PHILIPPINE NATIONAL STANDARD DPNS 1207:2005

Electric wires and cables – soft drawn (annealed) copper stranded conductors for
electrical purposes - specification

1 Scope

This standard specifies requirements for soft drawn (annealed) copper stranded conductors,
hereinafter referred to as “stranded conductors”, to be used for building wires, power
cables and other electrical applications.

2 References

The following standards contain provisions which through reference in the text form part of
this national standard. At the time of publication of this PNS, the editions indicated were
valid:

PNS 260:1990 – Annealed Copper Wires for Electrical Purposes – Specification

PNS 1088:1992 – Electrical Wires and Cables – Electrical Copper and Aluminum Wire–
Test Methods

ASTM – Electrical Conductors

3 Definitions

For the purpose of this standard, the following definitions shall apply: as per ASTM B-354.

3.1
cable
a stranded conductor either with or without insulation and other coverings

3.2
conductor
a material usually in the form of a wire or cable suitable for carrying electrical current

3.3
bare conductor
a conductor with no covering or insulation whatsoever.

3.4
solid conductor
a conductor consisting of a single wire

3.5
stranded conductor
a conductor composed of a group of wires or any combination of wire groups

3.6
 DPNS 1207:2005

conventional concentric conductor

conductor constructed with a round central core surrounded by one or more layers of
helically laid round wires. The direction of lay is reversed in successive layers, and generally
with an increase in length of lay for successive layers

3.7
compressed stranded conductor
a conventional concentric conductor manufactured to a diameter not more than 3% below
the nominal diameter of a non-compressed conductor of the same cross-sectional area

3.8
combination stranded conductor
a conductor constructed with wires of different diameters with such differences occurring
either within a single layer or from layer to layer

3.9
wire
a slender rod or filament of drawn metal. (The definition restricts the term to what would
ordinarily be understood by the term “solid wire”. The sense is that the length is longer in
comparison with the diameter. If the wire is covered with insulation, it is properly called an
insulated wire, although primarily the term “wire” refers to the metal, nevertheless when the
context that the wire is insulated, the term “wire” will be understood to include the
insulation)

3.10
annealed wire
a soft wire – Wire that has been drawn or rolled to final size and then heated to remove the
effects of cold working

3.11
lay
one turn of the helix of a wire or member of a stranded conductor

3.12
length of lay
the axial length of one turn of the helix of a wire or member

3.13
direction of lay
the lateral direction, designated as left-hand or right-hand, in which the wires of a member
or units of a conductor run over the top of the member or conductor as they recede from
an observer looking along the axis of the member or conductor

3.14
joint
that portion of the conductor where the end of two wires, rods, or groups of wires are
joined by brazing, soldering, welding or by mechanical means
3.15
resistance

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 DPNS 1207:2005

the scaler property of an electric circuit or of any body that may be used as part of an
electric circuit which determines for a given current the rate at which electric energy is
converted into heat or radiant energy and which has a value such that the product of the
resistance and the square of the current gives the rate of conversion of energy

4 Requirements

4.1 Appearance

The stranded conductors shall have a smooth surface, and shall be free from flaws, cracks,
and other imperfections.

4.2 Characteristics

The characteristics of the stranded conductors shall conform to the values given in table 1.

4.3 Sizes

The sizes of the stranded conductors shall be expressed as the nominal cross-sectional area
and their strand construction shall be as given in table 1 and 1A.

4.4 Materials

4.4.1 Wires – The wires of the annealed conductors shall be in accordance with PNS 260
before stranding.

4.4.2 Lay – The lay of the stranded conductors shall be uniformly, tightly and
concentrically stranded with wires. The direction of lay shall be reversed in each successive
layer of strands with the outer layer in left-hand (S-strand).

The lay ratio in the outer layer shall not be less than 8 nor more than 16 times the mean
outer diameter of that layer.

4.4.3 Cross-sectional area – The cross-sectional area of the completed conductor in

strand shall not be less than 98 percent of the calculated sectional area given in table 1.

4.4.4 Joint of wire – Welds and brazes may be made in rods or in wires prior to final
drawing. In other conductors, welds and brazes may be made in the finished individual
wires composing the conductor, but shall not be closer together than 1 foot as per table 1
of ASTM B-8.

4.4.5 Weight and resistance

4.4.5.1 The weight and electrical resistance of a unit length of stranded conductor are a
function of the lay of length. The approximate weight and electrical resistance may be
determined using the standard increment in resistance and weight due to stranding as shown
in table 2.

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 DPNS 1207:2005

4.4.5.2 When greater accuracy is desired, the increment of weight or electrical resistance
based on the specific lay of the conductor, k, in percent may be calculated as follows:

k = 100 (m – 1)

where

m is the lay factor, and is the ratio of the weight or electrical resistance of a unit
length of stranded conductor to that of a solid conductor of the same cross-sectional
area or of a stranded conductor with infinite length of lay, that is, all wires parallel to
the conductor axis. The lay factor m for the completed stranded conductor is the
numerical average of the lay factors for each of the individual wires in the conductor,
including the straight core wire, if any (for which the lay factor is unity). The lay
factor, m, for any given wire in a concentric-lay-stranded conductor is

m= 1+(9.8696/n²)
where n = length of lay/diameter of helical path of wire.

4.4.6 Variation in area

The area of cross-section of the completed conductor shall be not less than 98% of the
calculated cross-sectional area indicated in table 1.

