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Two 16 mm² class 2 copper conductors, 7/1.70 mm strands per core, PVC insulated and sheathed to 450/750 V. 85 A on reference method C, 1.15 Ω/km, about 26 kg of copper in a 90 m coil. The usual size for a single-phase house main. Drawn on the Pilone line in Lahore.
Prices track the daily copper rate. Bulk and coil pricing on request.
Check the coil before you pay for it
Every coil leaves our factory with a QR code printed on the packaging. Scan it and the factory record for that batch opens: brand, cable size, batch number, year of manufacture and conductor. Compare the batch number on screen with the one printed on your coil — if the two do not match, it did not come from us.
16mm 2 core cable is quoted at the day's copper rate, per metre.
16 mm² 2 core standard cable is quoted at the day's copper rate, per metre — the rupee figure follows copper and is fixed on the day you order, so send the length in metres and your city on WhatsApp for today's number. What the rate buys does not move: two loaded conductors carrying 85 A on BS 7671 reference method C at 30°C, which on a 220 V single-phase supply is about 18.7 kVA (220 × 85 ÷ 1000) — the reason this is the standard meter tail and house main.
Quotes for this size come per metre, per foot, per coil, and sometimes as a bare number with no unit at all.
Then settle the coil. “Coil” is a container, not a quantity — 90 m, 45 m and 30 m coils are all sold in Pakistan, and some shops still sell by the yard. Ask for the metre count in writing before you pay. The copper column is what should be inside each length, and it is the number a short coil cannot fake.
| Quantity | Length | Copper inside it | To get the per-metre rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 metre | 1 m | 0.28 kg | Nothing to do |
| 1 foot | 0.305 m | 0.09 kg | Multiply the per-foot rate by 3.281 |
| 45 m half coil | 45 m (148 ft) | 12.8 kg | Divide the coil price by 45 |
| 90 m coil | 90 m (295 ft) | 25.6 kg | Divide the coil price by 90 |
| 100 m drum | 100 m (328 ft) | 28.4 kg | Divide the drum price by 100 |
We quote per metre against the length you send us. Search pakistan cable 25mm 4 core price, or 25mm cable, or this size, and the results come back in three different units on one page of listings — that is the whole problem. The cable price per meter page works through every conversion, and the cable price list puts the sizes side by side.
85 A with two loaded conductors, clipped direct at 30°C. On the 220 V single-phase supply that WAPDA and K-Electric deliver to a domestic meter, that is about 18.7 kVA — more than a domestic connection normally draws, which is why 16 mm² is the size most electricians run from the meter to the main distribution board.
| Size | Strands (class 2) | Current capacity | Voltage drop | 5% limit at full load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 mm² | 7/1.04 | 46 A | 7.3 mV/A/m | 33 m |
| 10 mm² | 7/1.35 | 63 A | 4.4 mV/A/m | 40 m |
| 16 mm² | 7/1.70 | 85 A | 2.8 mV/A/m | 46 m |
| 25 mm² | 7/2.14 | 112 A | 1.75 mV/A/m | 56 m |
Meter tails are short, so voltage drop rarely decides this size. Work a real one: a 60 A load over a 12 m run from the meter to the board drops 60 × 12 × 2.8 ÷ 1000 = 2.0 V, which is 0.9% of 220 V. Take the same cable out to a boundary wall or a back workshop and the arithmetic changes: at its full 85 A the 11 V budget is spent at 11,000 ÷ (85 × 2.8) = 46 m. Past that distance the run length picks the size, not the load.
