I recently bought 12/2 mc lite cable from Home Depot. The conductors however are clearly smaller than 12gauge. My wire strippers can barely strip them on the 12 ga setting, 14 ga works fine. When looking at them next to typical 12/2NM they are visibly smaller. I checked the package several times and it is clearly labeled 12/2…..Is there something I am missing here? Shouldn’t all 12ga wire be the same size? Could it be a bad batch/mis labeled?
Thanks for any feedback
Replies
I suppose anything is possible but a 12ga conductor should measure 0.081" in diameter.
If you are comparing it to the old TW wire, the insulation will be a lot thinner so the overall diameter is smaller.
Yeah, the insulation in armored cable tends to be a lot thinner than in romex. So it may seem that the wire is smaller than it is.