A Guide to UL Rated Cable

Like many others out there I sometimes find the choice of UL Cable overwhelming and choosing the right cable can be difficult given the choices available.Wirees

For example, say you are making a product designed for the USA Market. You know you must use UL Rated cable, but what cable do you choose, and is the cost in line with what you expect?

The good news is we, the cable assembly experts, have the training to know the answers but for everyone else here is a small list of the most common cable type and their typical uses:

UL STYLE
NUMBER

AWG SIZE
RANGE

VOLTAGE
RATING

TEMP.
RATING

INSULATION

REMARKS

THICKNESS

MATERIAL

1007

30 – 16

300

80°C

1/64

PVC

Similar to Def-Std Equipment Wire

1015

28 – 9

600

105°C

1/32

PVC

Used in Tri-Rated Wire

1061

30 – 16

300

80°C

0.009″

Semirigid PVC

Ideal for Crimping thin wires

1213

32 – 20

Not rated

105°C

0.008″

TFE

High Temperature Applications

There are many others available, however, the above are the most widely used. In fact, most designs could be made using the UL Types listed.

As an aside, I think 1061 is a very under-used cable type as it is so much easier to work with, especially for thinner wires from say 22 AWG and higher.

Many designers do a great job of considering the correct cable choice but also the cost to assemble. If the right combination of standards and cable is used then assembly is much quicker and therefore cheaper – a winning combination.

If you need any help, your Cable Assembly company will hep you and what’s more the very good ones will help reduce your assembly costs too!

For a complete list of UL Wires Click this link: UL Wire Types (Full List)

Here is a great video series from AWC Wire which give more info. For example:

 

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJ_7zU2G6g[/tube]

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