Standard cable and wire sizes

This page on standard cable and wire sizes is an excerpt from the original Electrical Wire Sizes and Diameters webpage published by Control And Instrumentation.com. It is produced here with their permission.

When designing control panels, marshalling panels, and patch panels it is often desireable to maximise the cross sectional area of the internal wiring being used in order to limit voltage drop. However, the maximum diameter that your panel terminal can take places a restriction on your choice. Panel terminals are designed with standard cable and wire diameters in mind. However some cable suppliers specify their standard cables in American Wire Gauge (AWG), not in mm diameters.
The tables below should make the selection of standard cables and wires easier.

Diameter of standard cable and wires

Use the following charts to find the diamter of standard cable and wires, and the AWG equivalents.

Solid Bare Copper Wire
AWG	Nominal Diam (mm)	Cross Section (mm2)
10	2.6	5.23
11	2.3	4.155
12	2.05	3.29
13	1.83	2.63
14	1.63	2.07
15	1.45	1.651
16	1.29	1.3
17	1.15	1.039
18	1.02	0.816
19	0.912	0.653
20	0.813	0.514
21	0.724	0.412
22	0.643	0.322
23	0.574	0.259
24	0.511	0.203
25	0.455	0.163
26	0.404	0.127
27	0.361	0.102
28	0.32	0.08
29	0.287	0.064
30	0.254	0.051
31	0.226	0.04
32	0.203	0.032
33	0.18	0.025
34	0.16	0.02
35	0.142	0.016
36	0.127	0.013
37	0.114	0.01
38	0.102	0.008
39	0.089	0.006
40	0.079	0.005

Stranded Tinned Copper Wire
AWG	Stranding No/AWG	Nominal Diam (mm)	Cross Section (mm2)
12	7/20	2.44	3.61
12	19/25	2.36	3.07
12	65/30	2.41	3.27
14	7/22	1.85	2.26
14	19/26	1.85	1.93
14	42/30	1.85	2.06
16	7/24	1.52	1.42
16	19/29	1.47	1.216
16	65/34	1.5	1.3
18	7/26	1.22	0.891
18	19/30	1.24	0.957
18	42/34	1.2	0.819
18	65/36	1.2	0.845
20	7/28	0.89	0.504
20	19/32	0.94	0.612
20	42/36	0.914	0.533
22	7/30	0.762	0.352
22	19/34	0.787	0.38
24	7/32	0.61	0.226
24	19/36	0.61	0.239
24	42/40	0.584	0.201
26	7/34	0.483	0.14
26	19/38	0.508	0.153
28	7/36	0.381	0.071
28	19/40	0.406	0.093
30	7/38	0.305	0.056

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