Notes

myElectrical - Cable Sizing Tool Upgrade 

By on

Our IEE cable sizing was wrote a few years ago and had become rough around the edges.  I thought it was time to give the tool a service.  Unfortunately when I looked under the hood I found cracked cylinders, broken bell ends and worn cylinders.  Rather than a quick service I had no choice be to do a major rewrite on the software.  The only thing I didn't touch is the chassis [database], which while suffering from patches of rust, was still usable.

In rewriting the software good things have happened.  There has been a large increase in performance [no more very long waits, with frequent postbacks] and I have put in a couple of enhancements.  The main things users will notice are:

 

  • things should be a lot quicker.  The number of postbacks has been minimized (unfortunately a few are required to retrieve cable configuration data).  Calculation of the cable size itself has been improved to make the processing more efficient.
  • everything is all on one page.  A slicker user interface with no more switching between tabs.
  • you now have quick access to the underlying data.  Click any of the  'i' buttons on the form and the relevant data table should pop up.

Of all the software tools on the site, the cable sizing one is the most complex.  A lot of the complexity derives from strictly following the Wiring Regulations, which while designed for humans to work through, are not necessarily software friendly.  Hopefully the tool should be working well, but if you do come across and bugs or have any suggestions, please let me know.

Click here to  give the Cable Sizing Tool a try.

, ,

More interesting Notes:
Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus

View 2 Comments (old system)

  1. skalooba76's avatar skalooba76 says:
    12/7/2011 9:49 AM

    hi,

    i noticed when i try to size cable for small load, the software keep giving the wrong size, i.e for 12 Amp load, 380V, protected by 16 Amp, the cable calculation software will give 35mm2 which is wrong.

    please look into this matter

    thanks for all the help

    niki

    • Steven's avatar Steven says:
      12/7/2011 10:25 AM

      It may be the fault level. In calculating the size the following happens:

      Cable is calculated on current capacity
      Voltage drop is calculated (and cable size increased if necessary)
      Fault level withstand is calculated (and cable size increased if necessary)

      I have just tried your scenario (with XLPE cable) and at 25kA fault, 25m2 was required, but at 1kA fault only 1mm2.

Comments are closed for this post:
  • have a question or need help, please use our Questions Section
  • spotted an error or have additional info that you think should be in this post, feel free to Contact Us
IEC 61439 Verification Methods

The (relatively new) switchgear and control gear standard, IEC 61439 'Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies' has three methods which can be...

Surface Treatment – Ladders, Trays and Baskets

Steel ladders, trays and baskets form the backbone of cable containment systems. Often these items need some form of surface treatment to prevent corrosion...

Network Theory – Introduction and Review

In electrical engineering, Network Theory is the study of how to solve circuit problems. By analyzing circuits, the engineer looks to determine the various...

Voltage Levels to IEC 60038

The standard aims to consolidate AC and traction voltages within the industry and defines the following bands: band 1 - A.C. systems 100 V to 1...

E-Ink

Before the technical, some general information. E-ink display are found in a lot of e-readers, some mobile phones and similar devices and the intent is...

Wiki Depreciation

We have had the Wiki with us for a long time now, but at last I have decided to say bye bye – more details on why below.

Capacitor Theory

Capacitors are widely used in electrical engineering for functions such as energy storage, power factor correction, voltage compensation and many others...

Robotics - Home Innovations

We have a sister note to this (Robots - Interesting Video), in which I have posted some videos of interesting robots developed by commercial corporations...

Bows and Arrows

It starts with me reading one of the Horrible History books with my son (Groovy Greeks). Arrows were mentioned which lead to the discussion of the bodkin...

Fault Calculation - Per Unit System

Per unit fault calculations is a method whereby system impedances and quantities are normalised across different voltage levels to a common base.  By removing...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note. 

Footer
(click here to extend)
Copyright (c) 2026 myElectrical