Cable specification builder
A specification generator inside the cable designer: design the cable, add the project's requirements on top of the base standard, and the designer writes the tender specification and the required / offered schedule from the design, every value with its source.
Open the specification builder · The 37 project requirements · Pricing
Requirements on top of the base standard
The designer sizes a cable by its base standard (IEC 60502, HD 603, HD 620, BS and more). A tender usually asks for more: rodent or termite protection, UV resistance, installation in the cold, oil and chemical resistance, watertightness, fire performance, armour. The requirements panel lists 37 such requirements in 6 groups. Tick one and every construction makers meet it with is shown, with its test methods and the sources it was read in.
Every acceptable construction drawn
A few constructions change the cable you see: a polyamide jacket, armour, a metal sheath, swelling tapes. Apply one and the designer draws it in 3D and in the cross-section, with the new diameter, weight and layer table; take the requirement out and exactly those layers go again. Most change only a compound (a UV-stabilised or rodent-repellent sheath, a cold-flexible insulation), and the designer shows that on the layer it belongs to.
The specification, in tender order
The specification follows the sections real tenders use: scope, standards, construction with each layer's source, the additional requirements with their tests and acceptable constructions, tests, marking, drums, documents to submit and deviations. The outline the designer writes for NA2XS(F)2Y 3x95 RM/25 12/20 kV with three requirements:
Cable specification: NA2XS(F)2Y 3x95 RM/25 12/20 kV
- 1. Scope
- 2. Standards
- 3. Construction
- 4. Additional requirements
- 4.1 Rodent protection
- 4.2 Termite protection
- 4.3 UV and sunlight resistance
- 5. Tests
- 6. Marking
- 7. Drums and packing
- 8. Documents to submit
- 9. Deviations
- 10. Required / offered schedule
The required / offered schedule
Buyers ask bidders to fill in a schedule of guaranteed technical particulars. Its REQUIRED column holds the design's own numbers (insulation and sheath thickness, conductor resistance, diameter, weight, short-circuit current, bending radius), each with its source, never "as per IEC"; the OFFERED column is left for the bidder. The first rows for the same cable:
| No. | Parameter | REQUIRED | OFFERED |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Designation | NA2XS(F)2Y 3x95 RM/25 12/20 kV | |
| 2 | Base standard | IEC 60502-2:2014 | |
| 3 | Rated voltage U0/U (Um) | 12/20 kV (Um 24.0 kV) | |
| 4 | Number of cores | 3 | |
| 5 | Conductor material | Aluminium | |
| 6 | Conductor class (IEC 60228) | 2 | |
| 7 | Conductor cross-section | 95 mm² | |
| 8 | Max. d.c. resistance of the conductor at 20 °C | 0.320 Ω/km |
The filled-in schedules come back to the bid comparison, which sets each bidder's offer against the REQUIRED column, the deviations they did not declare first. Bid comparison
What is free, what comes with Pro
- Free, without an account: picking requirements, every construction card with its tests and sources, applying the constructions that change the layers, the outline of the specification with its scope in full, and the required / offered schedule on screen with its REQUIRED values.
- Pro, $32 a month or $320 a year: the full text of every section on screen, copied as text, downloaded as Markdown, and the schedule as CSV for Excel, one cable at a time.
- Team, $79 a month or $790 a year: the same as Pro, for 3 engineers on one membership.
- Project pass, $169 once for 60 days: a project of up to 30 cables in one specification, with the cable schedule and a required / offered schedule per cable, and the bid comparison for 5 bidders.
- Enterprise, from $4,400 a year for 5 users: many cables (up to 200 in one specification), any number of bidders, and the buyer's own required / offered layouts.
- For agents and programs: POST /api/v1/spec writes the same specification, $2.00 for the first cable and $0.50 for each further one, up to 30 cables a call.
Compare plans · Enterprise · Specification API
The values are nominal, computed by each standard's rules, and the specification is a draft: check the editions in force and the maker's datasheet before you issue it.
Project requirements
Environment: Rodent protection · Termite protection · Ants and other insects · UV and sunlight resistance · Low temperature (bending, impact, installation) · High ambient or conductor temperature · Ozone resistance · Fungus resistance, tropicalisation
Chemical: Oil resistance (mineral oil) · Drilling mud and hydrocarbon resistance (offshore, NEK TS 606) · Chemical resistance (acids, alkalis) · Lead sheath (hydrocarbon and chemical barrier) · Anti-corrosion of armour and metal layers
Water: Longitudinal watertightness · Radial watertightness · Wet locations and submersion (AD7, AD8) · Water tree resistant insulation (TR-XLPE)
Fire: Flame retardance, single cable (IEC 60332-1-2) · Flame retardance, bunched cables (IEC 60332-3 categories) · Fire resistance, circuit integrity · Low smoke (IEC 61034) · Halogen free, low acid gas (IEC 60754-1 / -2) · Toxicity of fire gases · CPR reaction-to-fire class (EN 50575, EN 13501-6)
Mechanical: Abrasion resistance · Mechanical protection (crush, impact, direct burial) · Torsion (wind turbine loop) · Continuous flexing, drag chain · Tensile strength, vertical suspension · EMC, screening effectiveness
Application: Marine and offshore (IEC 60092, DNV) · Railway rolling stock (EN 50264, EN 45545-2) · Nuclear qualification (mention) · Solar PV DC cables (EN 50618, IEC 62930) · Hazardous areas (Ex, IEC 60079-14) · Sheath colour, marking, metre marking · RoHS and REACH compliance