Wire thicknesses ??????????

[imouttahere]

Can someone explain the difference between 2awg and 2/0 wire? I've worked with alot of 18 ga, 16 ga, 12 ga, 10 ga etc. but is 2/0 heaver than 4/0? Is 4/0 4 ga?

Confused

[wingnut60]

Wire is thicker/heavier as the gauge numbers go down--and the numbers you are asking about is: first number is gauge, second number is the number of wires. 4/0 is 4 gauge, one conductor; 4/2 is 4 gauge, two conductors (wires). I believe 16 gauge is about normal for household extension cords; 14 and 12 gauge for running circuits; 10 gauge for 220/240. Could be wrong about some of this--not an electrician.
So, yes, 2 ga is heavier than 4ga; 4 heavier than 6, and so on...
Joe

[imouttahere]

That's what I thought. But then I see 2awg and 2/0 in a post and it sounds like they're talkin about two different sizes of wire.

Thanks

[dnismenace]

To further elaborate on what Joe said. I will start with AWG 4 and work up to larger wire as I think the person asking the question does not have his complete answer.

Wire Sizes: AWG 4; AWG 2; AWG 1; AWG 0; AWG 00; AWG 000; AWG 0000 get to be larger diameter as they numbers get smaller which is what Joe said.

AWG 00 is referred to as 2/0 (it is 00 gauge wire, 1 conductor);
AWG 000 is referred to as 3/0 (it is 000 gauge wire, 1 conductor)and
AWG 0000 is referred to as 4/0(it is 0000 gauge wire, 1 conductor).

Hope this clarifies.
Dennis

2003 27RL Wildcat
2003 F-250 Lariat Crew

[imouttahere]

Dennis, thanks. That was exactly the information I was looking for. I knew that wire sizes got larger as the gage number got smaller, but I couldn't relate the 2/0, 3/0 4/0 getting larger as the numbers got larger. I thought it was 2 conductor, 0 gage.

gd

'07 MS 38RL
'07 F550 with bags
1 Cockapoo (that's a dog, not a bird)

[jetjockey99]

Hello 4ga. is NOT the same as 4/0. When you get to 1 ga. the next is 0 (also commonly called 1/0) then comes 00 (2/0) then 000 (3/0) then 0000 (4/0) all of which are correspondingly larger in size and current capacity.

[wingnut60]

Try this link for some more info...

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm