Which Electric Gauge Wire do You Need?
"Have you tried this electric gauge wire?"
Typically, the electric gauge is referring to the size of wire you’re using for any given load. There are many different types, so it can get confusing. The average person is used to having whatever they need come with the right wires, so if you’re trying to do something on your own you will find that there are different sizes out there, each with the capability of handling different load sizes. Obviously, you’ll want to get the smallest one available that will be able to handle what you’re doing because copper (and even aluminum, to some extent) is expensive.
The standard type is THHN, which is a black jacketed copper wire. It can be either stranded (which is almost like it’s woven) or solid. This can come in a variety of sizes, with the smaller sizes having a larger number. For example, some of the smallest you’ll ever see will be #24. Slightly larger than that is #22, and then you’ll get to #16 which is more common. Are you seeing the pattern here? There is #14, #12, #10, #8, #6, #4, #2, and #1. Each is slightly larger in diameter than the one before it, and capable of handling more volts. After #1, you start to get into the really big stuff. You’ll see one ought, (1/0), two ought, three ought, and four ought. Each of the aforementioned sizes are in the American Wire Gauge rating system. After four ought, you jump to 250 MCM. Then you basically can get sizes up in increments of 50 MCM, like 300 MCM, 500 MCM, 750 MCM, etc. all the way to 1000 MCM. This huge wire (to give you a good idea, a roll of 1,000 feet of this wire would weigh almost one ton) is used for getting power to huge buildings.
There are debates about which is better, copper, or aluminum, but you don’t want to waste your time with that. You just need to get whatever will work and whatever is available. Just be sure that you buy when the price is down (as the price of metals rises and falls) so you won’t be stuck purchasing it when it’s extremely expensive.