glad it helped!! thats one of the limitations with the calculator, but the relationship between amperage and temperature is relatively linear as you go below 200*F. So depending on what gauge wire you're using, just figure out the degrees per amp, and extrapolate from there. The other thing I'd recommend is do in-field testing. You might be surprised at how much heat is lost to the environment, and 200*F might end up being a decent temperature. shoot me an email if you have more questions

Great video. Full of Great info and easy to understand.

Thank you SO much for this! I am a complete novice to this stuff, and am trying to make a small hand-held foam cutter (4" span, 24 gage NiChrome) I tried the suggestion from another video of using a wall wart and the one I used toasted itself after about a minute. (30v-500ma) I thought all I had to worry about was achieving the required wattage, without regard for max amps of the transformer. After watching your video I have a better understanding of the relationship between all the variables and their limitations. Again, thank you for your explanation! I will now be building a purpose built power supply using the information here. VERY Helpful!

Thank you for such an informative and easy to understand video.

Thank you. Great video.

Amazing!!!

I'm a sparky by trade and i ran into this video while doing some research on nichrome wire which i will be using to make a forced hot air blower to test heat detectors. Anyways, enough about my crap. I gotta give props where they are due. I wish this video was around back in the late 80's, early 90's when i was starting my apprenticeship. Great video. Clear and easy to understand, as well as having someone with excellent speaking skills, i have to say this is one of the best instructional vids i have seen on this site. Very nicely done.

Best of the Best explanation

Thank you for the clear explanation

Great video !!

You are wonder friend, thank you so much

Nicely explained thankyou

I would donate if I could - i can not. thanks for your knowledge. Very good.

Thank you! Great video. :)

Thank you so much! I will definitely be doing some more research and experimentation with all this. Any ideas where I can get some NiChrome wire for fairly cheap? I feel like I'm going to be buying quite a lot to experiment with different gauges. . .

clearly understand thank you sir

thank you for the information

This video has helped me out a great deal! I am trying to find a way to heat an object using NiChrome, but the problem is, I only need it to be about 80-90 *F. . .any idea on how I can keep the temperature that low? I tried messing with the calculator displayed toward the end of the video, but I cant seem to get the temp below about 200 *F. . .

@Generalsplatton hahah i think Phil's Law is effective in any applied situation, it is VERY versatile..!

Interesting vid, I need a hot wire to warm up a nail for a thermal scope, As it is out in the field I need to use a battery to warm the wire that I will coil around the nail. If I were using a 9v battery what gauge wire would be best to get the max amount of time for the wire to stay warm before the battery drains, I'm not looking for huge temperatures like you need for cutting, I'm looking for around 100 degrees just to warm up the nail that will be pushed through a hole in a metal plate.

The SI units for this are ρ=(RA)(L¯¹) Where ρ = Resistivity R = Resistance A = Area (Cross-sectional) L = Length

I wonder if I could use Nichrome wire to make a heated seed propagator?

How can I calculate a power supply for a strip (not a wire)? I have 2 strips of stainless steel (approx. 3 x 0.5mm, 300mm in length), crimped on both ends with a ring (Rn = 3.3 and 2.7 Ohms). It's used in plastic bag sealing device and I bought it as a spare part for a few dollars. I need to make a plastic bag sealing device for a project. As far as I know - it should be heatened to 220-240 deg. Celsius for that purpose. How can I calculate how many Amps I'll need to heat it to this temperature range?

Thank you.

for 100' C and below what should be the current rating ? (not mentioned in chart)

Hi, I would like to ask if I had 12V with 5A power supply what size Nichrome Wire do I need and what is Length the exact measurements can handle of a Nichrome Wire??

thanks for video. So what is the ideal tempeture for cutting foam on this wire ?

Excelent!!!

very useful to students community

Good day, please excuse my nonsensible question but can I use the same formula for nichrome spring coils? :D Thank you

Hi, this example refers to D.C. Source. What about the application on AC source? For example, roaster

Thank you very much. Many years later I would like to make comment on the equation circle shown in video 1:27 min. In V section, I think equation V=square root(P x V) is not correct. We would like to find V, but in the formula V is written if it is known parameter. Accordind to my idea, formula should be V=square root(P x R) because, P= ( V x V ) / R V=square root( (( V x V )/R) x R) V=square root ( V x V ) can be obtained. Also I section I=square root(P/V) is not correct. I = square root ( P/R ) should be. Thank you very much again.

Thank You For the Great Video. I do have a Question . I have in my position a laptop charger, it is 120 V AC 60 HZ AND 46 W, THE OUTPUT IS , 15 V DC 1000 mA , MY Question is I will use 12" Long Nichrome wire , What is the most suitable l thickens or Gage wire ? I also do have 120 V 600 OHM Dimmer swithc with on and off on it. I thank you in Advance

Will it work with 12v DC battery?

Please help me. Provide me the link of calculator..I could not find

I understand the formulas but I have a hard time understanding where each variable comes from, and when to use it. If I’m trying to find a power supply sufficient enough to heat a 1” flat piece of Nichrome ribbon to high temps. How would I use the formula after I have the resistance of the nichrome?

How many amps do we need to calculate in order to generate the idea temp to cut foam?

😀👍

no problem! Jump over to my website and there is a full materials section that has links to all the nichrome wire, power supplies, etc etc. jacobs-online is the best source!

I bought 0.3 mm nichrome wire and try to make a foam cutter with a 9 volt battery but it doesn 't get red hot. Can someone help me how much volts it needs to get red hot and how many centimeters of wire?

Why does nicrhome wire behave inversly to copper conductors. Because it resitance decrease as its diameter increses which is complete opposite to copper conductors

i hope i will understand this amazing video someday sorry im such dumb haha...

Unfortunately there seems to be no way to use the calculators.

Sir, please explain the same with home electricity.. AC 230 to 240 volts and how to design the same..

Phil's Law states; P+C=T Phone plus Cash equals Toy. When did you learn Greek?

FYI -- That calculator is pretty much useless these days since it relies on Shockwave (which has been discontinued and is not supported on most modern browsers due to security risks).

This program can be used to open the calculator: fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/flashplayer/updaters/32/flashplayer_32_sa_debug.exe

I'm so lost if anyone can help. I have 33' feet of 18 gage 0.42190 ohm's per foot my desired temp is 35'C

Can it help cut PU foam.

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So tell me why you explain temp =resistance x current then show a table that only relates the gauge of the wire.. why does electrical shit always give you a table to work off of where you have to do more work than necessary to figure out what your solution is? Nec does it all the damn time.. and shits different for different locations.. but why not give a table that directly relates the wires resistance values and current to temp?? Also who is really going to go through calculating a defined temp for the project application based off of an estimated theory of finding the resistance of the wire without physically measuring the ohms with a meter?? Is part of the reason i dropped my electronics engineering degree back in the day.. unnecessary bs to go through where human error is statistically 75 times more likely to occur if estimating values from calculations made through estimated values which compounds itself when progressing through multiple layered circuits rather than the overall 15% error if solutions are obtained through physical measured and documented values in the application.. and if the shits being built than you have your test points there so why the fuck am i going to sit down and spend all the time on paper before just to test myself and verify that i did good math when an actual value can be skewed via oxidation or something thereby assfucking all that time spent gettin a solution with a value that is physically incorrect? Many times ive seen a lead engineer bring the schematic to a build and when somethings different they say “ooh yes that sounds right because of the added x effecting y so z is different than the schematic” so fucking go home then, your math does nobody any good now and a +\-% error is only meant to be used for devices not for their schematics Unless random values are desired.. fuck sake... am i wrong in my logic ? If so then oop, my bad..