Difference between revisions of "Copper cable"

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Revision as of 18:55, 15 November 2018

Cable Diameter Standards

Area (metric) Diameter American Wire Gauge Resistance Ampacity Typical Use
0.08 mm² 0.32 mm AWG28 200 mΩ/m 0.8 A Wires inside a data cable
0.10 mm² 0.36 mm AWG27 160 mΩ/m 1 A Thin hobby wire (home electronics for up to 30cm)
0.14 mm² 0.40 mm AWG26 125 mΩ/m 1.3 A Cat5 UTP, Flexible hobby wire
0.25 mm² 0.50 mm AWG23 / AWG24 65 mΩ/m 3 A Cat6 FTP, breadboard wires, Thicker hobby wire
0.50 mm² 0.80 mm AWG20 / AWG21 32 mΩ/m 5 A Low voltage power cable (e.g. for phone or doorbell or powering electronics)
0.75 mm² 1.0 mm AWG18 / AWG19 20 mΩ/m 10 A Power cable between outlet and device
1.5 mm² 1.3 mm AWG16 13 mΩ/m 12 A Thin power wire in walls (black wire for switches)
2.5 mm² 1.6 mm AWG14 8 mΩ/m 15 A Normal power wire in walls (power, zero and earth wire)
6.0 mm² 2.5 mm AWG10 3 mΩ/m 30 A Thick wire in electric panel (groepenkast)

The metric area is the advertised area, equivalent of mm² copper. The actual diameter, when translated from AWG specification may differ.

The ampacity is the sustained current that can be transported through the wire without exceeding its temperature rating. In this case, the Ampacity at 60°C is given. For higher acceptable temperatures (75°C or 90°C), multiply by 1.5. Peak currents may be 10 times larger if they are short enough (< 10 seconds).

Note that the thickness of the cable is determined by the current (amperage), not by the voltage or power. So a lower-voltage installation requires thicker cables than a higher-voltage installation with the same power consumption. The current (in Ampere) can be calculated by dividing the Power (in Watts) by the Voltage of the appliance.

The thickness of the insulation depends on the voltage, and is not mentioned in this table.

Other considerations

Core
solid or flexible. A solid core is often used for fixed wiring, and for breadboard wires. Flexible wire contain multiple small strands and is used for flexible cables.
Material
copper of CCA (copper cladded aluminium). Copper is considered slightly better. CCA is cheaper and is consider good enough.

Network Cabling

Ethernet Category Max. Frequency Max. Transmission Speed (@ Max. distance) Cable type Number of wires Remark
Cat3 16 MHz 10 Mbps @ 100m U/UTP 2 Obsolete. Used for voice.
Cat5 100 MHz 100 Mbps @ 100m U/UTP 8 (4 used) Obsolete. Replaced by Cat 5e.
Cat5e 100 MHz 1 Gbps @ 100m 10 Gbps @ 45m U/UTP 8
Cat6 250 MHz 1 Gbps @ 100m 10 Gbps @ 55m F/UTP 8 has separator between the 4 wire pairs
Cat6a 500 MHz 10 Gbps @ 100m F/UTP 8
Cat7 500 MHz 10 Gbps @ 100m S/FTP 8 Uses GG45 or TERA connectors. Obsolete by Cat 6a
Cat7a 600 MHz 10 Gbps @ 100m S/FTP 8 Obsolete by Cat 8
Cat8.1 2000 MHz 40 Gbps @ 30m U/FTP 8 Uses regular 8P8C ("RJ45") connectors.
Cat8.2 2000 MHz 40 Gbps @ 30m S/FTP 8 Uses GG45 or TERA connectors.

Shielding

Systematic Name Old name Cable protection Wire-pair protection
U/UTP UTP None None
U/FTP STP None Foil
F/UTP FTP, STP Foil None
S/UTP Braiding None
SF/UTP S-FTP Braiding and foil None
F/FTP FFTP Foil Foil
S/FTP SFTP Braiding Foil
SF/FTP Braiding and foil Foil
U = unshielded
F = foil shielding
S = braided shielding (outer layer only)
TP = twisted pair

When shielding is applied to a collection of pairs, it is usually referred to as screening, hence STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) is sometimes abbreviated to ScTP (Screened Twisted Pair).

Further Reading

For UTP cabling:

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