SynC™

SynC · Editorial revision

Instrumentation and Control Cable

Revision1
EditedOct 12, 2026
StatusCurrent
Contents

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Current revision. This is editorial revision 1, the current text of this standard. Read it on the standard's page.

SynC Standards Team — Specifier (Platform Standards) ✓ OfficialDiscloses employment SynC (SynC Platform Team)
Initial publication

1 Scope

NOTE This standard covers the cable that carries a measurement, a command or a status between a field device and the panel that reads it: from the terminals of the instrument, the valve actuator, the local control station or the starter to the terminals in the control panel, the remote I/O cabinet or the marshalling cabinet. It covers the cable as a product, its installation, its terminations, its identification and the tests that prove it before the loop check. (1.1)
NOTE A 4 to 20 mA signal spans 16 mA across its whole calibrated range, so a few microamperes of induced current is a visible error, and a thermocouple signal is a few tens of millivolts in which a copper splice or a shield grounded at the wrong end reads as a temperature. The cable is then concealed in conduit and tray for the life of the plant. The requirements of this standard reflect the size of those signals and the cost of reaching the cable again. (1.2)
NOTE This standard is read with Common Work Results ProcessCommon Work Results for Process EquipmentResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/common-work-results-process, the umbrella for the process discipline, which carries the submittal register, the factory test and witnessing policy, the manufacturer's field services, the nameplates, the spare parts basis, the anchorage basis and the vibration and noise limits for every item of process work. Nothing in that standard is restated here. (1.3)
NOTE The circuits this standard owns, below the 600 V building-wire line that Conductors And CablesConductors and CablesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/conductors-and-cables draws, are: (1.4)
  • analog signal circuits: 4 to 20 mA with or without HART, pulse and frequency, RTD and thermistor leads, and millivolt signals, on single twisted shielded pair and triad cable and on multi-pair and multi-triad homerun cable
  • thermocouple circuits, on extension cable of type-matched alloy
  • discrete control and status circuits at 120 V AC and 24 V DC between panels and field devices: run, stop, open, close, running, position, fault and permissive, on multiconductor control cable or on single conductors in raceway
  • fieldbus and serial circuits: FOUNDATION Fieldbus H1, PROFIBUS PA and RS-485 serial, on the cable those physical layers define
  • intrinsically safe circuits, on cable of published electrical parameters, from the barrier in the panel to the device in the classified location
NOTE Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks selects the network media, the shielding construction, the fiber type and the segment length, and tests the network; where it selects a fieldbus, serial or shielded twisted-pair copper segment, the cable it selects is furnished, installed and tested under this standard. Optical fiber, Ethernet structured cabling and their tests stay with Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks and Structured CablingStructured Cabling SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/structured-cabling. (1.5)
NOTE Temperature InstrumentationTemperature InstrumentationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/temperature-instrumentation keeps the requirement that the extension cable type match the thermocouple element and that polarity be kept at the connection head; the extension cable itself, its construction, listing, color code, shield, installation and testing, is furnished under this standard. (1.6)
NOTE Industrial Control PanelsIndustrial Control PanelsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/industrial-control-panels owns the separation of power from signal wiring inside the panel and the isolated instrument ground bus the shields land on; Grounding And BondingGrounding and Bonding for Electrical SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/grounding-and-bonding owns the grounding electrode system and the equipment grounding; this standard owns the rule of where a shield is grounded and where it is isolated, and the test that proves it. (1.7)
NOTE Raceways And ConduitRaceways and ConduitResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/raceways-and-conduit and Cable TrayCable Tray SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/cable-tray own the pathway; this standard states once the separation the cable needs from power circuits and the rule on sharing a raceway or tray by rating and class. Electrical IdentificationElectrical IdentificationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/electrical-identification owns the format of wire markers and cable tags; this standard owns their content. (1.8)
NOTE The following are outside this standard and are governed by the standards named. (1.9)
  • Building wire and power cable rated 600 V, including the single conductors of power circuits and the motor circuit: Conductors And CablesConductors and CablesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/conductors-and-cables
  • Medium-voltage cable: Medium Voltage CablesMedium-Voltage CablesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/medium-voltage-cables
  • Variable frequency drive output cable: Low Voltage Variable Frequency DrivesLow-Voltage Variable Frequency DrivesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/low-voltage-variable-frequency-drives, HVAC Variable Frequency DrivesHVAC Variable Frequency DrivesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/hvac-variable-frequency-drives and Conductors And CablesConductors and CablesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/conductors-and-cables
  • Fiber optic cable, Ethernet structured cabling, their connecting hardware and their tests: Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks and Structured CablingStructured Cabling SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/structured-cabling
  • Building automation Class 2 wiring and its separation distances: Building Automation SystemBuilding Automation SystemResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/building-automation-system and HVAC Controls InstrumentationHVAC Instrumentation and Control DevicesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/hvac-controls-instrumentation
  • Fire alarm circuits under NEC Article 760: Fire Alarm SystemsFire Alarm SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/fire-alarm-systems
  • Security, access control and video cabling: Access Control SystemsAccess Control SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/access-control-systems and Video Surveillance SystemsVideo Surveillance SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/video-surveillance-systems
  • Telecommunications cabling under NEC Article 800: Structured CablingStructured Cabling SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/structured-cabling
  • The submersible pump motor cable and the sensor cable furnished with the pump: Submersible Solids Handling PumpsSubmersible Solids-Handling PumpsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/submersible-solids-handling-pumps and Vertical Turbine PumpsVertical Turbine PumpsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/vertical-turbine-pumps
  • Raceway, conduit, boxes, tray, tray barriers and tray fill: Raceways And ConduitRaceways and ConduitResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/raceways-and-conduit and Cable TrayCable Tray SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/cable-tray
  • The grounding electrode system, equipment grounding conductors and the bonding of raceway and tray: Grounding And BondingGrounding and Bonding for Electrical SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/grounding-and-bonding
  • The instrument ground bus, the wireways and the wiring inside a control panel: Industrial Control PanelsIndustrial Control PanelsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/industrial-control-panels
  • The loop diagrams, the I/O list, the loop check and the integration tests: Control Systems IntegrationControl Systems Integration and TestingResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/control-systems-integration
  • The instruments, analyzers, actuators and controllers at either end of the cable: Process InstrumentationProcess InstrumentationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-instrumentation, Flow MeasurementFlow MeasurementResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/flow-measurement, Analytical InstrumentationAnalytical InstrumentationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/analytical-instrumentation, Level SensorsLevel MeasurementResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/level-sensors, Control Valves And ActuatorsControl Valves and ActuatorsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/control-valves-and-actuators, Valve And Gate ActuatorsValve and Gate ActuatorsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/valve-and-gate-actuators and Programmable Logic ControllersProgrammable Logic ControllersResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/programmable-logic-controllers
NOTE The wiring methods, the conduit seals and the cable types of hazardous (classified) locations are not yet owned by a SynC standard; this standard states the cable of an intrinsically safe circuit and defers the area classification to the drawings and the barrier to Industrial Control PanelsIndustrial Control PanelsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/industrial-control-panels. (1.10)
1.11 The cable number, the circuit each cable serves, its from and to terminals, its pair or conductor count and its route shall be as indicated on the instrument loop diagrams and the cable schedule.
1.12 Cable and its installation shall comply with NFPA 70, including Article 300 for wiring methods, Article 336 for Type TC cable, Article 392 for cable tray, Article 504 for intrinsically safe circuits, Article 725 for Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 circuits and Type PLTC cable, and Article 727 for Type ITC cable.

