wire sizes

[Bain]

I just have a quick question. If you used two 36AWG wires together would that equal one 18AWG or is it not so simple? These can also be completly stripped down. My thinking is that with double the wire it would cut the resistance in half equalling an 18 but I dont know for sure.

[BlasZ24]

No it isnt that simple at all. You need to get yourself some actual 14-18 AWG wire.

[sr20de4evr]

You're thinking is right, two wires in parallel will cut the resistance by half, but to cut the resistance in half you only need to go 3 sizes larger. So 2 36awg in parallel have the same resistance as a single 33awg, 4 36awg in parallel have the same resistance as a single 30awg, 2 8awg in parallel have the same resistance as a single 5awg, etc.

[sr20de4evr]

Originally Posted by BlasZ24

No it isnt that simple at all.

Sure it is, it's just not a linear relationship, it's logarithmic

[PaulD]

good lord ... do you have ANY idea how small a 36 Ga wire is ? Usually, two wires of the next size down = the next size, i.e. 2 20 Ga wires makes one 18 Ga wire. So to carry it out, 2 8 Ga wires makes a 6 Ga and 2 6 Ga makes a 4 Ga, so 4 8 Ga wires makes a 4 Ga wire.

[sr20de4evr]

Originally Posted by PaulD

good lord ... do you have ANY idea how small a 36 Ga wire is ? Usually, two wires of the next size down = the next size, i.e. 2 20 Ga wires makes one 18 Ga wire. So to carry it out, 2 8 Ga wires makes a 6 Ga and 2 6 Ga makes a 4 Ga, so 4 8 Ga wires makes a 4 Ga wire.

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

Check out the resistances

According to that it's 3 steps, not 2 (so 2 16s = 1 13, 2 8s = 1 5, etc)

[PaulD]

hmmm ... I have always heard the 2 step thing, guess ya learn something everyday.