What Size Stranded Wire is This?

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

I have a few hundred feet of five conductor stranded cable. I believe
it was made by Belden but there is no markings along its length and I
don't have the reel that it came on. It's nice flexible cable, so I
decided to use some of it for hookup wire.

I stripped a short length and took a measurement of each of the seven
strands with a calipers and they measured 9 thousands of an inch. I
looked that up in the wire table in the reference manual, and it says
it's a 31 AWG wire that's 79.2 circular mils. I multiplied this by 7
and got 554.4 circular mils total.

I looked this up in the wire table, but it's between 23 AWG, which is
511 circular mils, and 22 AWG which is 640 cm. I'm puzzled because I've
done this procedure a number of times before and I've come fairly close
to the exact AWG in every case. This is the first that I can remember
where the value is that far off.

Usually when you check the specs for this kind of cable, it is either 24
AWG or 22 AWG, and never 23 AWG. But it's obvious that the calculated
total is way too small to be a 22 AWG and way too large to be a 24 AWG.

Any ideas? I think I'll try Belden's website and see if I can find some
cables that have five conductors and see what they say. Thanks.


--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
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goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
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Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
@@@@@@

 

[Ban]

Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover" wrote:

I have a few hundred feet of five conductor stranded cable. I believe
it was made by Belden but there is no markings along its length and I
don't have the reel that it came on. It's nice flexible cable, so I
decided to use some of it for hookup wire.

I stripped a short length and took a measurement of each of the seven
strands with a calipers and they measured 9 thousands of an inch. I
looked that up in the wire table in the reference manual, and it says
it's a 31 AWG wire that's 79.2 circular mils. I multiplied this by 7
and got 554.4 circular mils total.

I looked this up in the wire table, but it's between 23 AWG, which is
511 circular mils, and 22 AWG which is 640 cm. I'm puzzled because
I've done this procedure a number of times before and I've come
fairly close to the exact AWG in every case. This is the first that
I can remember where the value is that far off.

Usually when you check the specs for this kind of cable, it is either
24 AWG or 22 AWG, and never 23 AWG. But it's obvious that the
calculated total is way too small to be a 22 AWG and way too large to
be a 24 AWG.

Any ideas? I think I'll try Belden's website and see if I can find
some cables that have five conductors and see what they say. Thanks.

It is probably a European stranded cable with 0.25mm^2 area. Very common
here.
--
ciao Ban
Bordighera, Italy

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Watson A.Name - "Watt
Sun, the Dark Remover" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote (in <102rf21qbf485b
c@corp.supernews.com&gt about 'What Size Stranded Wire is This?', on Fri,
13 Feb 2004:

Usually when you check the specs for this kind of cable, it is either 24
AWG or 22 AWG, and never 23 AWG. But it's obvious that the calculated
total is way too small to be a 22 AWG and way too large to be a 24 AWG.

It doesn't seem to be a metric cable, either, unless my arithmetic is
off. 7/0.2 mm is a standard size. 7/0.25 has also been made, but that's
bigger than 0.009 in per strand.

Some odd size cables are made for railway signalling.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Ban <bansuri@web.de>
wrote (in <UikXb.311587$_P.10729466@news4.tin.it&gt about 'What Size
Stranded Wire is This?', on Sat, 14 Feb 2004:

It is probably a European stranded cable with 0.25mm^2 area. Very common
here.

But it calculates to 0.287 mm^2. 7/0.2 mm is 7/0.0078 in, not 7/0.009
in.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Martin Riddle]

22.5 awg


"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote in message news:102rf21qbf485bc@corp.supernews.com...

I have a few hundred feet of five conductor stranded cable. I believe
it was made by Belden but there is no markings along its length and I
don't have the reel that it came on. It's nice flexible cable, so I
decided to use some of it for hookup wire.

I stripped a short length and took a measurement of each of the seven
strands with a calipers and they measured 9 thousands of an inch. I
looked that up in the wire table in the reference manual, and it says
it's a 31 AWG wire that's 79.2 circular mils. I multiplied this by 7
and got 554.4 circular mils total.

I looked this up in the wire table, but it's between 23 AWG, which is
511 circular mils, and 22 AWG which is 640 cm. I'm puzzled because I've
done this procedure a number of times before and I've come fairly close
to the exact AWG in every case. This is the first that I can remember
where the value is that far off.

Usually when you check the specs for this kind of cable, it is either 24
AWG or 22 AWG, and never 23 AWG. But it's obvious that the calculated
total is way too small to be a 22 AWG and way too large to be a 24 AWG.

Any ideas? I think I'll try Belden's website and see if I can find some
cables that have five conductors and see what they say. Thanks.


--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
@@@@@@

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"Martin Riddle" <martinriddle@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:xjqXb.3627$tL3.1489@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...

22.5 awg

Yeah, that's what I was beginning to think, too.

JW said it didn't seem like metric, either. I didn't think about trying
that way.

"Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, the Dark Remover"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com
wrote in message news:102rf21qbf485bc@corp.supernews.com...
I have a few hundred feet of five conductor stranded cable. I
believe
it was made by Belden but there is no markings along its length and
I
don't have the reel that it came on. It's nice flexible cable, so I
decided to use some of it for hookup wire.

