Wire size for 15 A over 125 ft on a 48 V system

Smallest wire that works

4 AWGat 2.41% drop

15 A over 125 ft one-way on a 48 V system

Circuit power15 A × 48 V	720W
Conductor length125 ft out and 125 ft back	250ft
Ampacity alone would allow24.53% drop — legal on heat, not acceptable on drop	14 AWG
Power lost in the cable2.41% of what you are sending	17.3W
— Voltage drop by size —
14 AWG15 A rated, drop too high	24.53%11.78 V
12 AWG20 A rated, drop too high	15.47%7.42 V
10 AWG30 A rated, drop too high	9.69%4.65 V
8 AWG50 A rated, drop too high	6.08%2.92 V
6 AWG65 A rated, drop too high	3.84%1.84 V
4 AWG85 A rated	2.41%1.16 V
2 AWG115 A rated	1.52%0.73 V
1/0 AWG150 A rated	0.95%0.46 V
2/0 AWG175 A rated	0.76%0.36 V
4/0 AWG230 A rated	0.47%0.23 V

Current: 15 A
One-way distance: 125 ft
System voltage: 48 V

Ampacity and voltage drop are two different questions

Ampacity asks whether the wire gets hot enough to be dangerous. Voltage drop asks whether enough of the power arrives at the other end. On a low-voltage DC run they almost never give the same answer, and the bigger one wins.

For 15 A over 125 ft at 48 V, ampacity alone would allow 14 AWG. Voltage drop says 4 AWG — 2.41%, or 1.16 V of the 48 V you started with.

Why the distance doubles

Current goes out on one conductor and comes back on the other. The copper in the circuit is 250 ft, not 125 ft. Forgetting the return leg is how people arrive at exactly half the real drop.

Why it matters more than it sounds

720 W leaves the source. Undersized cable does not just waste a few percent — on a solar charge controller it means the battery never sees absorption voltage, never finishes a charge cycle, and sulphates its way to an early death while every meter in the system reads normal.

What is not in the table

Copper at 75 °C. Aluminium conducts about 60% as well — go up two sizes. Conduit fill, ambient temperature above 30 °C and bundled conductors all derate ampacity further.

Notes

Two different answers, and the bigger one wins. 14 AWG carries 15 A without overheating, but it drops 24.53% over this distance. You need 4 AWG — sized by voltage drop, not by heat.
3% is the NEC informational recommendation for a branch circuit, not a hard rule. On a 48 V DC system it is already generous: 1.44 V of the 48 V you started with.
Running at 48 V is doing a lot of work here. The same 720 W at 12 V would draw 60 A and need a far heavier cable.
Figures are copper at 75 °C. Aluminium runs about 60% of copper conductivity — go up two sizes. Conduit fill, ambient temperature above 30 °C and bundling all derate ampacity further, and none of that is in this table.

Nearby sizes

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