The 85 A is for a cable clipped direct in open air at 30°C. In conduit, bundled with other circuits, or in a hot roof space it carries less. BS 7671 handles that by multiplying the tabulated figure by correction factors for ambient temperature and grouping, and the factor depends on your installation, so we publish the tabulated number and the method rather than one invented figure. Work yours with the cable size calculator and the voltage drop calculator, then have a licensed electrician confirm it.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Conductor | Plain annealed copper, class 2 stranded |
| Nominal area | 16 mm² × 2 cores |
| Strand construction | 7 / 1.70 mm per core (class 2, computes to 15.9 mm²) |
| Trade strand code | 7/.064 in — 14.5 mm² computed, sold as 16 mm² |
| Max conductor resistance at 20°C | 1.15 Ω/km |
| Current capacity (method C, 2 loaded) | 85 A |
| Single-phase capacity at 220 V | ≈ 18.7 kVA |
| Voltage drop | 2.8 mV/A/m |
| Voltage rating | 450/750 V |
| Insulation / sheath | PVC / PVC, 70°C conductor rating |
| Conductor copper weight | ≈ 284.4 kg/km (2 × 142.2 kg/km) |
| Copper in a 90 m coil | ≈ 26 kg (conductor only) |
| Reference standards | IEC 60228 (conductors), IEC 60227 (PVC cables) |
Line and neutral from the WAPDA or K-Electric meter to the main distribution board, earth run separately.
Main panel to a sub-board on another floor, in an annexe, or out to a portion.
Dedicated circuits for storage geysers, single-phase pumps and workshop machinery.
Meter tails are the job this size is bought for most often, and the guides that cover it are WAPDA meter cable, K-Electric meter cable and the main meter cable. Standard cable is fixed wiring: tray, trunking, conduit or clipped to a wall, indoors. If the tail runs underground or across open ground, armoured cable is the right family. For sizing a single-phase installation as a whole, start at single-phase cable size. If the connection is three-phase rather than single-phase, the equivalent submain is 25mm 4 core cable at 96 A — the 25 mm 4 core copper cable price is quoted the same way, per metre at the day's copper rate — and the ladder below it runs 16mm 4 core cable at 76 A, 10mm 4 core cable at 57 A and 6mm 4 core cable at 41 A.
Core count follows the circuit, not the load. The market writes it loosely — two core, 3 core cable, 4core cable — but all it ever means is how many conductors sit inside the sheath. Two core carries line and neutral, with the earth run as a separate conductor — the normal arrangement on a meter tail. Three core adds the earth inside the same sheath, or carries three phases without a neutral. Four core carries three phases plus neutral. The conductor is the same 16 mm² copper in all three; what changes is how many conductors are loaded, and that sets the current capacity.
| Cores | What runs in it | Loaded | Current capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 core | Line and neutral, earth run separately | 2 | 85 A |
| 3 core | Line, neutral and earth — or three phases with no neutral | 2 or 3 | 85 A / 76 A |
| 4 core | Three phases plus neutral | 3 | 76 A |
The same size in the other two builds: 16mm 3 core standard cable and 16mm 4 core cable. One step up in the same two-core build is 25mm 2 core cable at 112 A; one step down is 10mm 2 core cable at 63 A. Ask a counter for 25 mm cable or 25mm wire and that bigger conductor is what you will be handed, so say the core count as well. The aluminium equivalent is 7/.064 16mm 2 core aluminium cable, the metal some shops call “silver cable” — lighter and cheaper per metre, but it carries less current than copper for the same section, so it is usually a size up.
“Full gauge” is a claim on a lot of listings and it almost never comes with a test the buyer can run. Here are three you can run yourself, on any seller's cable including ours. You need a weighing scale, a tape and a vernier.
Conductor mass = area × cores × 8.89 kg/km per mm². For 16 mm² 2 core that is 16 × 2 × 8.89 = 284 kg/km, so a 90 m coil holds about 26 kg of copper before insulation and sheath.
Cut the end square. A 16 mm² class 2 core is 7 strands of about 1.70 mm. Fewer strands, or a thinner strand, means a smaller conductor whatever the sheath is printed with.
Get the metre count in writing before you pay, then check it with a measuring wheel. A short coil is the quietest way a per-coil price stops being the price you calculated.
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