2 Referenced Standards

2.1 Materials, installation and testing shall comply with the latest adopted edition of each of the following unless a specific edition is cited.
2.2 Where the Contract Documents, the adopted codes and a referenced standard differ on the same matter, the most stringent requirement shall govern unless the Engineer of Record directs otherwise in writing.
Standard Title
NFPA 70 National Electrical Code (Articles 300, 336, 392, 500 through 504, 725 and 727)
NFPA 820 Standard for Fire Protection in Wastewater Treatment and Collection Facilities
UL 13 Power-Limited Circuit Cables
UL 1277 Electrical Power and Control Tray Cables with Optional Optical-Fiber Members
UL 2250 Instrumentation Tray Cable
UL 1569 Metal-Clad Cables
UL 1581 Reference Standard for Electrical Wires, Cables, and Flexible Cords
UL 1685 Vertical-Tray Fire-Propagation and Smoke-Release Test for Electrical and Optical-Fiber Cables
UL 2225 Cables and Cable-Fittings for Use in Hazardous (Classified) Locations
ANSI/NEMA WC 57 / ICEA S-73-532 Standard for Control, Thermocouple Extension, and Instrumentation Cables
ANSI/NEMA WC 70 / ICEA S-95-658 Non-Shielded Power Cables Rated 2000 Volts or Less for the Distribution of Electrical Energy
ICEA S-58-679 Control Cable Conductor Identification
ASTM B3 Soft or Annealed Copper Wire
ASTM B8 Concentric-Lay-Stranded Copper Conductors, Hard, Medium-Hard, or Soft
ASTM B33 Tin-Coated Soft or Annealed Copper Wire for Electrical Purposes
ASTM E230/E230M Temperature-Electromotive Force (emf) Tables for Standardized Thermocouples
ANSI/ISA-5.1 Instrumentation Symbols and Identification
ANSI/ISA-RP12.06.01 Recommended Practice for Wiring Methods for Hazardous (Classified) Locations Instrumentation, Part 1: Intrinsic Safety
ANSI/ISA-50.02 Fieldbus Standard for Use in Industrial Control Systems, Part 2: Physical Layer Specification and Service Definition
IEC 61158-2 Industrial Communication Networks, Fieldbus Specifications, Part 2: Physical Layer Specification and Service Definition
IEC 61918 Industrial Communication Networks: Installation of Communication Networks in Industrial Premises
TIA-485-A Electrical Characteristics of Generators and Receivers for Use in Balanced Digital Multipoint Systems
IEEE 518 Guide for the Installation of Electrical Equipment to Minimize Electrical Noise Inputs to Controllers from External Sources
IEEE 1100 Recommended Practice for Powering and Grounding Electronic Equipment
ANSI/NETA ATS Standard for Acceptance Testing Specifications for Electrical Power Equipment and Systems

3 Submittals

3.1 Action Submittals

3.1.1 The Contractor shall submit the following before any cable under this standard is procured:
  • Product data for each cable construction to be furnished, stating the listing and type, the voltage rating, the conductor material, coating, stranding and size, the insulation and jacket compounds and their temperature ratings, the shield construction and drain wire, the armor where furnished, the jacket color, the pair identification method, the capacitance and inductance per unit length where the cable serves a fieldbus, serial or intrinsically safe circuit, the cold-bend rating, and the sunlight, wet-location, oil and direct-burial ratings claimed
  • The cable schedule, listing for every cable its number, the loop or circuit it serves, the from and to equipment and terminals, the cable construction and its pair or conductor count, the spare pairs, the route and the pathway, and the estimated length
  • Product data for wire markers, cable tags, ferrules, terminals and shield-drain sleeving
  • The cable test procedure, stating the instruments, the test voltages, the acceptance values and the form of the record for each test under the Testing section
Action Submittals Requiredcheckbox
☑ Product data for each cable construction
☑ Cable schedule
☑ Wire marker, cable tag, ferrule and terminal product data
☑ Cable test procedure

3.2 Closeout Submittals

3.2.1 The Contractor shall submit the following before the loop checks under Control Systems IntegrationControl Systems Integration and TestingResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/control-systems-integration begin, and shall update them at substantial completion:
  • The test record for every cable, by cable number and by loop, with the instrument identification and calibration date, the test voltage, the measured values, the ambient conditions, the acceptance criterion and the pass or fail result, signed by the technician who performed the test
  • The as-built cable schedule, showing every change of route, construction, pair count or termination from the issued-for-construction documents, and the installed length of each cable
  • The spare pair record, listing every spare pair by cable and the terminals it is landed on at each end
Closeout Submittals Requiredcheckbox
☑ Cable test records by cable and by loop
☑ As-built cable schedule
☑ Spare pair record

4 Quality Assurance

4.1 Installer Qualifications

4.1.1 Cable under this standard shall be installed and terminated by electricians employed by a licensed electrical contractor who has installed instrument signal cable and terminated it on control panels of comparable scope on at least three completed projects.
4.1.2 Where the parties disagree whether the installer's experience is comparable, the Engineer of Record shall make the initial determination.
4.1.3 Where the Contract Documents assign the panel-end termination to the control system integrator, the integrator's terminating technicians shall meet the same experience requirement, and the division of the termination work shall be as indicated under Control Systems IntegrationControl Systems Integration and TestingResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/control-systems-integration.

4.2 Listing and Marking

4.2.1 Every cable under this standard shall be listed by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory under the UL standard for its type and shall bear the type designation, the voltage rating, the conductor size and count, the temperature rating and the listing mark on its jacket at the intervals the listing requires.
4.2.2 Cable whose jacket legend does not state the type and ratings the product data claims shall not be installed.
NOTE The jacket legend is the only evidence of the listing that survives installation, and an inspector who cannot read it treats the cable as unlisted. (4.2.3)

4.3 Receiving Inspection

4.3.1 On delivery, the Contractor shall inspect each reel for a damaged jacket, a crushed or flattened section and an unsealed cable end, and shall confirm the reel label against the cable schedule.
4.3.2 Cable received with an unsealed end that has stood in weather, or with a crushed section, shall be set aside, and the affected length shall be cut out and removed before the reel is used, at the Contractor's cost.
NOTE A shielded cable with an open end draws moisture along the foil and the drain wire by capillary action, and the insulation resistance of that length never recovers. (4.3.3)

5 Service Conditions

5.1 Cable installed outdoors, in an unconditioned space or in a raceway exposed to the sun shall be rated for continuous operation at the temperature the location reaches, which the Contractor shall take as not less than Site Ambient Temperature MaximumSite Ambient Temperature MaximumParameterEach project supplies its own value.site-ambient-temperature-maximum plus the solar gain of an exposed raceway.
5.2 Cable installed or stored outdoors shall carry a cold-bend rating at or below Site Ambient Temperature MinimumSite Ambient Temperature MinimumParameterEach project supplies its own value.site-ambient-temperature-minimum, and shall not be pulled or bent when its temperature is below the manufacturer's minimum installation temperature.
5.3 Cable in a wet location, which includes every underground raceway and every raceway outdoors, shall be listed for wet locations.
5.4 Cable exposed to sunlight shall be listed as sunlight resistant.
5.5 Cable in a wastewater facility shall be of a type NFPA 70 Articles 501 and 502 permit in the location classification NFPA 820 assigns to the space, as shown on the hazardous area classification drawings.
5.6 Cable in a space with a corrosive atmosphere, which includes chlorine, ozone, sulfide and chemical feed rooms, shall have a jacket rated for that exposure, and the Contractor shall state the exposure in the product data.
5.7 The jacket ratings every cable in scope shall carry, beyond those the clauses above require by location, shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Jacket Ratings on All Cable in Scopecheckbox
☑ Sunlight resistant
☐ Oil resistant
☐ Direct-burial listed
☐ Low-smoke zero-halogen
NOTE A sunlight-resistant jacket on every cable costs nothing on most constructions and removes the question at every exposed stub; oil resistance matters where the cable passes a compressor, a gearbox or a hydraulic unit; a direct-burial listing on every cable is what lets a route change go underground without a reorder; a low-smoke zero-halogen jacket limits the acid gas a cable fire releases in an occupied or electronics-filled space, at the cost of a stiffer jacket and a smaller supply base. (5.8)

