Wiring

Wire reference

For wiring, use 20-28 AWG. 18 can be too stiff while 30 is too fragile. 24-26 AWG works fine in most cases. The Grounds and VCC wires may ofcourse be thicker than the signal wires. Keep wires short, up to ~20cm max (longer gives errors). The shorter the better : 15cm and shorter mostly works fine with AWG26 on SPI.

Use caliper to measure unknown/unmarked wires and compare with table/listing.

Table: AWG (inch) / Euro (mm)

American Wire Gauge	Diameter	Cross Sectional Area	Diameter	Cross Sectional Area	Notes
(AWG)	d (inch)	A (inch2)	d (mm)	A (mm2)
0000 (-3)	0,4600	0,1662	11,6839	107,2172
000 (-2)	0,4096	0,1318	10,4048	85,0279
00 (-1)	0,3648	0,1045	9,2658	67,4308
0	0,3249	0,0829	8,2515	53,4756
1	0,2893	0,0657	7,3482	42,4085
2	0,2576	0,0521	6,5438	33,6318
3	0,2294	0,0413	5,8275	26,6715
4	0,2043	0,0328	5,1895	21,1516
5	0,1819	0,0260	4,6214	16,7742
6	0,1620	0,0206	4,1155	13,3027
7	0,1443	0,0164	3,6650	10,5496
8	0,1285	0,0130	3,2638	8,3663
9	0,1144	0,0103	2,9065	6,6348
10	0,1019	0,0082	2,5883	5,2617
11	0,0907	0,0065	2,3050	4,1728
12	0,0808	0,0051	2,0527	3,3092
13	0,0720	0,0041	1,8279	2,6243
14	0,0641	0,0032	1,6278	2,0812
15	0,0571	0,0026	1,4496	1,6505
16	0,0508	0,0020	1,2910	1,3089
17	0,0453	0,0016	1,1496	1,0380
18	0,0403	0,0013	1,0238	0,8232
19	0,0359	0,0010	0,9117	0,6528
20	0,0320	0,0008	0,8119	0,5177
21	0,0285	0,0006	0,7230	0,4106
22	0,0253	0,0005	0,6439	0,3256
23	0,0226	0,0004	0,5734	0,2582
24	0,0201	0,0003	0,5106	0,2048
25	0,0179	0,0003	0,4547	0,1624
26	0,0159	0,0002	0,4049	0,1288
27	0,0142	0,0002	0,3606	0,1021
28	0,0126	0,0001	0,3211	0,0810
29	0.0113		0.286	0.064
30	0.0100		0.255	0.051
31	0.00893		0.227	0.040
32	0.00795		0.202	0.032
33	0.00708		0.180	0.025
34	0.00631		0.160	0.020
35	0.00562		0.143	0.016
36	0.00500		0.127	0.013
37	0.00445		0.113	0.010
38	0.00397		0.101	0.008
39	0.00353		0.0897	0.006
40	0.00314		0.0799	0.005

Alternative/cable comparison

   PATA/floppy 40-conductor cable - AWG28 (0.0126" / 0.321mm) with 0.0333" pitch +/- 0.002"
   PATA/floppy 40-conductor cable - AWG30 (0.0100" / 0.255mm) with 0.0333" pitch +/- 0.002"
  
   PATA 80-conductor cable - AWG30 (0.0100" / 0.255mm) with 0.025" pitch +/- 0.0016"
   PATA 80-conductor cable - AWG30 (0.0100" / 0.255mm) with 0.025" pitch +/- 0.002"
   PATA 80-conductor cable - AWG31 (0.00893" / 0.227mm) with 0.025" pitch +/- 0.002"
   PATA 80-conductor cable - AWG32 (0.00795" / 0.202mm) with 0.025" pitch +/- 0.002"
  
   Category 6 (ANSI/TIA-568-B.2-1) network cable: 4 twisted pairs of 22AWG (0.0253" / 0.644mm)
   Category 6 (ANSI/TIA-568-B.2-1) network cable: 4 twisted pairs of 23AWG (0.0226" / 0.573mm)
   Category 6 (ANSI/TIA-568-B.2-1) network cable: 4 twisted pairs of 24AWG (0.0201" / 0.511mm)
  
   Category 5/5e (TIA/EIA 568-5-A) network cable: 4 twisted pairs of 24AWG (0.0201" / 0.511mm)
  
   Category 5e patch (TIA/EIA 568-5-A) network cable: 4 twisted pairs of 26AWG (0.0159" / 0.405mm)
  
   SATA : solid 26 AWG - 0.0159" / 0.405mm
   SATA : solid 28 AWG - 0.0126" / 0.321mm
   SATA : solid 30 AWG - 0.0100" / 0.255mm