Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff

Mains cable size

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themadhippy:
If you wanna be picky about using the correct terminology would you americans please remember there is the far superior SWG ,so if all you request is 18 gauge dont start screaming the wire the wrong size,maybe we should return to the days of 3/0.29 instead of this confusing 1.5mm2 talk

TimFox:
SWG is an obsolete British phenomenon, and is not used in the US.  We patriotically named ours "American Wire Gauge", instead of the presumptuous "Standard Wire Gauge".
In fact, all of the gauges for wire (different for copper and steel) and sheet metal were originally proprietary manufacturer's ratings.  AWG originated as the Brown & Sharpe gauge.

Zero999:
I don't think we should allow this thread to turn into a metric vs customary, imperial debate. The point is we need to communicate clearly with one another. Using local conventions, slang and measurements is fine. There's nothing wrong with that, but in technical documentation, designed for an international audience, it's important to stick to international standards, whenever possible. The only issue regarding wire sizes is for under 0.5mm², which isn't standardised, so AWG or SWG are normally used. I hope the IEC standardises the smaller gauges, but as they're not used for mains, it's not a safety issue, so less likely.

Benta:
Zero999, I'm with you 100%, couldn't have said it better myself.
Now we just have to teach the marketing people to say "picofarads" instead of "puffs" (No kidding)  :(

TimFox:
One last thing about American usage, to avoid confusion if the pandemic ever allows us to visit each other again:
"mils" for 0.001 inch is common usage for wire, and is a standard technical term (not slang).  My KiCad (from CERN) has mils as an option for dimensions, as well as US paper sizes.
"thou"  for 0.001 inch is common US slang for sheet metal thickness and machining tolerances, but would never be spelled that way on a blueprint.
From that comes the very confusing US slang of "tenth" = 10-4 inch, when machining tolerance is tighter than 0.001".  Our best instrument maker at my University was asked to achieve a tolerance of 1 micron, which he translated to "half a tenth".

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