6 Cable Classes and Circuit Assignment

6.1 Each circuit shall be carried on the cable class this standard assigns to it: analog signals on single twisted shielded pair or triad cable or on multi-pair or multi-triad homerun cable; thermocouple signals on extension cable; discrete control and status on multiconductor control cable or on single conductors in raceway; fieldbus and serial circuits on the cable their physical layer defines; and intrinsically safe circuits on the cable of the Intrinsically Safe Circuit Cable section.
6.2 A circuit shall not be carried on a cable of a class assigned to another circuit type, except that a discrete 24 V DC status contact may be carried on a spare pair of a shielded homerun cable where the datasheet under Multi-Pair and Multi-Triad Homerun Cable permits it.
NOTE The classes exist because each signal fails differently. An analog signal needs a shield and a twisted pair because it is small; a thermocouple needs matching alloy because a copper junction is a thermometer; a 120 V discrete circuit needs a 600 V conductor because it is a Class 1 circuit; a fieldbus needs a cable of stated impedance and capacitance because it is a transmission line; an intrinsically safe circuit needs a cable whose stored energy is known. A pair of the wrong class works on the day of the loop check and fails in the first thunderstorm or the first hot afternoon. (6.3)

7 Listing, Type and Voltage Rating

7.1 Instrument Signal Cable Listing

7.1.1 The listing and type of single-pair, triad, multi-pair, multi-triad and thermocouple extension cable shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Instrument Signal Cable Listingradio
● Type PLTC, power-limited tray cable under NEC Article 725 (300 V)
○ Type ITC, instrumentation tray cable under NEC Article 727 (300 V)
○ Type TC, tray cable under NEC Article 336 (600 V)
NOTE Type PLTC is listed under UL 13 for Class 2 and Class 3 circuits, is the lightest and least costly of the three, and is permitted in tray and raceway in any occupancy; its circuits are limited to the power a Class 2 or Class 3 source can deliver, so a 4 to 20 mA loop qualifies only when its supply is a listed Class 2 source, and the cable can share nothing with a power or Class 1 circuit. Type ITC is listed under UL 2250 for circuits to 150 V and 5 A, is permitted only in an industrial establishment where qualified persons maintain the system, accepts conductors to 12 AWG and may be run in the ways NEC 727.4 permits, so it carries a loop from a supply that is not Class 2 listed without a 600 V conductor. Type TC under UL 1277 is rated 600 V, so it may share a raceway with power conductors to 600 V and carries a Class 1 circuit, at the cost of a thicker and heavier cable, a larger raceway and a higher price, and it is the construction that lets one cable family serve the whole plant. (7.1.2)
7.1.3 Type PLTC cable shall be used only on a circuit supplied by a Class 2 or Class 3 power source under NEC 725.121.
7.1.4 A 4 to 20 mA loop supplied from a power supply that is not listed as a Class 2 source is a Class 1 circuit under NEC 725.41, and shall be carried on Type TC cable or, where the datasheet selects it and NEC 727.4 permits it, on Type ITC cable.
7.1.5 Type ITC cable shall be installed only in the locations and with the circuits NEC 727.4 and 727.5 permit.
7.1.6 Where the datasheet selects Type PLTC or Type ITC, the circuit list submitted with the cable schedule shall identify the source of every loop and the class each circuit is assigned to under NEC Article 725 or 727.

7.2 Exposed-Run Rating

7.2.1 Whether instrument and control cable shall carry the exposed-run rating shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Exposed-Run Ratingradio
○ ER rated, crush and impact tested for exposed runs between tray and equipment
○ Standard rating, every run in raceway or tray
NOTE A cable with the ER suffix has passed the crush and impact tests of its listing and may leave a tray and run exposed for the distance NFPA 70 permits for its type, which removes the stub conduit at every instrument on a tray-fed plant; on a plant where every cable runs in conduit the rating buys nothing and the cable is stiffer and costs more. (7.2.2)
7.2.3 Cable that is not ER rated shall be enclosed in raceway for its whole length outside a tray.

7.3 Discrete Control Cable Type

7.3.1 Discrete control and status circuits shall be wired by the method indicated in the datasheet.
Discrete Control Wiring Methodradio
○ Multiconductor control cable
○ Single conductors in raceway
NOTE A multiconductor cable is pulled once, carries its conductors in a known order, and is what a cable tray plant uses; single conductors in conduit are the norm where every run is in conduit anyway, let a conductor be added later without a new cable, and keep the conductor count of each conduit to the circuit it serves, at the cost of a pull per conduit and a conductor identification scheme that has to be applied by hand. (7.3.2)
7.3.3 Where multiconductor cable is selected, its type shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Discrete Control Multiconductor Cable Typeradio
● Type TC-ER tray cable (600 V)
○ Type TC tray cable (600 V)
○ Type MC metal-clad control cable (600 V)
NOTE Type TC-ER leaves the tray and runs exposed to the equipment it serves within the distance NEC 336.10 permits, which is the construction nearly every tray-fed plant uses for control; plain Type TC needs a raceway from the tray to the device; Type MC under UL 1569 carries its own armor and may be run without tray or conduit under NEC Article 330, at the cost of a heavier cable, a listed fitting at every entry and an armor that has to be bonded. (7.3.4)
7.3.5 Where single conductors in raceway are selected, they shall be stranded copper of the size indicated under Discrete Control and Status Cable, rated 600 V, with an insulation type listed under Conductors And CablesConductors and CablesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/conductors-and-cables for the location, and the conductor and insulation requirements of that standard shall apply to them.

7.4 Voltage Rating

7.4.1 Type PLTC and Type ITC cable shall be rated 300 V.
7.4.2 Type TC and Type MC cable, and every conductor of a 120 V AC discrete control circuit, shall be rated 600 V.
NOTE A 120 V AC control circuit is a Class 1 circuit, and NEC 725.49 requires its conductors to be rated 600 V whatever the circuit voltage; the 300 V rating of PLTC and ITC is sufficient for the 24 V DC and 4 to 20 mA circuits those types are listed for, and it is why the two families are not interchangeable. (7.4.3)
7.4.4 Plenum and riser cable within a building shall be listed CL2P, CL3P or CMP in a plenum and CL2R, CL3R or CMR in a riser, under NEC 725.135 and Article 800.

8 Conductors

8.1 Conductors shall be annealed copper under ASTM B3, stranded under ASTM B8, with the coating indicated in the datasheet.
Conductor Coatingradio
● Tinned copper under ASTM B33
○ Bare copper
NOTE Tinned copper resists the sulfide and chloride corrosion of a wastewater or chemical room atmosphere and solders without flux, and it is what instrument cable is stocked in; bare copper is the lower-cost conductor of control cable in a clean, dry plant. (8.2)
8.3 Conductor stranding shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Conductor Strandingradio
● Class B stranded
○ Class C or finer stranded
NOTE Class B is the stranding instrument and control cable is built with and terminates cleanly in a ferrule; finer stranding flexes more and is chosen for a cable that moves with a hinged door or a traveling device. (8.4)
8.5 Solid conductors shall not be used in any cable under this standard, except in thermocouple extension cable where the datasheet under Thermocouple Extension Cable selects a solid conductor.
NOTE Conductor sizes are stated by cable class in the section for that class; a size is a decision about loop resistance, voltage drop and mechanical strength, and it differs between a 4 to 20 mA pair and a 120 V solenoid circuit. (8.6)

9 Insulation

9.1 The conductor insulation of instrument signal cable shall be of the compound indicated in the datasheet, rated not less than 75 °C wet and 90 °C dry.
Instrument Signal Cable Insulationselect
PVC with nylon skin
PVC
Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)
Flame-retardant ethylene-propylene (FR-EP)
Polyethylene (PE)
Fluorinated ethylene-propylene (FEP)
NOTE PVC is the common insulation of 300 V instrument cable and the lowest in cost; the nylon skin adds abrasion and oil resistance on the pull; XLPE and FR-EP are thermoset, do not soften under sustained heat and are what 600 V tray cable is built with, so they are chosen where the route runs through a hot room or the cable family is TC; polyethylene has the lowest capacitance and is chosen for a serial or pulse circuit whose length is limited by capacitance; FEP serves to 200 °C and is chosen for a cable that enters a heated enclosure or runs beside a steam line, at several times the cost. (9.2)
9.3 The insulation of discrete control cable and of single conductors in raceway shall be a 600 V, 90 °C type listed under UL 1277, UL 1569 or Conductors And CablesConductors and CablesResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/conductors-and-cables for the location.
9.4 The insulation of fieldbus, serial and thermocouple extension cable shall be as stated in the section for that cable class.

