Discuss Resistance/meter for copper conductors table in the Electrical Wiring, Theories and Regulations area at ElectriciansForums.net

Reaction score
1
I've been looking over the table in GN3 for the resistance of copper conductors per meter and there is something causing a form of OCD to manifest in me 'ead.

It's obvious that if you double the length of a conductor it will double in resistance and if you halve it, it will halve in resistance. It should also follow that if you double the csa, it would be the same as halving the length and vice versa.

Now, here's the bit that's tickling at my OCD, or my maths is wrong somewhere.

We have to start somewhere, so I'll take the 1mm2 conductor resistance @20 deg as read at 18.1 m ohms per meter as the constant.

Surely I should be able to work out the 2.5mm2 resistance per meter from that with the following...

First get the multiplier from the ratio...

1/2.5 = 0.4

Multiply the constant from 1mm2 by that ratio...

18.1 x 0.4 = 7.24

But the table says that for 2.5mm2 it's 7.41.

As another example and just for the hell of it, we'll pick a much larger conductor of 25mm2

1/25 = 0.04
18.1 x 0.04 = 0.724

Again, the table doesn't agree giving 0.727

This method comes close in all cases, but is never on the money. Is my maths flawed here? It could be the original constant of the 18.1 for the 1mm2 conductor that I chose. Does anybody have a mathematical formula to link these resistance per meter values? It would be nice to work these out rather than trying to remember them. I can of course just do as I do now and just refer to the values in the table, but this is just a mental exercise to stop the ol' brain cells dying off. :)

It seems to me that the absolute of double the length, double the resistance and halve the length halve the resistance doesn't work so well for the csa of the conductor when looking at the table.
 
no, it doesn't work out as you would think as a true ratio of conductor csa. this is due to surface area. current passes more easily along the surface of a conductor than towards the centre. this is why you have a discepancy.
 
Tel's right. Nowt wrong with your maths, it's just the real world (as usual) is a bit more complicated. If you're interested in the cause (ofAC current flowing more easily near the surface of a conductor), look up "skin effect." The higher the frequency, the more the current gets squished* towards the surface.

There might be a second order effect to do with surface area/cooling/temperature coefficient too, dunno.

*technical term.
 

Reply to Resistance/meter for copper conductors table in the Electrical Wiring, Theories and Regulations area at ElectriciansForums.net

Similar Threads

Z
Hi everyone Table A.1 in Guidance Note 3 shows various values of resistance/metre for copper conductors at ambient temperature, including e.g...
Replies
10
Views
6K
E
I think I've Posted this before, but I've just updated it. Some of the sparks where I work still get a little confused of what the different areas...
Replies
58
Views
77K

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock