The USB power spec is 10 watts (5VDC at 2Amperes).

24AWG wire is indeed inside some of the cheaper made USB cables I've taken apart, but if truly 24AWG stranded copper wire, its ampacity rating is indeed 2 Amperes.

On the other hand, 22AWG is a bit larger diameter and can handle up to 7 Amps, while 20AWG can approach 11 Amps.

Those specs are for COPPER stranded wire.

There may be a situation where some of these cheaper import cables are not using good copper conductors, creating a situation where the wire itself has some undesirable higher resistance, have to look into that one with the meter as John says.


--Mac