10 Shielding

10.1 Shield Construction

10.1.1 Every analog signal pair and triad shall be shielded, with the shield construction indicated in the datasheet, and with a tinned copper drain wire in continuous contact with the shield of not less than the conductor size of the pair.
Shield Constructionradio
● Aluminum-polyester tape with drain wire
○ Tinned copper braid
○ Aluminum-polyester tape with tinned copper braid
NOTE An aluminum-polyester tape gives 100 percent coverage against the capacitive coupling that dominates at power frequency and at the switching frequency of a drive, weighs and costs the least, and is the construction instrument cable is stocked in; a braid gives 85 to 95 percent coverage, is far lower in resistance, so it carries the current a nearby lightning strike or a fault induces without the tape's heating, and survives repeated flexing; the two together give the coverage of the tape and the current capacity of the braid where the route passes a drive output, a medium-voltage feeder or an arc furnace, at roughly twice the cost and a larger diameter. (10.1.2)
10.1.3 The drain wire shall run the full length of the cable and shall be the conductor the shield is grounded by; the tape itself shall not be the grounded conductor.
10.1.4 Multi-pair and multi-triad cable shall carry the shield arrangement indicated under Multi-Pair and Multi-Triad Homerun Cable.

10.2 Shield Grounding Rule

10.2.1 The shield of every analog signal pair, triad, RTD lead, thermocouple extension and 4 to 20 mA homerun cable shall be grounded at the point indicated in the datasheet, and at no other point.
Shield Ground Pointradio
● Control panel end only, field end isolated and folded back
○ Field device end only, panel end isolated
○ Both ends
10.2.3 At the isolated end, the shield and the drain wire shall be cut back, insulated with heat-shrink sleeving over the drain and the exposed tape, and folded back along the jacket so that no part of the shield can touch the enclosure, the instrument housing or the conduit.
10.2.4 Where the field device's manufacturer requires the shield grounded at the device, the Contractor shall ground that loop's shield at the device, shall isolate it at the panel end, and shall record the exception by loop on the cable schedule.
10.2.5 Shields shall be continuous through every junction box, pull box and field terminal strip, carried across on a dedicated terminal that is isolated from the box and from ground, so that the shield of the whole run is grounded at one point only.
10.2.6 Within the panel, the drain wire shall be sleeved from the point the jacket is stripped to the instrument ground bus and shall land on that bus and not on the equipment grounding bar, under Industrial Control PanelsIndustrial Control PanelsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/industrial-control-panels.
10.2.7 The shield of a fieldbus trunk and spur shall be grounded as stated under Fieldbus and Serial Cable, which follows the segment design under Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks.
10.2.8 Each individually shielded pair of a multi-pair cable shall be grounded under the same rule as a single pair, and the overall shield shall be grounded at the panel end only.

11 Armor and Jacket

11.1 Armor

11.1.1 Cable armor shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Cable Armorradio
● No armor, jacketed cable in raceway or tray
○ Interlocked aluminum armor with overall jacket
○ Continuous corrugated welded aluminum armor with overall jacket
NOTE A jacketed cable in conduit or tray needs no armor, and it is what nearly every plant pulls. Interlocked armor adds crush resistance and lets a cable run exposed or in a tray without the ER rating, at the cost of an armored-cable fitting at every entry and a bond at every end, and it is not gas-tight. Continuous corrugated welded armor is gas- and moisture-tight, carries the fault current of its own circuit, and is the construction for direct burial or a wet, corrosive run, at the highest cost and the largest bend radius. (11.1.2)
11.1.3 Armored cable shall be listed under UL 1569 or UL 1277 with the armor, and its armor shall be bonded at every termination with a fitting listed for the armor type.
11.1.4 The jacket over the armor shall carry every rating the Service Conditions section requires of the cable.

11.2 Direct Burial

11.2.1 Whether cable under this standard may be direct buried shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Direct Burial of Cableradio
● Not permitted, every underground run in raceway
○ Permitted where indicated, on direct-burial listed cable
11.2.2 Where direct burial is permitted, the cable shall be listed for direct burial, shall be installed at the depth NEC 300.5 requires for its circuit class, and shall be routed where indicated on the site electrical plan.
NOTE A raceway lets a cable be replaced; a buried cable cannot be. A direct-buried instrument cable between two structures is the lowest first cost, and it is replaced by excavation. (11.2.3)

11.3 Jacket Material and Color

11.3.1 The jacket of instrument signal cable shall be of the material indicated in the datasheet, rated for the temperature and the exposure of the Service Conditions section.
Instrument Signal Cable Jacket Materialselect
PVC
Chlorinated polyethylene (CPE)
Low-smoke zero-halogen polyolefin
Fluoropolymer
NOTE PVC is the jacket instrument cable is stocked in, meets the sunlight, oil and wet-location listings at low cost and is the norm; CPE resists oil, ozone and heat better and is the jacket of a cable that runs in a chemical room or over a hot process; a low-smoke zero-halogen polyolefin limits the acid gas and smoke of a cable fire in an occupied or electronics-filled space and is chosen where that ratings checkbox is selected; a fluoropolymer jacket serves a plenum or a high-temperature run at several times the cost. (11.3.2)
11.3.3 The jacket color of instrument signal and control cable shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Instrument Signal Cable Jacket Colorselect
Black
Gray
Yellow
Orange
NOTE Black is the stock color of instrument and control tray cable and resists sunlight best; gray is the second stock color and is chosen where the Owner's standard distinguishes signal from control by jacket; yellow and orange are chosen where a class of cable is to be told apart in a shared tray at a glance, at the cost of a special order and a longer lead time. (11.3.4)
11.3.5 Light blue shall be reserved for the cable of intrinsically safe circuits and shall not be the jacket color of any other cable under this standard.
11.3.6 The jacket shall bear a printed legend, repeated at intervals of not more than 24 in., stating the manufacturer, the type and listing, the voltage rating, the conductor count and size, the shield construction and the ratings claimed.

