4.3124(\ln(n\cdot\frac{\pi}{4}\cdot d_s^2) + 4.3686) \$

n = number of strands

ds = diameter of one strand in mm

Comparing with the chart, 7/38 (ds = 0.101mm) would be 29.6 gauge, which agrees well with the AWG 30 in the chart.

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