5 Test methods

5.1 Appearance – The appearance test shall be conducted in accordance with PNS
1088.

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 PNS 1207:1997:2000

Table 1 – Stranded annealed copper conductors

Conductor
Nominal Characteristics
composition
cross
sectional Nominal Maximum
Calculated Approx.
area No. of Dia. of Approx. electrical electrical
cross sectional outside
wires wires mass resistance resistance
area diameter
mm2 mm
mm² mm
kg/km ohm/km ohm/km
@20°C @20°C
0.75 7 0.4 0.880 1.2 7.29 20.4
1.25 7 0.5 1.374 1.5 12.36 13.1
2.0 7 0.6 1.979 1.8 17.80 9.000 9.18
3.5 7 0.8 3.519 2.4 31.66 5.060 5.17
5.5 7 1.0 5.498 3.0 49.46 3.240 3.31
8.0 7 1.2 7.917 3.6 71.23 2.250 2.30
14 7 1.6 14.07 4.8 126.6 1.260 1.29
22 7 2.0 21.99 6.0 197.8 0.801 0.818
30 7 2.3 29.08 6.9 261.6 0.606 0.618
38 19 1.6 38.20 8.0 343.7 0.461 0.461
50 19 1.8 48.35 9.0 435.0 0.368 0.376
60 19 2.0 59.69 10.0 537.0 0.295 0.301
80 19 2.3 78.94 11.5 710.2 0.223 0.228
100 19 2.6 100.9 13.0 907.8 0.175 0.178
125 37 2.1 128.2 14.7 1158 0.138 0.138
150 37 2.3 153.7 16.1 1390 0.115 0.118
200 37 2.6 196.4 18.2 1776 0.0902 0.0920
250 37 2.9 244.4 20.3 2216 0.0701 0.0734
325 61 2.6 323.9 23.4 2937 0.0548 0.0560
400 61 2.9 402.9 26.1 3653 0.0448 0.0450
500 61 3.2 490.6 28.8 4449 0.0362 0.0370

NOTES
1 The numerical values in the table are taken at 20°C.
2 The calculated cross-sectional area, outside diameter, electric resistance and mass are from
the nominal diameter of the element wires.
3 The electric resistance and mass are calculated with the increment shown in table 2.

Density of copper = 8.89g/cm3

Outside Diameter = df x wire diameter; where df is diameter factor

number of wires df
7 3
19 5
37 7
61 9

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 PNS 1207:1997:2000

Table 1A – Construction requirements for 19-wire combination unilay stranded copper

conductors

Reference: ASTM B 787

Nominal Wire diameter Conductor diameter Maximum
sectional mm mm conductor
area A B D=3A + 2B resistance
mm² Large strand Small strand Conventional Compressed at 20°C
( 13w ) ( 6w )
ohm/km
2.0 0.396 0.290 1.769 1.716 8.9688
3.5 0.524 0.384 2.340 2.270 5.1250
5.5 0.657 0.481 2.934 2.846 3.2614
8.0 0.793 0.580 3.538 3.432 2.2422
14 1.048 0.767 4.680 4.540 1.2813
22 1.314 0.962 5.867 5.691 0.8153
30 1.535 1.123 6.852 6.646 0.5979
38 1.727 1.264 7.711 7.480 0.4720
50 1.981 1.450 8.845 8.580 0.3588
60 2.171 1.589 9.689 9.399 0.2990
80 2.506 1.835 11.188 10.853 0.2242
100 2.802 2.051 12.509 12.134 0.1794
125 3.133 2.293 13.986 13.566 0.1435
150 3.432 2.512 15.320 14.861 0.1196
200 3.963 2.901 17.691 17.160 0.0897
250 4.431 3.243 19.779 19.185 0.0718
325 5.052 3.698 22.551 21.875 0.0552
400 5.604 4.102 25.018 24.268 0.0448
500 6.266 4.587 27.971 27.132 0.0359
600 6.864 5.024 30.641 29.722 0.0299
725 7.545 5.523 33.682 32.671 0.0247
850 8.170 5.980 36.470 35.376 0.0211
1000 8.861 6.487 39.557 38.370 0.0179

Table 2 – Increment

Number of wires Increment

%
7 1.2
19 1.2
37 1.7
61 2.0
91 2.3
127 2.6

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 PNS 1207:1997:2000

5.2 Stranded construction – The strand construction test shall be conducted in

accordance with PNS 1088.

5.3 Sampling and criteria for conformity

5.4 Lot

In any consignment, all the coiled copper wires of the same size, and manufactured by
by a single firm under essentially similar conditions of production shall be grouped
together to constitute a lot.

5.5 Test for determining the conformity of the lot to the requirements of this
specification shall be carried out on each lot separately. For this purpose, the number
of coils to be taken at random from the whole lot shall be in accordance with table 3.

Table 3 – Scale of sampling and permissible number of defectives

Number of coils Number of coils Permissible number Length of stranded

in a lot in the sample of defectives conductor
m
2 – 15 2 0
6 – 25 3 0
26 – 90 5 0
91 – 150 8 0
151 – 280 13 1 4–5
281 – 500 20 1
501 – 1200 32 2
1201 – 3200 50 3
3201 and 80 5
above

6 Packing

The stranded conductors shall be coiled or wound on a drum and shall be packed
suitably so as not to be damaged during transport.

7 Marking and labeling

The following information shall be marked legibly and indelibly on the coil or drum:

7.1 Nominal cross-sectional area

7.2 Strand construction
7.3 Length
7.4 Net mass
7.5 Gross mass (in the case of drum wound)
7.6 Rolling direction (in the case of drum)
7.7 Manufacturer’s name or its trademark and address

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 PNS 1207:1997:2000

7.8 Registered trade name or brand name

7.9 Year and month of manufacture
7.10 The words “Made in the PHL” or country of origin