12 Pair Identification

12.1 The conductors of each pair shall be color-coded and each pair numbered under ICEA S-73-532 Method 1, with the pair number printed on the insulation of each conductor at intervals along its length.
12.2 The conductors of a triad shall be black, white and red, and each triad shall be numbered in the same manner as a pair.
12.3 Multiconductor control cable conductors shall be identified under ICEA S-58-679 by the method the cable schedule states for that cable, and the method shall be the same for every control cable on the project.
NOTE Printed pair numbers let a terminating electrician land a 24-pair homerun by reading the conductor, which is the difference between a terminating record that matches the loop diagram and one that is reconciled afterward with a buzzer; a color-only scheme needs a color chart at every panel and fails under a sodium light. (12.4)

13 Single-Pair and Triad Cable

13.1 Each 4 to 20 mA, pulse, frequency and millivolt circuit that does not run on a homerun cable shall be carried on a single twisted shielded pair, and each three-wire RTD circuit on a single twisted shielded triad, of the conductor size indicated in the datasheet.
Single-Pair and Triad Conductor Sizeselect
22 AWG
20 AWG
18 AWG
16 AWG
NOTE An 18 AWG pair carries a 4 to 20 mA loop to the distance most plants reach, terminates in a standard ferrule and is the stock size; 16 AWG halves the loop resistance for a long run to a remote well or a tank farm and survives a rough pull, at a larger diameter and a bigger conduit; 20 and 22 AWG pack more pairs into a cable and a tray and are chosen where every run is short and the pair count is large, at the cost of a loop resistance that limits reach and a conductor that breaks in a crowded terminal. (13.2)
13.3 Where the loop resistance of the pair at the selected size, added to the input resistance of every device on the loop, would exceed the load the loop power supply can drive at the transmitter's minimum lift-off voltage, the pair shall be one size larger, and the Contractor shall show the calculation on the cable schedule for every loop longer than 1,000 ft one way.
13.4 An RTD circuit shall be carried on the conductor count of the lead configuration selected under Temperature InstrumentationTemperature InstrumentationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/temperature-instrumentation: a triad for a three-wire element and a two-pair or quad cable for a four-wire element.
NOTE A three-wire RTD cancels lead resistance only when the three conductors are the same size, length and temperature, which a triad guarantees and two cables do not. (13.5)
13.6 A pulse or frequency circuit above 1 kHz shall be carried on a pair of polyethylene or foamed insulation whose capacitance per unit length, multiplied by the run length, is within the limit the receiving input states.
13.7 The lay of the twisted pair shall be not more than 2 in., so that the pair rejects the magnetic field of a parallel power conductor along its whole length.

14 Multi-Pair and Multi-Triad Homerun Cable

14.1 Analog circuits between a field junction box or marshalling cabinet and the control panel shall be carried on multi-pair or multi-triad homerun cable of the conductor size indicated in the datasheet.
Homerun Cable Conductor Sizeselect
20 AWG
18 AWG
16 AWG
NOTE The size question on a homerun is diameter against reach: 20 AWG puts more pairs in a cable of a given diameter and a tray of a given fill, 18 AWG matches the single pairs it collects and keeps one ferrule size on the panel, and 16 AWG is chosen for a long run to a remote building where the pair resistance at 18 AWG would limit the loop. (14.2)
14.3 The shield arrangement of homerun cable shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Homerun Cable Shield Arrangementradio
● Individually shielded pairs with an overall shield
○ Individually shielded pairs without an overall shield
○ Overall shield only
NOTE Individual shields keep one loop's signal out of the next, which matters where a pulse or a fast-changing signal shares the cable with a slow one, and the overall shield adds a low-resistance path for the current a nearby fault induces; individual shields without an overall shield save diameter and cost on a short run in a quiet route; an overall shield alone is the lightest and lowest-cost construction and is chosen only where every pair carries a slow 4 to 20 mA signal and crosstalk is not a concern. (14.4)
14.5 Each homerun cable shall carry spare pairs of not less than the share of its total pair count indicated in the datasheet, rounded up to the next whole pair.
Spare Pair Allowance in Homerun Cablerange
%
10202550
Default: Not less than 20 %
14.6 Spare pairs shall be terminated at both ends on spare terminals, identified as spares, tested with the cable, and recorded on the spare pair record.
NOTE A spare pair in a homerun is the difference between adding an instrument and pulling a cable; 20 percent is the share most plants hold because the pair count steps in multiples of 4, 8 and 12 and the next step up is usually within it; a plant whose expansion is drawn holds more, and a cable to a junction box that will never gain a device holds none. (14.7)
14.8 Whether a discrete 24 V DC status contact may be carried on a spare pair of a shielded homerun cable shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Discrete 24 V DC Circuits on Homerun Spare Pairsradio
● Not permitted, discrete circuits on control cable only
○ Permitted for 24 V DC dry contacts
NOTE A 24 V DC contact on a shielded pair injures nothing, and on a remote junction box it saves a second cable; a 120 V contact on the same cable is a Class 1 circuit on a 300 V cable and is never permitted, and a plant that keeps analog and discrete on separate cables keeps the two classes separable at every pull box for life. (14.9)

15 Thermocouple Extension Cable

15.1 Thermocouple circuits between the connection head and the transmitter or input card that provides the cold-junction reference shall be carried on extension cable whose conductors are of the extension alloy for the thermocouple type, with the initial tolerance of ASTM E230/E230M, and the type shall match the element as required under Temperature InstrumentationTemperature InstrumentationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/temperature-instrumentation.
15.2 Extension cable shall be color-coded under ASTM E230/E230M, with the jacket and positive conductor in the color assigned to the thermocouple type and the negative conductor red.
NOTE The ASTM E230 color code is the former ANSI MC96.1 code, and the red negative conductor is the one convention that holds across every type; a technician who lands red to positive reverses the signal, and the reading then falls as the process heats. (15.3)
15.4 Extension cable shall be a twisted shielded pair, with the shield grounded under the Shield Grounding Rule.
15.5 Extension cable conductors shall be of the size and form indicated in the datasheet.
Thermocouple Extension Conductor Sizeselect
20 AWG solid
20 AWG stranded
16 AWG stranded
Thermocouple Extension Insulationselect
PVC, 105 °C
Fluoropolymer (FEP or PFA), 200 °C
Fiberglass braid, 480 °C
NOTE A 20 AWG solid conductor is the stock extension wire and terminates under a screw head without a ferrule; 20 AWG stranded survives a pull through conduit and a vibrating head; 16 AWG stranded halves the loop resistance on a long run where the input card's resistance limit is close. PVC serves every run that stays below 105 °C, which is nearly every run that leaves a connection head; a fluoropolymer insulation serves a cable that enters a heated enclosure or runs beside a steam line; fiberglass serves the length that runs inside a furnace wall or a hot duct, and it is not moisture resistant. (15.6)
15.7 Extension cable shall run unbroken from the connection head to the cold-junction reference, and every intermediate terminal shall be of the matching alloy, as required under Temperature InstrumentationTemperature InstrumentationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/temperature-instrumentation.
15.8 Multi-pair thermocouple extension cable shall carry pairs of one thermocouple type only, individually shielded, and shall be identified by pair number in the same manner as instrument cable.

16 Discrete Control and Status Cable

16.1 Discrete control and status circuits between a panel and a field device, a local control station, a starter or an actuator shall be carried on multiconductor control cable or on single conductors in raceway, as selected under Discrete Control Cable Type, of the conductor size indicated in the datasheet.
Discrete Control Conductor Sizeselect
18 AWG
16 AWG
14 AWG
12 AWG
NOTE A 14 AWG conductor carries a 120 V solenoid, a contactor coil or a pilot light to any distance in a plant with negligible drop and is protected by the 15 A device NEC 725.43 permits, which is why it is the control conductor of nearly every plant; 16 and 18 AWG are permitted for a Class 1 circuit under NEC 725.49 where protected at 10 A and 7 A, and are chosen where a cable carries many 24 V DC status contacts and the diameter matters; 12 AWG is chosen for a long run to a remote solenoid or a heater contactor where the 120 V drop at 14 AWG would hold the coil below its pull-in voltage. (16.2)
16.3 Conductors of 16 and 18 AWG shall be used only where the circuit is protected by an overcurrent device of the rating NEC 725.43 and 725.49 permit for that size.
16.4 Discrete control cable shall be unshielded unless the circuit it carries is a 24 V DC input to a high-speed counter or a solid-state input that the controller manufacturer requires shielded, in which case it shall be a shielded pair under the Shield Grounding Rule.
16.5 Conductors of a 120 V AC discrete circuit and conductors of a 24 V DC discrete circuit shall not share a multiconductor cable, and shall share a raceway only as the Separation and Raceway Sharing section permits.
NOTE A 120 V conductor in a cable with 24 V DC inputs couples enough capacitive current into a high-impedance input to hold it on after the contact opens, and a fault between the two destroys the input card; the two voltages are kept apart at the cable so that a crossed terminal is the only way they can meet. (16.6)
16.7 Each discrete control cable shall carry not less than one spare conductor per six active conductors, rounded up, terminated at both ends on spare terminals and recorded on the spare pair record.

17 Fieldbus and Serial Cable

17.1 Fieldbus Cable

17.1.1 FOUNDATION Fieldbus H1 and PROFIBUS PA trunk and spur cable shall be fieldbus cable of the type indicated in the datasheet, built to the physical layer of IEC 61158-2 and ANSI/ISA-50.02 Part 2, with the characteristic impedance, attenuation and capacitance the physical layer specifies stated in the product data.
Fieldbus Cable Typeradio
● Type A, single twisted shielded pair, 18 AWG
○ Type B, multi-pair twisted with overall shield, 22 AWG
NOTE Type A is the cable the fieldbus physical layer is specified around: one 18 AWG shielded pair of 100 Ω impedance that carries a segment to 1,900 m, and it is what every new segment is designed with; Type B bundles 22 AWG pairs under one overall shield for a trunk that carries several segments through one route, at a 1,200 m segment limit and a crosstalk budget the segment design has to carry. (17.1.2)
17.1.3 Segment length, spur length, device count and the segment design are as selected under Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks, and the Contractor shall not change the cable type or route a segment beyond the length that design states without the Engineer of Record's written direction.
17.1.4 The fieldbus shield shall be continuous through every junction box and device coupler and shall be grounded at the point the segment design under Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks states, which for a segment whose host and devices share one grounding system is the host end only, and shall be isolated at every other point.
17.1.5 Where the segment design grounds the fieldbus shield at more than one point through a capacitive coupling, the coupling shall be the one the device coupler manufacturer provides, and a direct multi-point ground shall not be made.
17.1.6 Fieldbus cable shall carry a jacket color that distinguishes it from 4 to 20 mA cable in a shared tray, and the color shall be stated on the cable schedule.

17.2 Serial Cable

17.2.1 RS-485 serial circuits, including Modbus RTU, shall be carried on a twisted shielded pair of 120 Ω characteristic impedance, of low-capacitance insulation and of the conductor size indicated in the datasheet, with a drain wire and, where the receiving device requires a signal common, a third conductor in the same cable.
Serial Cable Conductor Sizeselect
24 AWG
22 AWG
20 AWG
18 AWG
NOTE A 24 AWG low-capacitance pair is the cable RS-485 was specified around and reaches the 4,000 ft the standard allows at the lowest capacitance per foot; 22 AWG is the plant size that survives a conduit pull and a terminal strip; 20 and 18 AWG are chosen where the serial circuit shares a homerun with 4 to 20 mA pairs and one ferrule size is wanted, at a higher capacitance that shortens the reach at the higher data rates. (17.2.2)
17.2.3 The serial circuit shall be terminated at each end of the bus with the resistor the driving device's manufacturer states, and the cable shall be run as one continuous bus without stubs longer than the manufacturer's limit.
17.2.4 The serial cable shield shall be grounded under the Shield Grounding Rule, at the panel end only, and the signal common conductor shall be carried through to every device and not substituted by the shield.
NOTE A serial bus that uses its shield as the signal common puts the shield's ground current on the common, and the fault shows as devices that drop off the bus one at a time as the drives start. (17.2.5)

18 Intrinsically Safe Circuit Cable

18.1 The cable of an intrinsically safe circuit, from the barrier or isolator in the panel to the device in the classified location, shall be a twisted shielded pair or triad whose inductance and capacitance per unit length are published by the manufacturer and shall be stated on the product data and the cable schedule.
18.2 The cable's inductance and capacitance over its installed length, together with the parameters of the device, shall not exceed the entity parameters of the barrier, and the Contractor shall show the sum on the cable schedule for every intrinsically safe loop.
NOTE The barrier or isolator and its mounting in the panel are furnished under Industrial Control PanelsIndustrial Control PanelsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/industrial-control-panels; the area classification is as shown on the drawings under the Service Conditions section; and the wiring method within the classified location is not yet owned by a SynC standard. This standard governs the cable itself and the separation of its circuit from every other. (18.3)
18.4 Intrinsically safe cable shall have a light blue jacket, and where a cable of another color is unavoidable for a construction the circuit requires, the cable shall be identified as intrinsically safe at intervals of not more than 25 ft and at every termination, as NEC 504.80 requires.
18.5 Intrinsically safe circuit conductors shall be separated from the conductors of every non-intrinsically-safe circuit as NEC 504.30 requires: in a separate raceway or cable, or in the same enclosure only with the separation that section permits, and never on a spare pair of a cable carrying any other circuit.
18.6 Intrinsically safe cable shall be installed under ANSI/ISA-RP12.06.01, and its shield shall be grounded at the barrier end only, at the intrinsically safe ground bus the panel provides.
NOTE An intrinsically safe circuit is safe because the energy it can store and release is known, and the cable is most of that energy; a cable of unstated capacitance, a spare pair shared with a 24 V DC circuit or a shield grounded at the device adds energy the barrier calculation did not count. (18.7)

19 Separation and Raceway Sharing

19.1 Separation from Power Circuits

19.1.1 Cable under this standard that runs parallel to power conductors of 125 V and below, in open tray or as exposed cable, shall be separated from them by not less than the distance indicated in the datasheet.
Separation from Power Circuits of 125 V and Belowrange
in.
2612182436
Default: Not less than 12 in.
19.1.2 Cable under this standard that runs parallel to power conductors above 125 V and to 600 V, in open tray or as exposed cable, shall be separated from them by not less than the distance indicated in the datasheet.
Separation from Power Circuits Above 125 V to 600 Vrange
in.
61218243648
Default: Not less than 24 in.
19.1.3 Cable under this standard that runs parallel to variable frequency drive output conductors shall be separated from them by not less than the distance indicated in the datasheet, and shall never share a raceway, a tray or a tray section with them.
Separation from Variable Frequency Drive Output Conductorsrange
in.
121824364860
NOTE The noise a power conductor couples into a signal pair falls with distance and rises with the voltage, the current and the rate of change of the power circuit, so the distance grows with the class of the power conductor; a 120 V lighting circuit at 12 in. and a 480 V feeder at 24 in. are the figures IEEE 518 practice settled on for open tray, and a drive output, whose pulse edges switch in microseconds, couples at distances where a sine-wave feeder is quiet, so its distance is set by the drive's carrier and the cable's shield and is the one figure a plant most often learns in service. (19.1.4)
19.1.5 Where both circuits are in separate grounded steel conduit for the length of the parallel run, the separation distance may be reduced to half the datasheet value, and shall not be reduced below 2 in.
19.1.6 Where a crossing of a power circuit cannot be avoided, the cable shall cross it at right angles, and shall not run parallel to it within the separation distance on either side of the crossing.
19.1.7 Cable under this standard shall not pass through a motor control center, a switchboard, a panelboard or a drive enclosure, and shall not share a pull box, junction box or wireway with power conductors unless separated from them by a barrier as NEC 725.136 or Article 727 permits.
NOTE Separation of power from signal wiring inside a control panel is governed by Industrial Control PanelsIndustrial Control PanelsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/industrial-control-panels; tray barriers and dividers are furnished under Cable TrayCable Tray SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/cable-tray. (19.1.8)

19.2 Raceway and Tray Sharing

19.2.1 The sharing of a raceway or tray section among the circuit classes of this standard shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
Raceway and Tray Sharing by Circuit Classradio
● Separate section for each class
○ Separate section for 120 V AC discrete only
○ Shared section for every class on 600 V cable
NOTE The three classes are analog and fieldbus, 24 V DC discrete, and 120 V AC discrete. Three classes in three raceways cost three conduits per route and keep every class separable at every pull box for life, which is what nearly every water and wastewater plant builds; a separate section for the 120 V AC class alone lets analog and 24 V DC discrete share a conduit where the two meet at the same junction box, and costs the capacitive coupling of a switching contact into a pair beside it; one shared section for every class on 600 V cable saves the most raceway and is permitted by the code for Type TC, at the cost of 120 V switching transients on the analog pairs and a rule that every cable in the plant be 600 V. (19.2.2)
19.2.3 Type PLTC cable and the Class 2 and Class 3 circuits on it shall not share a raceway, cable, tray section or enclosure with power or Class 1 conductors except as NEC 725.136 permits.
19.2.4 Type ITC cable shall share a raceway, tray or enclosure with power or Class 1 conductors only where NEC 727.4 permits it and 727.5 does not prohibit it.
19.2.5 Type TC cable rated 600 V may share a raceway or tray with power conductors rated 600 V and below under NEC 300.3(C)(1), where the datasheet permits the sharing.
19.2.6 Intrinsically safe cable shall be separated from every other circuit as required under Intrinsically Safe Circuit Cable, whatever the datasheet selects.
19.2.7 Cable under this standard shall not share a raceway or tray with medium-voltage cable, fire alarm circuits or variable frequency drive output conductors.

20 Identification

20.1 Wire Markers

20.1.1 Every conductor shall carry a machine-printed wire marker at each end, within 2 in. of the termination, stating the ANSI/ISA-5.1 loop and tag number of the circuit as it appears on the loop diagram, the terminal designation at that end, and, on a 120 V AC conductor, the circuit's control power source.
20.1.2 The wire marker type shall be as indicated in the datasheet, in the format required under Electrical IdentificationElectrical IdentificationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/electrical-identification.
Wire Marker Typeradio
○ Heat-shrink sleeve marker
○ Slip-on sleeve marker
○ Self-laminating wrap-around marker
NOTE A heat-shrink sleeve cannot slide, cannot be lifted off and is read on the conductor for the life of the panel, at the cost of being applied before the conductor is terminated; a slip-on sleeve is applied after the pull and can be re-marked, at the cost of sliding on a stranded conductor and falling off when the conductor is lifted; a wrap-around marker is applied last and reads on a conductor already landed, at the cost of an adhesive that lets go in a hot or oily enclosure. (20.1.3)
20.1.4 Handwritten markers shall not be accepted.
20.1.5 Pairs of a homerun cable shall be marked at both ends with the loop and tag number of the circuit each pair serves, and spare pairs with the cable number and the word SPARE and the pair number.

20.2 Cable Tags

20.2.1 Every cable shall carry a cable tag at each end, at every pull box and junction box it passes through, and at each side of a wall or floor penetration, stating the cable number of the cable schedule, the from and to equipment, and, on an intrinsically safe cable, the words INTRINSICALLY SAFE.
20.2.2 Cable tags shall be of the material and format required under Electrical IdentificationElectrical IdentificationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/electrical-identification for the location, and shall be secured so that they cannot slide along the cable or be lost when the cable is handled.
NOTE The cable number on the tag is the one the as-built cable schedule and the loop diagram carry, and a tag that reads a number the schedule does not list is the fault that defeats both. (20.2.3)

21 Installation

21.1 Pulling

21.1.1 Cable shall be pulled into a raceway only after the raceway for that run is complete, cleaned, bushed and free of water and debris, under Raceways And ConduitRaceways and ConduitResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/raceways-and-conduit, and laid in a tray only after the tray and its barriers are complete under Cable TrayCable Tray SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/cable-tray.
21.1.2 Pulling tension shall not exceed the manufacturer's published maximum for the cable, and the Contractor shall calculate the tension before any pull longer than 300 ft or with more than two 90-degree bends and shall add a pull box where the calculation shows the limit would be exceeded.
21.1.3 Cable shall be pulled with a basket grip or a pulling eye on the conductors, never on the jacket alone, and a swivel shall be used between the pulling rope and the grip.
21.1.4 Pulling lubricant, where used, shall be listed as compatible with the jacket and insulation compounds of the cable and shall contain no petroleum product where the jacket is PVC.
21.1.5 Cable shall not be bent to a radius smaller than the manufacturer's published minimum, and where no value is published, not smaller than 7 times the overall diameter for unshielded cable, 10 times for shielded or multi-pair cable and 12 times for armored cable.
21.1.6 A kinked, crushed or over-bent cable shall be removed and replaced for the full length of the run at the Contractor's cost.
NOTE A cable whose shield is torn by a kink or a flattened section fails its shield continuity test, and one whose insulation is stretched fails insulation resistance a year later in the first wet season; neither can be repaired in place. (21.1.7)
21.1.8 Cable in tray shall be laid without crossing, secured at the intervals NEC 392.30 requires, and arranged so that cable of each class occupies the section the Raceway and Tray Sharing datasheet assigns to it.
21.1.9 The fill of a raceway shall comply with NEC Chapter 9 and the fill of a tray with NEC 392.22, as administered under Raceways And ConduitRaceways and ConduitResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/raceways-and-conduit and Cable TrayCable Tray SystemsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/cable-tray.

21.2 Splices

21.2.1 Cable under this standard shall not be spliced.
21.2.2 Where a run must be broken, it shall be terminated on terminal blocks in a junction box or marshalling cabinet with the shield carried through on an isolated terminal under the Shield Grounding Rule, and the junction shall be shown on the cable schedule.
21.2.3 Thermocouple extension cable shall be broken only on terminals of the matching alloy, as required under Temperature InstrumentationTemperature InstrumentationResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/temperature-instrumentation.
NOTE A splice in a signal pair is a joint of unknown resistance that changes with the weather in the box, and in a thermocouple circuit it is a thermometer; a terminal block is a documented, re-makeable junction that a technician can find from the cable schedule. (21.2.4)

21.3 Terminations

21.3.1 Stranded conductors shall be terminated by the method indicated in the datasheet, and the method shall be the same throughout the project.
Stranded Conductor Terminationradio
○ Insulated crimped ferrule
○ Insulated compression ring or fork terminal
○ Bare stranded conductor in a cage-clamp or screw-clamp terminal
NOTE An insulated ferrule holds every strand in one crimped sleeve, lands in a cage-clamp or screw-clamp terminal without a stray strand and is what a panel builder uses on every conductor; a ring or fork terminal is the fit for a screw-and-washer terminal on a starter or an older panel, and a ring cannot fall off a loosened screw; a bare stranded conductor in a clamp terminal is the manufacturer's intent for a cage clamp and is the lowest labor, at the cost of a stray strand that shorts two terminals in a crowded strip. (21.3.2)
21.3.3 Ferrules and terminals shall be of the size for the conductor and shall be crimped with the tool and die the ferrule manufacturer specifies.
21.3.4 Not more than one conductor shall be landed on a terminal unless the terminal is listed for two, and not more than two shall be landed on any terminal.
21.3.5 Screw terminals shall be tightened to the terminal manufacturer's published torque with a calibrated tool.
21.3.6 Conductors within a panel shall be dressed, bundled by class, and routed in the wireways the panel provides under Industrial Control PanelsIndustrial Control PanelsResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/industrial-control-panels, with a service loop at each cable entry sufficient for one re-termination without a splice.
21.3.7 At a field device, the cable shall enter through the device's conduit hub or a listed cable gland sealed to the enclosure rating, with the jacket intact to within 1 in. of the terminals and the drain wire isolated under the Shield Grounding Rule.
21.3.8 Unused conductors and spare pairs shall be terminated on spare terminals, not cut off or folded back in the enclosure.
NOTE A terminal strip at the field end of every cable, with every conductor landed and marked, lets a cable be tested from the panel without opening the instrument, and lets an instrument be replaced without touching the cable. (21.3.9)

