Southwire Company, LLC is one of North America's largest wire and cable producers. As a family business, Southwire proudly continues building on our commitment to environmental stewardship and corporate sustainability by prioritizing stakeholder expectations, and supporting the wellbeing of our communities and the environment in which we live. To help us meet this commitment, we organize our sustainability strategy around five core tenets: Growing Green, Living Well, Giving Back, Doing Right and Building Worth.
Our five core tenets allow us to deepen our vision and commitments by strengthening and aligning our programs, goals, and governance. Driven by the highest standard of excellence, we appreciate the need for continued improvements and are proud that our results continue to build a stronger Southwire. The use of environmental product declarations is growing rapidly in the wire and cable market. Southwire is developing its product stewardship program to evaluate and reduce the impacts of our products and process throughout the organization. For more information please download PDF Copy

Download PDF Copy

Proper termination of variable frequency drive (VFD) cable is essential to realizing the benefits that can be achieved from using this special cable. These benefits include reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI), minimizing ground currents, controlling common mode current (which if left uncontrolled can damage motor bearings), and more. These benefits result in reduced downtime, fewer drive trips, and improved system performance. These benefits, however, can only be achieved through proper termination of the cable.

Southwire Company, LLC has a great application note on VFD cable termination, titled Begin with the End in Mind – Proper VFD Cable Termination. While that application note discusses the basics, it only addresses the simple system involving a drive, a motor, and a cable connecting them. If that’s the system you have, that application note is all you need. But many systems are more complex. Some systems involve a quick disconnect between the drive and the motor. Other systems may have a junction box between the drive and the motor. And still other systems might have both. In cases like this, it is important to know how to handle cable termination into and out of these additional components.

Download PDF copy

The purpose of this application note is to provide a safe and reliable method to pull additional cable slack where needed. When pulling cable through conduit or cable tray systems in most cases the cable puller (tugger) is positioned where enough slack can be pulled to make the final connection. However, there are instances where additional slack is needed after the cable end has reached the tugger. Another instance where a mare’s tail is needed is when an assist puller is used.

Methods For slack needed in low tension pulls (below hundred pounds) rope, soft or flat straps can be applied to the cable using several half-hitch knots. It is important to only use this method on low tension pulls or else the rope or straps can leave indents or tear the jacket. For higher tension pulls (above 500 pounds) or assist pulling, a mare’s tail is recommended. A mare’s tail is a rope eye with 4-6 flat long straps that are wrapped around the cable to form a basket. The straps will not dig into the cable jacket since they lay flat on the cable surface and are made from aramid fiber which has low stretch, high strength properties. Mare’s tails are a recognized practice in IEEE 1185 Recommended Practice for Cable Instal- lations in Chapter 5.

Download PDF copy

Beginning with the end in mind is not only one of the 7 habits of highly effective people, it’s also a great philosophy to have when working with variable frequency drive (VFD) cable! If you have variable frequency drives at your facility you probably have heard of variable frequency drive cable. VFD cable has been shown to improve system performance by reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI), minimizing ground currents, controlling common mode current (which if left uncontrolled can damage motor bearings) and more. You may know a lot or a little about this specially designed cable that runs from your drive’s inverter to the motor. A lot of companies make VFD cable and a lot of salespeople from these companies will tell you that you should be running this cable. They may be right, but that is only half the story. The other half of the story is if you don’t properly terminate this cable, you lose most of the benefits it can provide.

Download PDF copy

Download PDF copy

In applications where multiple motors are each powered by a separate VFD, care must be taken regarding the selection of the inverter to motor cables. Cable selection is even more critical if the cables are to be run any distance together in a raceway. Single conductor cables, while commonly used for some drive applications, can cause issues in such an installation. In addition to safety issues (see Southwire application note number 2012, VFD Cables – A Safe Bet), electromagnetic coupling can cause issues with drive performance.

Download PDF copy

General
Tray cable, Type TC is an approved wiring method in the NEC found in article 336. It is an efficient method of installing feeders, branch circuits and control cable because multiple runs of tray cable can be installed in one cable support system (i.e. cable tray) rather than multiple conduit runs, which adds to labor and material cost.
Description
Tray cable is a factory assembly of two or more insulated conductors with or without an associated equipment ground conductor under a non-metallic jacket. For feeder and branch circuits, tray cable can be manufactured with any of the insulation types found in NEC 310.4 (A) or (B). Depending on the insulation used, tray cable will have either 600, 1000 or 2000 volt rating. Metallic shields are allowed over groups of conductors or under the outer jacket or both. Metallic sheaths or armor is not allowed under or over the non-metallic jacket, doing so would make the cable type MC cable.
Use/Locations
Type TC cable can be used for a variety of applications such as, power, lighting, control, signal circuits, class 1 circuits and non-power limited fire alarm circuits. Tray cable cannot be installed where it is subject to physical damage and must be installed in a cable tray with exceptions. Sections of the tray can have up to one foot breaks or separations without the need of adding protection to the cable in these areas.

Download PDF copy

Background:
Color codes are used to identify conductors for point-to-point wiring and for circuit diagrams. The Insulated Cable Engineers Association outlines the color code in Standard S-73-532 in Annex E. The Standard breaks down the color code into methods of circuit identification. The most common methods used are Method 1, 3, and 4. After the Method is selected then the assembly of conductors must follow a color sequence from the tables with Table 1 and 2 being the most common.
National Electrical Code (NEC)
The NEC specifies that conductor colored white be used only as grounded conductors and that conductors colored green or green/yellow be used only as grounding conductors and that neither white nor green be used in any manner on ungrounded conductors. Tables 2 provide color sequences that do not include white or green conductors. If grounded or grounding conductors, or both, are used in the cable, they shall be colored white or green respectively, and inserted as the second or third, or both, designated conductor in the first sequence of circuit identification only. Where these conductors are required, they shall be specified.
Methods of Circuit Identification:
Method 1 - Colored Compounds
This method uses base color of insulation and uses tracers when needed, in accordance with Table 1 or 2. Base colors may be obtained by suitable color coatings applied to the insulation or jacket surface or by colored insulation or jacket compound. Tracers shall be colored stripes or bands marked on the surface of the insulation or jacket in such a manner as to afford distinctive circuit coding throughout the length of each wire. Tracers may be continuous or broken lines, such as a series of dots or dashes, and shall be applied longitudinally, annularly, spirally, or in other distinctive patterns.

Download PDF copy

Introduction: One significant change to UL 44 (Standard for Safety for Thermoset-Insulated Wires and Cable) in the 2018 release is the addition of the 1000 Volt rating of US type designations. Now XHHW, in addition to having a 600 Volt rating, can be rated 1000 Volt. RHH and RHW cables, which had 600 V and 2000 V ratings, now can be rated 1000 Volts.

Download PDF copy

Purpose: Withstand testing can be performed on either new or aged cables. The test should only be done if there is concern that cable damage has occurred possibly during installation or the insulation has been compromised due to heat, water or chemicals. General Testing Information • The test can be conducted with AC or DC voltages. • AC Withstand Test for field acceptance is 80% of factory test voltage. See table below. • DC Withstand Test for field acceptance is three times greater than the AC Withstand Test. See table below.

Download PDF copy