Thread: cable sizes
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Martin Pentreath Martin Pentreath is offline
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Default cable sizes

wrote:
Hello,

Can I ask a daft question: when a cable is described as being 25mm,
what does this mean because it certainly is not an inch thick!?

Thanks.



2.5mm is a more likely dimension. It means (as far as I'm aware) the
cross-sectional area of the conductors (at least the live and neutral
ones - the earth in twin-and-earth cable is usually a bit less beefy
than the other two).

Here's a useful conversion table that I cut and pasted from somewhere
some time ago:

CSA (CPC) Strands Overall
mm^2 No./dia. mm approx.
--------- ------- ----------
1.0 (1.0) 1/1.13 4.5 x 8.2
1.5 (1.0) 1/1.38 4.7 x 8.2
2.5 (1.5) 1/1.78* 5.3 x 9.9
4.0 (1.5) 7/0.85 6.1 x 11.4
6.0 (2.5) 7/1.04 6.8 x 13.1
10 (4.0) 7/1.35 8.4 x 16.8
16 (6.0) 7/1.71 9.6 x 19.5
* or 7/0.67