Copper cable

Cable Diameter Standards

Area (metric)	Diameter	American Wire Gauge	Ampacity	Typical Use
0.08 mm²	0.32 mm	AWG28	0.8 A	Wires inside a data cable
0.10 mm²	0.36 mm	AWG27	1 A	Thin hobby wire (home electronics for up to 30cm)
0.14 mm²	0.40 mm	AWG26	1.3 A	Cat5 UTP, Flexible hobby wire
0.25 mm²	0.50 mm	AWG23 / AWG24	3 A	Cat6 FTP, breadboard wires, Thicker hobby wire
0.50 mm²	0.80 mm	AWG20 / AWG21	5 A	Low voltage power cable (e.g. for phone or doorbell or powering electronics)
0.75 mm²	1.0 mm	AWG18 / AWG19	10 A	Power cable between outlet and device
1.5 mm²	1.3 mm	AWG16	12 A	Thin power wire in walls (black wire for switches)
2.5 mm²	1.6 mm	AWG14	15 A	Normal power wire in walls (power, zero and earth wire)
6.0 mm²	2.5 mm	AWG10	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		UTP	2	Obsolete. Used for voice.
Cat5	100 MHz	100 Mbps @ 100m		UTP	8 (4 used)	Obsolete. Replaced by Cat 5e.
Cat5e	100 MHz	1 Gbps @ 100m	10 Gbps @ 45m	UTP	8
Cat6	250 MHz	1 Gbps @ 100m	10 Gbps @ 55m	UTP or STP	8
Cat6a	500 MHz	10 Gbps @ 100m		STP	8
Cat7	500 MHz	10 Gbps @ 100m		S/FTP	8

Shielding

Systematic Name	Old name	Cable protection	Wire-pair protection
U/UTP	UTP	None	None
U/FTP	STP	None	Foil
F/UTP	FTP	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:

• Welke kabel moet ik kiezen? by Daniel Spijker (Dutch)
• Demystifying Ethernet Types— Difference between Cat5e, Cat 6, and Cat7 by Rita Mailheau
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair