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Length imperial. Weight lb. Currency USD. Weight uses 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg. Currency converts US-dollar planning prices and does not change volumes, counts, or geometry.

200A Service Entrance Wire Size at 75 Feet

Seventy-five feet of 200 A aluminum is long for a service lateral. Read both the ampacity size and the drop before you buy the lateral.

Formula SSC-2026.1

K method · SSC-2026.1

Minimum size

250 kcmil · 127.0 mm²

Single conductor set

Voltage drop

2.54 V

1.06% · end 237.5 V

Power loss

509 W

I²R at the operating current

Required ampacity

200.0 A

Each conductor 205 A

Material estimate

$1,542.75

3 conductors + EMT

Conductor weight

63.1 lb

28.6 kg · approximate insulated weight

Single-line and conductor gaugeLive scaled blueprint
MAIN PANELSingle-phase 240 VEMT · 75 ft · 250 kcmil · 127.0 mm²200A service200 ASelected gauge250 kcmilcopper3/0 AWGDrop 1.06%End 237.5 VLoss 509 W

Circle diameters track circular mils. The drawing is a schematic, not a conduit-fill layout.

Bill of materials and shopping list
ItemNetWasteOrderUnit priceLine total
aluminum 250 kcmil · 127.0 mm²75 ft one waycuts excluded3 conductorsUSD$1,404.00
EMT conduit75 ft—75 ftUSD$138.75
Copper versus aluminum at this run
MaterialMinimum sizemm²DropEnd voltageLoss
aluminum250 kcmil · 127.0 mm²127.01.06%237.5 V509 W
copper3/0 AWG · 85.0 mm²85.00.96%237.7 V461 W
Same load at other one-way distances
DistanceMinimum sizeDropPercentEnd voltage
50 ft250 kcmil · 127.0 mm²1.70 V0.71%238.3 V
75 ft250 kcmil · 127.0 mm²2.54 V1.06%237.5 V
100 ft250 kcmil · 127.0 mm²3.39 V1.41%236.6 V
Show the deterministic formula

Single phase: Vdrop = 2 × K × I × D / cmil. Three phase: Vdrop = 1.732 × K × I × D / cmil. K is 12.9 for copper and 21.2 for aluminum. D is one-way feet.

Percent drop = Vdrop ÷ source voltage × 100. Green is 3% or less, amber is 3 to 5%, and red is over 5%. Power loss is I²R on the current-carrying conductors.

The smallest conductor that meets both the ampacity (125% when continuous) and the drop limit is selected. Ampacity does not include bundling or temperature correction.

Engineering notes

Seventy-five feet of 200 A aluminum is long for a service lateral. Read both the ampacity size and the drop before you buy the lateral. The run is 75 ft one way at 200 A on 1ph-240. K is 12.9 for copper and 21.2 for aluminum. Ambient temperature, bundling, and rooftop adders are not applied.

Code reference

NEC 210.19(A) and 215.2(A) informational notes recommend 3 percent on a branch circuit and 5 percent total with the feeder. Ampacity follows the 75°C column of Table 310.16 plus the small-conductor limits. Confirm the adopted edition.

Field questions

What current is used for the 200 A voltage drop?
Both the drop and the ampacity check use the entered amps, because this preset is not marked continuous.
Does this replace the equipment installation manual?
No. The nameplate, the breaker, and the adopted NEC edition still control. This page is the K-method size and the percent drop.
Can I switch copper and aluminum?
Yes. The conductor control and the comparison table both recompute size, drop, and the planning cost.

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