What gauge wire do I use
Hello, I want to place a 30 amp breaker in the panel of my house and then run about 200 ft of uf-b cable to a 30 amp rv outlet that I will place near my travel trailer. I would like to have the ab...
Forum Discussion
Boomerweps wrote:
Wonderful calculator at calculator.net. Voltage Drop Calculator. Plug in Amperage used, distance and wire gauge and it will tell you the voltage drop in volts and percent. If you drop to 105vac, you will be on the edge of damaging electric controls in your appliances. Voltage loss will depend on actual amperage used on that length and gauge wire.
Having an Electrical Management System like a Progressive Industries one will tell you actual voltage and protect from out of spec power. Even a Kil-a-watt via a 15-30 amp adapter will let you know of power variations as you turn on different appliances.
I looked at calculators like what you described. The internet seems to complicate this subject with load calculations. My house was built having 15 amp circuits with 14 gauge wires and 20 amp circuits with 12 gauge wires. Nobody calculated any loads for each circuit - It's just standard code. I was thinking 30 amp circuit gets 10 guage but because my run is longer than 100 ft move up a size to get 8 gauge wire. The above poster mentioned 6 gauge which I also read but I also read the wire would need to be trimmed to fit in a 30 amp breaker. That's what makes me think that 6 guage is overkill. I just want to do it right. Thanks for all the input. I do appreciate it.
