![]() ![]() ![]() Aluminum is usually reserved for higher amp circuits, and aluminum wiring that is used for 15-amp, 20-amp, and 30-amp breakers will go into my home inspection report as a possible defect.īut for 40-amp and above, aluminum single strand is totally fine. Most service conductors are copper and aluminum. The most common size for branch circuits, regular outlets and lights, is a 14 gauge wire coupled with 15-amp breakers. The smaller the gauge, the larger the wire. The larger amp breaker needs to match the capacity of the wire. Wire Gauge Must Match BreakerĪs stated earlier, if you plan on upgrading a circuit for an appliance, you can’t just swap out a breaker. And when you multiply the pressure and the volume per second - you get the power (watts) of the water wheel or how fast it turns. The water pressure is the voltage, and the volume of water (per second) is the amps. There are only two things that you can increase to make the wheel turn faster, the water pressure or the volume of water. Imagine you are powering a water wheel with a hose. The easiest way to think of amps, watts, and volts is to think of it as water. The wire needs to be at least 14-gauge for copper. So at minimum you would need a 15-amp breaker. It will need to be on a individual or dedicated circuit and say it uses 120-volts. Imagine you want to install a new microwave that pulls 1800-watts. A 30-amp breaker would need an 10-awg copper wire. The wiring (gauge) should also be able to handle it. Let’s say you have an electric clothes dryer that is rated at 6500-watts and it uses 240-volts.Īnd if you round up from 27.08-amps then you would need a breaker of at least 30-amps. The watts should always be on the top of the triangle as you can see from below. You take one value (amps, volts, or watts) and if you divide it by the other value either above it or below it - it will convert it to the value on the side. Table: Watts to Amps at 12V DC Table showing watts converted to amps at 12 volts DC.Convert Watts To Amps With The Ohms TriangleĪn easy way to look at converting watts to amps (or amps to watts etc.) is through a triangle. Table: Watts to Amps at 120V & 240V AC Table showing watts converted to amps at 120 and 240 volts AC. Use our kW to amps calculator to solve using kilowatts. It is not possible to convert watts directly to amps without also knowing voltage or resistance.īecause 1 kilowatt is equal to 1,000 watts, it is possible to use the formulas above to also convert kW to amps, but watts need to be converted to kW first. The current I in amps is equal to the square root of the power P in watts divided by the resistance R in ohms. It is also possible to convert watts to amps if the resistance of a simple resistive circuit is known by using this formula: This formula calculates the current for all three wires in a three-phase system to find the current for a single wire, you’ll need to divide the result by three. The current I in amps is equal to the power P in watts divided by the product of line to neutral voltage V in volts, the power factor PF, and 3. Note that this formula measures the current draw for a single pair of wires in a three-phase system to calculate the current for all three pairs, you need to multiply the result by three.įor three-phase AC circuits where the line to neutral voltage is known, the formula to convert watts to amps is: The current I in amps is equal to the power P in watts divided by the product of line to line voltage V in volts, the power factor PF, and the square root of 3. Below are two examples that show watts-to-amps calculations with a known. Use the formulas below for line to line or line to neutral RMS voltages in a three-phase circuit.įor three-phase AC circuits where the line to line voltage is known, the formula to convert watts to amps is: To convert watts to amps with a given voltage, you divide the wattage by the voltage. The formulas to convert watts to amps for three-phase AC circuits are a bit different from the single-phase and DC formulas. If you want to learn more about calculating power factor, try our power factor calculator. In other words, the current I in amps is equal to the power P in watts divided by the product of voltage V in volts and the power factor PF. So, a 2,000-watt heater will draw 8.33 amps of current at 240 volts.Ĭonverting real watts to amps for a single-phase AC circuit with a power factor uses a slightly different formula. For example, let’s calculate the current draw of a 2,000-watt electric heater at 240 volts. ![]()
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