22 Testing

22.1 Test Conditions and Scope

22.1.1 Every cable under this standard shall be tested after installation and termination and before the loop checks under Control Systems IntegrationControl Systems Integration and TestingResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/control-systems-integration, with the field device and the panel electronics disconnected at both ends, and with the tests of the scope indicated in the datasheet.
Cable Test Scopecheckbox
☑ Continuity and polarity of every conductor, including spares
☑ Insulation resistance of every conductor to ground and to every other conductor
☑ Shield continuity and shield-to-ground isolation of every shielded cable
☑ Thermocouple extension polarity and type at every termination
☑ Fieldbus segment resistance, capacitance, isolation and noise
☑ Serial bus impedance and termination
NOTE Testing with a transmitter or an input card connected applies the test voltage to its electronics, and a cable that passes with the device connected has been tested through the device, not around it. (22.1.2)
NOTE The loop check, which proves the signal from the device through the cable to the controller and the display, is performed under Control Systems IntegrationControl Systems Integration and TestingResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/control-systems-integration and is not a substitute for the cable tests of this section. (22.1.3)

22.2 Continuity and Polarity

22.2.1 Each conductor shall be proven continuous from end to end and landed on the terminal the loop diagram assigns to it, and each pair shall be proven to carry its two conductors to the matching terminals at both ends.
22.2.2 The conductor resistance of each pair shall be recorded and compared with the value the conductor size and the cable length predict, and a pair whose resistance exceeds the predicted value by more than 10 percent shall be investigated for a damaged conductor or a poor termination before the loop check.
22.2.3 Thermocouple extension shall be proven of the correct type and polarity at every termination by the method ASTM E230/E230M describes or with a thermocouple type tester, and a reversed or mismatched termination shall be corrected before the loop check.

22.3 Insulation Resistance

22.3.1 Insulation resistance shall be measured with a direct-current megohmmeter between each conductor and ground, and between each conductor and every other conductor of the cable connected together, at the test voltage indicated in the datasheet for the cable's rating, applied for not less than one minute.
Insulation Resistance Test Voltage for 300 V Cablerange
V DC
1002505001000
Insulation Resistance Test Voltage for 600 V Cablerange
V DC
2505001000
NOTE A 500 V DC test on a 300 V cable stresses the insulation enough to find a nicked jacket and a wet junction box without stressing it beyond its rating, and 1,000 V DC on a 600 V control cable is the ANSI/NETA ATS figure for low-voltage cable; a lower voltage finds less and is chosen where a device cannot be disconnected, and a higher voltage on a 300 V cable overstresses a tape shield's polyester. (22.3.2)
22.3.3 The insulation resistance of every conductor shall be not less than the value indicated in the datasheet, corrected to 20 °C.
Acceptable Insulation Resistancerange
MΩ
20501005001000
Default: Not less than 100 MΩ
22.3.4 The Contractor shall record the ambient temperature and relative humidity at the time of the test and shall apply the meter manufacturer's temperature correction.

22.4 Shield Continuity and Isolation

22.4.1 The shield of every shielded cable shall be proven continuous from the panel-end drain to the far end, and the resistance of the shield shall be recorded.
22.4.2 With the panel-end drain lifted from the instrument ground bus, the resistance from the shield to ground and from the shield to every conductor shall be measured at the test voltage of the cable's rating and shall be not less than the acceptable insulation resistance, which proves that the shield touches ground nowhere but the point the Shield Grounding Rule assigns.
NOTE A shield that reads to ground with its drain lifted is grounded somewhere along the run, at a junction box terminal, a torn fold-back at the instrument or a conduit bushing, and the loop it forms is found now with a megohmmeter or later with a drifting reading. (22.4.3)
22.4.4 Where the datasheet grounds the shield at the field end or at both ends for a loop, the isolation test shall be applied at the end the rule isolates, and a both-ends loop shall be proven continuous to ground at each end.

22.5 Fieldbus and Serial Segment Tests

22.5.1 Each fieldbus segment shall be tested with the devices disconnected for trunk and spur conductor resistance, shield continuity, shield-to-conductor and conductor-to-ground isolation, and segment capacitance, against the acceptance values of the segment design under Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks.
22.5.2 Each fieldbus segment shall then be tested with the devices connected and the segment powered for the direct-current voltage at the farthest device, the signal level at each device and the noise on the segment, with a fieldbus segment tester, against the values the physical layer and the segment design state.
22.5.3 Each RS-485 serial bus shall be proven to carry the terminating resistance at each end and no other termination, and the direct-current resistance of the bus shall be recorded.
NOTE The network tests that follow, including the device-level communication tests of the fieldbus and serial devices, are performed under Process Control NetworksProcess Control NetworksResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/process-control-networks and Control Systems IntegrationControl Systems Integration and TestingResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/control-systems-integration. (22.5.4)

22.6 Test Failures and Records

22.6.1 A cable that fails any test shall not be connected to a field device or a panel input.
22.6.2 For each failed test, the Contractor shall find the cause, shall replace the cable for the full length of the run where the fault is in the cable or correct the termination where the fault is at a terminal, and shall retest until the cable passes, at the Contractor's cost.
22.6.3 A failed instrument cable shall be replaced, not repaired in place, unless the Engineer of Record directs otherwise in writing.
22.6.4 Each test shall be recorded by cable number and by loop on the form of the cable test procedure, with the instrument identification and calibration date, the test voltage, the measured values, the ambient conditions, the acceptance criterion and the pass or fail result, and the records shall be included in the closeout submittals.

23 Delivery, Storage and Handling

23.1 Cable shall be delivered on the manufacturer's reels with the jacket legend and the reel label intact, and with both cable ends sealed with a heat-shrink cap.
23.2 Reels shall be stored on their flanges on a dry surface, off the ground, under cover from precipitation and direct sunlight, and shall not be laid on their side.
23.3 Cable ends shall be resealed within one hour of being cut, and shall remain sealed until the cable is terminated.
23.4 Cable shall be unreeled from a reel stand or a jack, not pulled off the reel face, and shall not be dragged on concrete or gravel.
23.5 Reels that have stood in water, and cable with an unsealed end that has stood in weather, shall be inspected under Receiving Inspection before any length is used.

24 Warranty

24.1 The Contractor's installation warranty on cable under this standard shall run for the period indicated in the datasheet from substantial completion.
Installation Warranty Periodrange
years
1235
Default: Not less than 1 years
24.2 A cable whose insulation resistance falls below the acceptance value, whose shield loses continuity or isolation, whose conductor opens or whose termination fails within the warranty period shall be replaced for the full length of the run, retested under the Testing section, and warranted for the longer of the remainder of the original period or 12 months from the repair.
24.3 The Contractor shall bear the cost of opening finishes, raceway and tray and of repairing other work disturbed, where a warranted replacement requires them.
24.4 Where the parties disagree whether a warranty-period failure results from workmanship, a product defect or a condition of the plant such as water in a raceway, the Engineer of Record shall make the initial determination.
24.5 The warranty administration, the fresh term on a repaired item and the assignment of the manufacturer's warranty shall be as required under Common Work Results ProcessCommon Work Results for Process EquipmentResolves to the current adopted revision.sync/common-work-results-process.