Cable Selection

The following are some simplified procedures for cable selection. Refer to the Wiring Rules
AS/NZS 3000 and AS/NZS 3008.1.1 for detailed information. The four main electrical
criteria for cable selection are:
a. Current rating.
b. Voltage drop.
c. Short-circuit capacity.
d. Earth loop impedance.
Generally speaking, for:
a. Short route length, current-carrying capacity requirement will dictate the cable size
selection.
b. Long route length, voltage drop or earth loop impedance requirement will dictate the
cable size selection.
c. The short-circuit capacity of a cable shall be such that all short-circuit current occurring
at any point of a circuit shall not cause the cable conductor temperature to exceed the
maximum permissible limit.
A) Current rating:
Current rating of a cable depends on:
a. Installation method, eg., In air or ground, enclosed or unenclosed, etc.
b. Installation environment, eg., ambient temperature, depth of laying, presence of other
cables or circuits nearby, etc.
c. Limiting temperatures of the cables for normal use, eg., PVC and XLPE insulated cables
are 75ºC and 90ºC respectively.
d. Type of overcurrent protective device used, appropriate derating factor:
- 0.9 for fuses, e.g. AS/NZS 60269 series fuses, with l2 = 1.6 x IN.
Where: l2 = conventional overcurrent fusing or tripping current.
lN = nominal current of the fuse or circuit breaker.
e. Current in neutral conductor.
“4 core” shall mean 3 phase cores plus one neutral core. 4 core cables can have the same
current rating as 3 core cables only if the neutral core is lightly loaded, i.e. less than 35%
of the rated current of the phase conductor, and the harmonic content in the current is
not significant, e.g. less than 15% for 3rd and 10% for 9th, 12th, etc, higher harmonics. For
other situations, de-rating may be required in order to take the additional heating effect
due to the neutral current into consideration.

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Current ratings in this technical manual are based on AS/NZS 3008.1.1 with the following
typical Australian installation conditions. If other installation conditions are necessary,
refer to derating/rating factors in the General Information section or/and AS/NZS 3008.1.1
for appropriate derating/rating factors.
• Not exposed to direct sunlight unless otherwise specified
• Single circuit
• Solar radiation (for cables exposed to sun only) = 1000W/m2
• Ambient air temperature = 40ºC
• Ambient soil temperature = 25ºC
• Depth of laying* = 0.5m
• Soil thermal resistivity = 1.2ºC.m/W
• Supply frequency = 50Hz
*Measured to (a) centre of cable or trefoil group of cables or
(b) centre of enclosure or trefoil group of enclosures

B) Voltage drop:
Wiring Rules in general stipulate a maximum voltage drop of 5% of the nominal voltage
between the point of supply and any point in the installation when the conductors are
carrying maximum demand. Voltage drops in this technical manual are based on:

a. Maximum conductor temperatures of 75ºC, 90ºC and 110°C as indicated

b. Load power factor to give maximum voltage drop
c. Single core cables are in trefoil or flat formation and touching or spaced apart
d. Supply frequency of 50Hz
Equation to determine minimum required cable size due to voltage drop

Vc = Vd x 1000 millivolts/ampere metre

IxL

Where: Vc Calculated maximum permissible voltage drop in millivolts/ampere metre

Vd Maximum permissible voltage drop in volts
I Current in Amperes
L Route length in metres
Now select a cable such that Vc is equal to or less than the voltage drop value given in the
relevant table, and check that it will carry the current.

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C) Short-circuit capacity:
During a short-circuit, the conductor temperature will increase due to the heat energy
produced. To satisfy this requirement, short-circuit permissible temperature limit of the
conductor of cable must not be exceeded. This may require the time current curves of the
short-circuit protective device to be checked against the cable damage curves.

D) Maximum earth loop impedance:

The earth loop impedance has to be low enough to allow sufficient current to flow in the
fault loop to cause the protective device to operate and disconnect the supply within
the specified time when a fault of negligible impedance occurs between an active and
a protective earthing conductor. To accurately calculate the earth loop impedance is not
easy and requires information of the HV supply system that may or may not be available.
As the internal impedance of an earth loop may be expressed in terms of circuit length,
a simplified method is listed below to provide a reasonably accurate calculation of the
maximum route length to ensure correct operation of protective devices to provide
protection against indirect contact:
0.8Uo SphSpe
Lmax =
Ia ρ(Sph + Spe)
Where: Lmax Maximum route length (m).
Uo Nominal phase voltage (230V).
P Resistivity at normal working temperature (Ω.mm2/m).
= 22.5 x 10-3 for copper.
= 36 x 10-3 for aluminium.
Ia (mean) trip current setting for the instantaneous operation of a
circuit breaker (A) in the specified time; or
the current that assures operation of the protective fuse (A);
in the specified time.
Sph Size of the active conductor (mm2).
Spe Size of the protective earthing conductor (mm2).
Notes:
1. This method is only reliable where the conductors that make up the earth-fault-current loop are in close proximity to each other and
are not separated by ferromagnetic materials.
2. This calculation method is considered valid for cable sizes up to 120mm2. For larger sizes, maximum length and fault loop impedance
should be calculated by other methods taking account of cable inductance.

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Maximum Route Lengths, in metres, for different sizes of Conductors and Protective
Devices using Mean Tripping Currents (la)* for a disconnection time of 0.4 sec.
Conductor Size Protective Circuit-breaker (see Note 1) Fuses
mm2 Device Rating m (see Note 2)
Active Earth Amps Type B Type C Type D m
1 1 6 170 91 55 204
1 1 10 102 55 33 114
1.5 1.5 10 153 82 49 170
1.5 1.5 16 96 51 31 82
2.5 2.5 16 160 85 51 136
2.5 2.5 20 128 68 41 93
4 2.5 25 126 67 40 90
4 2.5 32 98 52 31 70
6 2.5 40 90 48 29 60
10 4 50 117 62 37 73
16 6 63 142 76 45 85
16 6 80 112 59 36 59
25 6 80 124 66 40 66
25 6 100 99 53 32 47
35 10 100 159 85 51 75
35 10 125 127 68 41 58
50 16 125 198 106 63 90
50 16 160 155 83 50 71
70 25 160 235 126 75 108
70 25 200 188 100 60 84

Notes:
1. * la for circuit-breakers are mean tripping currents as follows:
Type B = 4 times rated current.
Type C = 7.5 times rated current.
Type D = 12.5 times rated current.
2. Fuses based on AS/NZS 60269.1 also known as BS 88 type fuses.
3. When the nominal phase voltage of the electrical installation is not 230V, the maximum length may be determined by multiplying
by a factor of Uo/230. For a nominal phase voltage of 240V, the factor would be approximately 1.04.
4. The above table is for guidance only. In many cases, other requirements such as loading, short circuit and voltage drop will need to
be considered in the selection of active and earth conductor sizes.

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