Australian wiring standards 2

[grobert]

We are wiring a small control panel for installation in Australia. The panel is 220 VAC input. The panel's controls will be 24VDC limited to 15 amps maximum and will consist of 24VDC power supply,relays, micro plc and terminal strips. My question pertains to the type of wire connecting the relays to the terminal strips confined within the enclosure. Is the insulation type XHHW-2 recognized as acceptable for this application? The only guidelines given were "shall comply with the requirements of AS/NZS 3000". Here locally we would use #14 AWG or 2.5mm with a THHN , XHHW-2 or similar conductor.

Can someone familiar with control wiring in Australia provide answer with technical reference to back up statement? I hope we can use XHHW-2 or we are going to have to rewire the panel.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[jbartos]

Suggestion: Visit

http://www.nationalcables.com/flexiblemm.htm

for flexible panel cables with PVC insulation

http://www.capital-electric.com/about/indprod.shtml#control

etc. for more info

 

[OhioAviator]

Grobert, you are mostly on the right path. The short answer is that, Yes, you can use XHHW-2 stranded wire for your internal control panel wiring. AS/NZS 3000 pretty much is the primary standard for use in situations such as this.

I'm assuming that your control panel is not going into an underground coal mine. If it is, then there are a WHOLE BUNCH of additional standards that the panel must comply with depending on which state the panel is going into.

I used to live and work in Australia from 1996 to 2000, and here are some excerpts from a general electrical specification that our company used to procure equipment...

Control Wiring
1)All control circuit conductors for voltages up to and including 660 Volts shall be a minimum of 7/0.50mm (1.5mm2) stranded, tinned copper V90 0.6/1kV single insulated cable.
2)PLC or microprocessor I/O wiring shall be stranded, V90, 0.6/1kV, tinned copper conductor with a minimum size of 7/0.37mm (0.75mm2).
3)All control circuit conductors for voltages above 660 Volts but not exceeding 1200 Volts ( 1000 VAC Nominal ) shall be a minimum of 7/0.50mm (1.5mm2) 1kV/1kV stranded, tinned copper V90 insulated and sheathed cable.
4)All wiring shall be oil resistant.
5)Intrinsically safe wiring shall be carried out strictly in accordance with AS/NZS 2380 - Part 7, particularly regarding the provisions detailing the segregation of intrinsically safe and non-intrinsically safe conductors. Intrinsically safe wiring shall be in earth screened cable with a light blue outer sheath.

COLOUR CODING
1)All wiring shall be colour coded as follows:
a) AC Power
Phase 1 Red[/red]
Phase 2 White
Phase 3 Blue[/blue]
Neutrals Black

b)DC Power
Positive Red[/red]
Negative Black

c) Control
32VAC or less:
Active Brown
Return Brown /Yellow

32 to 250VAC:
Active White
Return White/Blue

110VDC or less & PLC Digital I/O:
Active Orange
Return Orange /Black

PLC analog I/O & Process Control:
Positive Grey
Negative Grey/Black

d) Earth & Earth Screens: Green /Yellow

e) Intrinsically Safe:
Light Blue Sheath
Screen Clear
Positive Blue
Negative Black

Hope this helps. If you want more details just ask.

 

[grobert]

Thanks Ohio Aviator, My biggest problem is that our customer requires documentation to support materials compliance with local standards. For all of the components falling under IEC we were required to supply "declarations of conformity" from the manufacturers.

In the US I could simply copy Table 310.16 which list most of the insulations available along with their rated ampacity. It even goes a step further in article 310.13 with a table that list all conductor insulations and applications.

Does such a table exist in Australian code? Would it list XHHW-2? What documentation can I provide that would confirm XHHW-2 as code compliant?

I know the wiring is fine. Pretty much everyone in the field knows it is OK. But this customer (a very large worldwide contractor) only cares about the documentation to support each items conformity to local standards.

 

[OhioAviator]

Grobert... I understand your dilemma. I know all too well the Aussie's penchant for documentation, documentation, DOCUMENTATION! Unfortunately, I am not that intimately familiar with AS3000 and I don't remember if it contains wire charts/tables like the NEC does. And I don't personally have a copy of AS/NZS 3000. Here is the web address for Standards Australia...

http://www.standards.com.au/catalogue/script/search.asp

You might try contacting Standards Australia directly and see if they have anything available online. I do know that all of the Australian standards are available on CD ROM but they're expensive and it would take some time to send to you via snail mail.
Hope this helps.

 

[Marke]

One thing to be very careful of is that you must not use yellow or green insulated cable, and earth must be green/yellow stripe.

Mark Empson

http://www.lmphotonics.com

 

[Godders]

I am an Australian Engineer an very familiar with AS3000. It is the "Bible" for electrical work in Australia. Australian Standards can be purchased from the Standards Australia website in pdf format. It was revised in 2000 and now you need 3008.1 as well to get current carrying capacity of the conductor.
There are two tables that you need from 3000, Table 3.3 Limiting Temperatures for Insulated Cables, Table 3.4 Nominal Minimum Cross Sectional Areas of Conductors. From 3008.1 Table 3 gives the current carrying capacity of cables.
To answer you original question, 2.5mm2 conductor with thermoplastic insulation rated to 75 degrees Celcius will be more than adequate for control wiring. The colour scheme given by OhioAviator is commonly used but the only requirement for AS3000 is given in Table 3.5 which is summarised as follows:

Function Recommended Alternative

Earth/Bonding Green/Yellow Green

Neutral Black Light Blue

Active Red Any colour
except the above
& yellow

Hope this helps. If you can give me an email address, I should be able to send the relevant tables. (I don't think this breaches the copyright Act)

 

[grobert]

Thank you Godders. My email is robert@rmgelectrical.com. I would very much appreciate the tables that would confirm XHHW-2 is acceptable for the application in Australia. Thanks again for any support.

I have another issue that just came up. Can you or anyone supply the exact color code presented in IEC 584. This is for a similar panel that is going to Egypt. There are some 4-20ma two wire signals and some 24VDC two wire lines to solenoids. We used red for positive and black for negative. This is allready done and now their engineers have come back asking for white for positive and black for negative. Does IEC 584 require this?

 

[dyn11]

grobert

I am an Australian electrical engineer. The wiring you mention can be done with XHHW-2 cable.

Are you sure the input voltage is 220 V. It probably should be 240V.

DYN11

 

[grobert]

Yes dyn11 it is 240v. But it goes straight to a 24VDC power supply that is rated 100 to 250 VAC 50/60 hz so I was not to carefull when I stated incoming power. Thanks for all your help and the tables from Bob. I now feel confident that the panel we have allready wired can stay as is.

 

[jbartos]

Suggestion: It is probably better to follow the control panel manufacturer conductor selection since any irregularity may be required to be documented as mentioned above. The control panel manufacturers follow safety codes and industry standards. Inquire about the applicable standards, e.g.

http://www.standards.com.au/catalog...n=&Keyword=control+panel&Search=Search&Max=15