I stripped a short length and took a measurement of each of the
seven
strands with a calipers and they measured 9 thousands of an inch. I
looked that up in the wire table in the reference manual, and it
says
it's a 31 AWG wire that's 79.2 circular mils. I multiplied this by
7
and got 554.4 circular mils total.

I looked this up in the wire table, but it's between 23 AWG, which
is
511 circular mils, and 22 AWG which is 640 cm. I'm puzzled because
I've
done this procedure a number of times before and I've come fairly
close
to the exact AWG in every case. This is the first that I can
remember
where the value is that far off.

Usually when you check the specs for this kind of cable, it is
either 24
AWG or 22 AWG, and never 23 AWG. But it's obvious that the
calculated
total is way too small to be a 22 AWG and way too large to be a 24
AWG.

Any ideas? I think I'll try Belden's website and see if I can find
some
cables that have five conductors and see what they say. Thanks.

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"John Woodgate" <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote in message
news:NCj2G$B3UgLAFwi6@jmwa.demon.co.uk...

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Ban <bansuri@web.de
wrote (in <UikXb.311587$_P.10729466@news4.tin.it&gt about 'What Size
Stranded Wire is This?', on Sat, 14 Feb 2004:

It is probably a European stranded cable with 0.25mm^2 area. Very
common
here.

But it calculates to 0.287 mm^2. 7/0.2 mm is 7/0.0078 in, not 7/0.009
in.

Thanks. I was wondering what it'd be in mm. I think I found it on
Belden's website.. Go to this URL
http://bwccat.belden.com/ecat/jsp/Index.jsp?P1=null&P2=null&P3=null&P4=n
ull&P5=null&P6=null
and type in 8445 in the search box and click Go.

It says that it's five conductors #22 AWG, which is 7 strands of 30 AWG.
Could be that my calipers are measuring the wire too tightly or
something. The 8445 number sounds familiar, but it's been more than a
decade since I ordered any of it, and I'm not sure.

The reason I'm interested is that I'm using some of it for DC power, and
I wanted to know what gauge the wire is, so I can figure out what kind
of voltage drop I might get over several feet. I paralleled a couple
conductors, so looking at the wire tables, it looks like that's
equivalent to a single 19 AWG conductor.

--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[John Fields]

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 11:56:49 -0800, "Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the
Dark Remover\"" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote:

The reason I'm interested is that I'm using some of it for DC power, and
I wanted to know what gauge the wire is, so I can figure out what kind
of voltage drop I might get over several feet. I paralleled a couple
conductors, so looking at the wire tables, it looks like that's
equivalent to a single 19 AWG conductor.

---
Knowing the resistivity of copper, the temperature, and the diameter of
the strands, you could work out the resistance (thence the voltage drop
with current) without recourse to the wire tables.

--
John Fields

 

"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\"" wrote:

"John Woodgate" <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote in message
news:NCj2G$B3UgLAFwi6@jmwa.demon.co.uk...
I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Ban <bansuri@web.de
wrote (in <UikXb.311587$_P.10729466@news4.tin.it&gt about 'What Size
Stranded Wire is This?', on Sat, 14 Feb 2004:

It is probably a European stranded cable with 0.25mm^2 area. Very
common
here.

But it calculates to 0.287 mm^2. 7/0.2 mm is 7/0.0078 in, not 7/0.009
in.

Thanks. I was wondering what it'd be in mm. I think I found it on
Belden's website.. Go to this URL
http://bwccat.belden.com/ecat/jsp/Index.jsp?P1=null&P2=null&P3=null&P4=n
ull&P5=null&P6=null
and type in 8445 in the search box and click Go.

It says that it's five conductors #22 AWG, which is 7 strands of 30 AWG.
Could be that my calipers are measuring the wire too tightly or
something. The 8445 number sounds familiar, but it's been more than a
decade since I ordered any of it, and I'm not sure.

The reason I'm interested is that I'm using some of it for DC power, and
I wanted to know what gauge the wire is, so I can figure out what kind
of voltage drop I might get over several feet. I paralleled a couple
conductors, so looking at the wire tables, it looks like that's
equivalent to a single 19 AWG conductor.

Draw an amp through a precision (1%) 1 ohm resistor,
(1 watt or more) connected with 100 feet of the wire.
Adjust the source for 1 volt across the resistor, then
measure the drop in the wire. My guess is that would
be as accurate as, (if not more accurate than) a wire
table. Heck - you might not need a precision resistor.
Even a 10% error should not matter if you use this as
hook up wire for most applications.

--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Nick Hull]

In article <102rf21qbf485bc@corp.supernews.com>,
"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\""
<NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote:

I stripped a short length and took a measurement of each of the seven
strands with a calipers and they measured 9 thousands of an inch. I
looked that up in the wire table in the reference manual, and it says
it's a 31 AWG wire that's 79.2 circular mils. I multiplied this by 7
and got 554.4 circular mils total.
.........

