What Size Wire For 50 Amp Rv Plug

50 amp is one of the most common amperages nosotros need a gauge, breaker, or a wire for. The key questions regarding the fifty amp wire include:

What is a wire size for 50 amps 240 volts? (l amp wire approximate; NEC code applies)
Wire size for 50 amp sub panel 100 feet abroad? (Hither we will take to account for voltage loss)
What electric devices can you run with a l amp wire? (Wattage will depend on voltage)

Let'south kickoff clear the AWG wire gauge size:

If you check the wire estimate ampacity chart here, you can see that in that location are 3 AWG wire sizes that have ampacity near 50 amps. These are:

8 AWG wire with 50A ampacity (too small).
6 AWG wire with 65A ampacity (just right).
four AWG wire with 85A ampacity (too big).

Now, choosing the 8 AWG wire with 50A ampacity seems like a good choice every bit a 50 amp wire size, correct? Notwithstanding, in almost all cases, the correct 50 amp wire size is 6 AWG with 65A ampacity. That is true for any voltage; 12V, 110V, 115V, 120V, 220V, 240V, you lot name information technology.

Why is that?

We accept to account for the 80% breaker rating rule, ready by National Electrical Code (NEC) rules. Maximum loading for any co-operative excursion is eighty% of the rating of the excursion for ampacity of wire for any load.

Let'south have a quick expect at how you can cull the right AWG approximate wire for 50 amps (or any amps for that matter). Later on on, we will also expect at when half dozen AWG wire is not adequate as a 50 amp wire (due to voltage loss at a distance), and what you tin can run with a l amp 110V or 220/240V excursion:

50 Amp Wire Size (Using NEC eighty% Rule)

You tin can't use 50A ampacity wire to create a 50 amp electric circuit. If yous practice that, y'all will likely fry the circuit.

The 80% dominion serves as a condom measure out. You should at least have that extra 20% on top of 50A ampacity.

Here is how you calculate at least how much ampacity should a fifty amp wire accept:

Wire Ampacity For 50 Amps = 50A / 0.8 = 62.5A Wire

That means that y'all should use a wire that can handle 62.5A as a 50 amps wire. Now, we don't accept 62.5A wire. The closest wire we have is the 6 AWG wire with 65A ampacity.

Note: You can always utilise a bigger wire just never a smaller wire. For l amps, you could apply four AWG wire with 85A ampacity (a bit of overkill merely it's OK), but you can never apply 8 AWG wire with 50A ampacity (you will fry the circuit).

In well-nigh cases, 6 AWG is an almost perfectly-sized wire for a 50 amp breaker. In limited cases, you will probably take to use a larger 4 AWG wire. That's when you have a long excursion and are sending electrical current at some distance (100 feet or more).

l Amp Wire Size 100+ Feet Away (Account For Voltage Drop)

Fifty-fifty you're sending electricity through a long altitude (for example, to a 50 amp sub panel 100 feet away), you accept to account for voltage driblet.

A good rule of thumb for voltage drop is this:

For every 100 feet, voltage drops past xx%.

In guild to get the same wattage (power) at the sub console 100 feet abroad, yous have to increase the amps by 20% (to balance out the 20% drop in voltage).

That, of course, means that you are dealing with more than current (more amperes) and yous have to choose a bigger-sized wire.

Example: 50 amp wire is ordinarily the vi AWG (nosotros crave at least 62.5A and 6 AWG can handle 65A). If y'all take to power an electric device 100 feet away, you need 20% amps more. Instead of 62.5A, you lot're looking at 62.5A × one.2 = 75A.

In this instance, the six AWG gauge wire with 65A will not be plenty. We need at least 75A. The side by side wire size that tin handle more 75A is the 4 AWG estimate wire. This i tin can handle at 85A and is usually used as a 50 amp wire size for 100 anxiety away sub panels.

There are quite a lot of questions regarding 50 amp and dissimilar voltages. Let'due south tackle this i likewise:

What Size Wire Do I Need For fifty Amp At 110-240V?

A common misconception regarding l amp wire is that we need different wire sizes for unlike voltages. We don't need a bigger (or smaller) wire size for fifty amp at 240V than for fifty amp at 110V, for example.

In all cases (with the exception when we have to account for voltage loss) nosotros employ 6 AWG wire for 50 amps.

At present, the wire size and the amps might exist the same. With different voltages, we don't get different amps; we get different power (wattage).

For example, fifty amp wire on a 240-volt excursion can handle upward to 12,000W of ability (this is a very common electricity setting for RVs). Here is how y'all can calculate that:

Wattage = Amps × Volts = 50A × 24oV = 12,000W

If yous take a 110V excursion, the fifty amps will produce 5,500W of power.

We promise the topic of fifty amp wire sizes is a bit more clear now. You tin also check out a like post for: