I was just about to post this message, before I saw this post and a new (more realistic) table among the comments. You may wish to read it after my post. See post here: http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=80299
I am planning a solar power project and came across the task of selecting wires to use. I don't know if it's just me but it seems 90% of all the wire I've ever bothered to check over the years (even before I knew what it was) that have an a 22 AWG rating. As I was planning a project with potentially high current I decided to investigate the ratings and came across maximum current ratings, (enclosed and in free air, solid core/single conductor and multi stranded) for each wire gauge number. The lower the AWG number, usually the more expensive the wire, but the more current it's rated to carry. I am trying to minimise power loss and project cost so I was trying to balance between energy used in converting to a higher voltage for transmission and cost of a higher capacity wire. You could search around the internet for a few tables (I see slightly different values on different websites!), I'll use the one on Wikipedia for reference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge#Tables_of_AWG_wire_sizes
Look at 24 AWG wire. My HP 135W charger uses that for the part between the adapter and the laptop, to send 19V 7.1A and I touched it now, it's not even hot! I believe it runs at full power sometimes because I got the laptop with a 150w charger (it's a HP 8730w) and sometimes I get a HP popup, when I once-in-a-blue-moon to visit my Windows 7 dual boot, that I am not using a powerful enough charger.
So my point is (thank you for persevering this far ), what on earth is with the AWG amp ratings on Wikipedia? It's not only Wikipedia too! Scare tactics? Over conservativeness?
I am planning a solar power project and came across the task of selecting wires to use. I don't know if it's just me but it seems 90% of all the wire I've ever bothered to check over the years (even before I knew what it was) that have an a 22 AWG rating. As I was planning a project with potentially high current I decided to investigate the ratings and came across maximum current ratings, (enclosed and in free air, solid core/single conductor and multi stranded) for each wire gauge number. The lower the AWG number, usually the more expensive the wire, but the more current it's rated to carry. I am trying to minimise power loss and project cost so I was trying to balance between energy used in converting to a higher voltage for transmission and cost of a higher capacity wire. You could search around the internet for a few tables (I see slightly different values on different websites!), I'll use the one on Wikipedia for reference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge#Tables_of_AWG_wire_sizes
Look at 24 AWG wire. My HP 135W charger uses that for the part between the adapter and the laptop, to send 19V 7.1A and I touched it now, it's not even hot! I believe it runs at full power sometimes because I got the laptop with a 150w charger (it's a HP 8730w) and sometimes I get a HP popup, when I once-in-a-blue-moon to visit my Windows 7 dual boot, that I am not using a powerful enough charger.
So my point is (thank you for persevering this far ), what on earth is with the AWG amp ratings on Wikipedia? It's not only Wikipedia too! Scare tactics? Over conservativeness?