..009 is only ONE significant digit. Try measuring it better, is it
..0090 or .0091 or even .0095? 9+-1 is a 10%error which translates to
20% error in area.

--
free men own guns - slaves don't
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

<ehsjr@bellatlantic.net> wrote in message
news:402EA007.FCB7E711@bellatlantic.net...

"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\"" wrote:

"John Woodgate" <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote in message
news:NCj2G$B3UgLAFwi6@jmwa.demon.co.uk...
I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Ban
bansuri@web.de
wrote (in <UikXb.311587$_P.10729466@news4.tin.it&gt about 'What
Size
Stranded Wire is This?', on Sat, 14 Feb 2004:

It is probably a European stranded cable with 0.25mm^2 area. Very
common
here.

But it calculates to 0.287 mm^2. 7/0.2 mm is 7/0.0078 in, not
7/0.009
in.

Thanks. I was wondering what it'd be in mm. I think I found it on
Belden's website.. Go to this URL

http://bwccat.belden.com/ecat/jsp/Index.jsp?P1=null&P2=null&P3=null&P4=n
ull&P5=null&P6=null
and type in 8445 in the search box and click Go.

It says that it's five conductors #22 AWG, which is 7 strands of 30
AWG.
Could be that my calipers are measuring the wire too tightly or
something. The 8445 number sounds familiar, but it's been more than
a
decade since I ordered any of it, and I'm not sure.

The reason I'm interested is that I'm using some of it for DC power,
and
I wanted to know what gauge the wire is, so I can figure out what
kind
of voltage drop I might get over several feet. I paralleled a
couple
conductors, so looking at the wire tables, it looks like that's
equivalent to a single 19 AWG conductor.

Draw an amp through a precision (1%) 1 ohm resistor,
(1 watt or more) connected with 100 feet of the wire.
Adjust the source for 1 volt across the resistor, then
measure the drop in the wire. My guess is that would
be as accurate as, (if not more accurate than) a wire
table. Heck - you might not need a precision resistor.
Even a 10% error should not matter if you use this as
hook up wire for most applications.

Thanks for the idea. I've done this procedure with the measuring of the
wire size a number of times before, and it's always proved a reliable
way to come up with the right wire size. It's just not quite right this
time, that's all. I think I clamped the calipers too tightly on the
several strands I measured, and got one silly milliInch too little for
the measurement. If I add that silly little milliInch, and use 10
thousandths for the wire size, it comes out as a 22 gauge stranded wire.

--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"Nick Hull" <nhull@access4less.net> wrote in message
news:nhull-3A4EAF.10275215022004@corp.supernews.com...

In article <102rf21qbf485bc@corp.supernews.com>,
"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\""
NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote:

I stripped a short length and took a measurement of each of the
seven
strands with a calipers and they measured 9 thousands of an inch. I
looked that up in the wire table in the reference manual, and it
says
it's a 31 AWG wire that's 79.2 circular mils. I multiplied this by
7
and got 554.4 circular mils total.
........

.009 is only ONE significant digit. Try measuring it better, is it
.0090 or .0091 or even .0095? 9+-1 is a 10%error which translates to
20% error in area.

Yeah, I think you discovered my problem. I think I measured the strands
too tightly, because I used 10 thou instead of 9 thousandths of an inch,
and it comes out 22 AWG. Thanks.

--
free men own guns - slaves don't
www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5357/

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Watson A.Name - "Watt
Sun, the Dark Remover" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote (in <102vd139i67tp4
5@corp.supernews.com&gt about 'What Size Stranded Wire is This?', on Sun,
15 Feb 2004:

I think I clamped the calipers too tightly on the
several strands I measured, and got one silly milliInch too little for
the measurement. If I add that silly little milliInch, and use 10
thousandths for the wire size, it comes out as a 22 gauge stranded wire.

There is a manufacturing tolerance on the strand size. The cable is OK
irrespective of strand size if it meets the resistance or voltage-drop
specification.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk

 

[Watson A.Name - \"Watt Su]

"John Woodgate" <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote in message
news:J4pXoxGdj7LAFwxb@jmwa.demon.co.uk...

I read in alt.binaries.schematics.electronic that Watson A.Name -
"Watt
Sun, the Dark Remover" <NOSPAM@dslextreme.com> wrote (in
102vd139i67tp4
5@corp.supernews.com&gt about 'What Size Stranded Wire is This?', on
Sun,
15 Feb 2004:

I think I clamped the calipers too tightly on the
several strands I measured, and got one silly milliInch too little
for
the measurement. If I add that silly little milliInch, and use 10
thousandths for the wire size, it comes out as a 22 gauge stranded
wire.

There is a manufacturing tolerance on the strand size. The cable is OK
irrespective of strand size if it meets the resistance or voltage-drop
specification.

Square wire? ;-) Or maybe oval? It might have been stretched when it
was installed in the ceiling over a decade ago. That might be the
reason for the smaller size.

--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only.
The good news is that nothing is compulsory.
The bad news is that everything is prohibited.
http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk Also see http://www.isce.org.uk