Chapter 8 Tutorial

System Cabling and Connections

Cable Resistance Varies with wire gauge size and cable length. Use the largest gauge wire possible and try to keep the cable lengths as short as possible to minimize the cable resistance. The following

table lists typical cable resistance for copper wire of several gauge sizes (the temperature coefficient for copper wire is 0.35% per °C).

AWG

W / ft (2 conductors)

at 25 °C

14

5 mΩ

16

10 mΩ

18

15 mΩ

20 *

20 mΩ

22

30 mΩ

24

50 mΩ

*Recommended wire size for the screw terminals on HP 34970A plug-in modules.

Cable Capacitance Varies with the insulation type, cable length, and cable shielding. Cables should be kept as short as possible to minimize cable capacitance. In some cases, low-capacitance cable can be used.

The table below lists typical cable specifications.

Cable Type

Nominal Impedance

Capacitance

Attenuation

Twisted Pair

100Ω at 1 MHz

10 to 20 pF/ft

Up to 1 dB/100 ft at 1 MHz

Shielded Twisted Pair

100Ω at 1 MHz

10 to 20 pF/ft

Up to 1 dB/100 ft at 1 MHz

Coaxial

50Ω or 75Ω at 100 MHz

15 to 25 pF/ft

Up to 6 dB/100 ft at 100 MHz

Twisted Pair Ribbon

100Ω at 1 MHz

15 to 20 pF/ft

Up to 1 dB/100 ft at 1 MHz

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