Cable Management
What is AWG, and how should you convert it to Metric?
Scott Jones, general manager at Northern Connectors, shares his insights. O
ne of the most important tasks that systems engineers and designers will encounter when buying components - whether wires, cables, connectors or other accessories - is ensuring that all of these separate entities will fit together. Matching a connector to the size of the wire you need to use is not only necessary to ensure compatibility, but is paramount for the effective operation and safety of any system. However, things can become complicated if you are mixing and matching components from different manufacturers, because there are several different standards that they might use to present the dimensions of their components.
The most common international standard for the cross-sectional area of conductors of insulated cables is the IEC 60228 standard, which was launched by the International Electrotechnical Commission to make compatibility between parts much easier to achieve. This is used in most parts of the world, and is relatively easy to use because it refers to metric units of measurement like millimetres. Manufacturers of connectors are required to specify the maximum and/or minimum wire gauge that each component will accept, and most will use the IEC 60228 standard. However, where things can become confusing is the existence of AWG, a different standard for the diameter of electrical wires that is commonly used in North America, and which does not convert easily into metric measurements. Naturally, it is vitally
important to ensure that components are physically compatible, and often this will require those who are responsible for buying or installing parts to convert between AWG and metric measurements. Here, we will explain AWG and how it is used, and provide a chart that can help you to convert between the two standards to ensure you purchase the right products for your application.
What is AWG?
AWG stands for ‘American wire gauge’, and is a standardised unit of measurement for the diameter of electrical conducting wires. AWG grades are most common in North America, where they have been used since the 19th century, although they may also be used in other places.
Unfortunately, it can be extremely difficult to convert from one standard to the other, because AWG values do not directly correspond to any metric measurements, either for the diameter or the cross- sectional area of a wire. Because AWG is such an old standard (having entered use in 1857), it is based on inches, and while it is usually relatively simple to roughly convert inches to centimetres and vice versa, the extra calculations upon which AWG is based and the precise results needed from this type of conversion make it far more challenging.
How to convert from AWG to metric Because of the challenges of converting between these two different standards, the easiest way is to use a conversion table. To actually perform
AWG
1 2 4 6 8
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
calculations between the two units of measurement is a complicated process and it does not produce simple results - you may need to round up or down in order to find a compatible part, and it is easy to make mistakes that will negatively impact compatibility, system design or implementation. Below, we have included a table you can use to convert between the two standards with relative ease, including both diameter and cross-sectional area measurements to ensure that this table is suitable for a wide range of applications. Using this table as a reference, you can ensure maximum compatibility between cables and connectors that use the AWG and IEC 60228 standards, and maximise efficiency across your entire system by choosing the best products for your needs.
Diameter (mm)
7.34 6.54 5.19 4.12 3.26 2.59 2.05 1.63 1.29 1.02 0.81 0.64 0.51 0.40 0.32 0.25
Cross-sectional area (mm2
)
42.41 33.63 21.15 13.30 8.37 5.26 3.31 2.08 1.31 0.82 0.52 0.33 0.2
0.13 0.08 0.05
ewnews.co.uk
October 2022 electrical wholesaler | 29
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