Wire

Low v oltag e power sy stems of ten operate at rather hig h c urrent lev els. I fthe interc onnec tingc ables are too small, a larg e proportion of the power av ailable will be wastedin the c able itself . This loss c an be red uc edbyusinga larg er c able, but this inc reases c osts. The ac c eptable maximum v oltag e d rop f or DC load s is 5 % of nominal battery v oltag e. The c hart and the f ormula on this pag e are prov id edto help y ou in selec tingthe best c ost / power loss c ompromise.
Pl as ti cI ns ul ati on Copper Conductor

acceptable cable size (mm)

Amps 0. 5 1 1. 5 2 3 4 5 7. 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 60 80 100 125

1 0. 4 0. 4 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2

2 0. 4 0. 4 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2

Cabl e Length ( metres ) 5 10 15 20 25 0. 4 0. 4 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 0. 4 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 7. 9 7. 9 1. 84 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 7. 9 2. 9 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 13. 6 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 13. 6 13. 6 4. 6 13. 6 25. 7 25. 7 25. 7 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 25. 7 32. 2 7. 9 25. 7 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2 13. 6 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2 49. 2 13. 6 25. 7 49. 2 49. 2 25. 7 49. 2 25. 7 49. 2 32. 2 49. 2

30 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 7. 9 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2 49. 2

M etricc ables are spec if iedbythe c opper area ( in sq uare millimetres),the number ofstrand s ofwire and the number ofc ond uc tors or c ores in eac h sheath. The v oltag ed rop is the same reg ard less of v oltag e, assuming that amps,d istanc e and c ross sec tional areas are the same. I fthe wattag e remains the same f or d if f erent v oltag es, the amps c an be c alc ulatedbyd iv id ingwatts byv olts.

Th eFo r mu l a
I f y ou needto c alc ulate the v oltag ed rop und er a g iv en set of c irc umstanc es, there is a f ormula bywhic h it c an be d etermined . A =c ross sec tional area of c able in ( mm ) L = route leng th in metres I =c urrent measuredin amps R = resistanc e of c able ( ) aluminium = 0 .0 2 8 resistanc e of c opper = 0 .0 17 steel = 0 .18 Voltag e Drop = 2x L x I x R A Let:

Example:
You hav e a power point c onnec tedto a power sourc e. The route leng th is 8 metres. I fthe wire is 4 .6 mm multistrand edc opper c able andthe expec tedc urrent is expec tedto be 10amps, we hav e: A =5
30 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 25. 7 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2

24 Vol t
acceptable cable size (mm)

Amps 1 2 3 4 5 7. 5 10 15 20 25 30 40 60 80 100 125

1 0. 4 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2

2 0. 4 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2

Cabl e Length ( metres ) 5 10 15 20 25 0. 4 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 1. 84 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 1. 84 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 1. 84 4. 6 4. 6 7. 9 7. 9 2. 9 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 13. 6 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 13. 6 25. 7 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 25. 7 4. 6 13. 6 25. 7 25. 7 25. 7 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 25. 7 32. 3 13. 6 25. 7 32. 2 49. 2 49. 2 25. 7 25. 7 49. 2 49. 2 32. 2 32. 2 49. 2 49. 2 49. 2

L =9

I = 10

R =0 .0 17

Voltag ed rop c an then be c alc ulatedto be 0 .5 8v olts. I f this f ig ure is c onsid eredto be ac c eptable it wouldav oid spend ingmore moneyon larg er wire.
mm 1. 84 2. 9 4. 6 7. 9 13. 6 25. 7 32. 49 twi ns heathed twi ns heathed twi ns heathed s i ngl e( bl ackor red) s i ngl e( bl ackor red) s i ngl e( bl ackor red) s i ngl e( bl ackor red) s i ngl e( bl ackor red) per metre 30 m rol l ampaci ty 15 amps 20 amps 25 amps 45 amps 70 amps 90 amps

WI RM02 W I R302 WI RM03 W I R303 WI RM05 W I R305 WI RM08 W I R308 WI RM14 W I R314 WI RM25 W I R325

WI RM32 W I R332 110 amps WI RM49 W I R349 150 amps

th in the abov e tables are route NOTE: The Cable Leng leng th whic h is halfthe total c ond uc tor leng th. I fthe positiv e and neg ativ e lead s are d if f erent leng ths an av erag e must be tak en.

NOTE: The abov ec ables are ratedf or extra low v oltag e

133

Wh at:

WIRE CHART 12 Vol t

All the method s of d eterminingv oltag ed rop on this pag e are f or DC only . AC elec tric itybehav es q uite d if f erently .

Wire