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What is the gauge of wire used in a typical commercial 40 pin IDE cable?

enter image description here

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Be aware of the double-density cables - 80 conductor cable, but still 40 pin connectors - used on high speed interfaces. – Chris Stratton Jul 2 '12 at 3:24
Correct, data lines interspersed with grounds or NC wires to shield against interference. I am trying to size wire for a cable I'm making and the ballpark AWG for 40-pin IDE is helpful--no IDE cables will be harmed in the making of this cable. =] – Alex Hirzel Jul 2 '12 at 20:57

3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

26 or 28 AWG for typical ribbon cables (like the one in the O.P. picture). Ribbons with bigger wires (smaller AWG) are more of a specialty. Here's a datasheet for your generic ribbon cable, which specifies the wire gauge (bottom of the page).

P.S. Of course, if one wire in the ribbon can't carry enough current, you could use several in parallel.

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up vote 2 down vote

The wire is usually stranded copper wire, usually either 0.32, 0.20, or 0.13 mm^2 (22, 24, or 26 AWG).

One of the most popular sizes of ribbon cable employs 26AWG wire.

In my defense, the latter has a "citation needed" tag. :)

wikipedia

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up vote 1 down vote

The stuff I use (from www.reichelt.de, this is the 10-wire version):

Flachbandkabel AWG28, 10-pol., grau, 30m-Rolle

• Typ:   Flachbandkabel
• Rastermaß: 1,27 mm
• Aderanzahl: 10pol
• Kabelquerschnitt: 0,09 mm²
• Verpackung:  Rollenware
• Kabellänge:  30,5 m
• Farbe:   grau
• Gewicht:0,61 kg
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