Cables and wires are used in many areas. These different areas of application inevitably require different requirements for the flexibility of the conductor. To make it easier to select the right cable or wire, they are divided into conductor classes.
Diverse applications for wires and cables
Cables and wires play an important role in various industries and applications: in household and appliance installation, in industry and commerce, in transport and energy supply, in telecommunications and data transmission, as well as in medicine and health, in construction, in infrastructure and in shipbuilding – cabling takes place in all areas of our lives.
Naturally, these diverse areas of application have different requirements for factors such as haptics, connection technology, processing and costs. An underground cable has to be moved much less often than a cable that is installed in robots and automated systems.
Classification into conductor classes facilitates cable selection
In order to select the most suitable cables and wires for specific requirements, they are divided into conductor classes. Using the correct cable or wire increases the safety, efficiency and durability of electrical installations.
The classification of conductor classes is defined in the DIN VDE 0295 (IEC 60228) standard. The information always refers to the flexibility of the conductor, not to the area of application or type of use.
Conductor classes:
| Conductor class | Cable type | Area of application | Classic use cases |
| 1 | Solid conductors for single and multi-core cables | For fixed installation, immovable | Classic applications: House installation, flush-mounted |
| 2 | Stranded conductors for single and multi-core cables | For fixed installation, immovable | For large cross-sections in industry |
| 3+4 (not awarded) | |||
| 5 | Flexible conductors (fine-stranded) for single and multi-strand cables | Flexible cables | Use in industry, residential and commercial areas, Cable drum |
| 6 | Very flexible (superfine-stranded) conductors for single and multi-strand cables | Highly flexible cables | Use in robotics, automation |
Classes 5 (fine-stranded) and 6 (superfine-stranded) differ in the maximum permissible diameter of the individual wires used. The strand diameter in class 6 is smaller than in class 5. The flexibility of a conductor increases the more stranded wires are used in a nominal cross-section. Fine and superfine-stranded cables are used where mechanical stresses such as vibrations occur (e.g. cable harnesses in vehicles) and where a flexible electrical connection is required (e.g. power plugs for supplying power to electrical devices).
You might also be interested in: „The sizes of cables and wires“
To the author Johannes Wienecke