Cables & wires

What is the difference between cables and wires?

In electrical engineering literature, a distinction is made between cables and wires. With regard to electrical installation, cables and wires have the same job: they transmit energy, data and/or signals. Typically, cables are rigid and wires more flexible.

Often, the term cable is used when it is laid underground or on the seabed: such as an underground cable. A cable describes an unsheathed electric wire. They are often designed for higher electrical and physical loads. 

The term wire is used, on the other hand, in relation to open installing indoors. “Open” also includes flush-mounted installation, as they extend out of the plaster at sockets and switches. “Wire” is the generic term for everything that transports electricity: high-voltage wires, telephone wires, sheathed cable, installation cable, hose line, wiring cable. Wires are also available as uninsulated single core cables, e.g. for overhead lines.

Wires are also called cables in every-day use – for example patch cables, USB cables, data cables, underground cables audio cables, network cables and cable drums. Depending on the branch, however, the terms are used differently or synonymously. In English-speaking countries, only the term “cable” is used.

What is a conductor?

A conductor is a generic term and comprises one or more metal wires for transmitting electric current.

In cables, what are cores, wires and strands?

What are cores?
A single conductor with its insulation is called a core. Cores are current-carrying wires, strands or the individual conductors of a cable. For example: single-core, mostly insulated strands or insulated wires; two cores paired together as a core pair.

The rigid wire and the flexible strand
The wire is a single, mostly rigid and solid conductor that establishes connections in devices. One feature is the jumper wire. It connects end points in distributors and depending in the intended use can have one or more cores.

The flexible strand: a strand comprises many fine copper wires. As a result it is flexible and bendable.

The right cable selection

Operating conditions, environmental influences and mechanical loads must not cause thermal overload and a short circuit during current operation. When selecting the right cable or the right wire, therefore, aspects that affect the safe operation and protection in case of fault are important:

• What must the cable or wire withstand? To be considered, for example, are voltage and current, protection against electric shock, accumulation of cables and wires
• In which environment is the cable used? Ambient temperature, occurrence of liquids or corrosive substances
• How is the cable strained? Tensile loads, moved use or stationary use or application in energy transmission chains or cable tracks, loads during installation
• Does the cable need to be halogen-free? Are there fire risks?

Single core cables for switch cabinet and internal cabling

Single core cables are used for the cabling of switch cabinets, for wiring within devices and for making cable looms. These cables are available in many cross-sections and colours. For the switch cabinet, the traditional single core wires H05V-K and H07V-K and the halogen-free versions H05Z-K and H07Z-K are used

Fine-core cables made from copper strands are particularly flexible and bendable. One example is the highly flexible single core wire LiFY. Apart from the ultra-fine single core cables, it has particularly soft and cold-flexible PVC insulation. 

Control cables for machinery and devices

Connection and control cables after used in a variety of applications for energy and signal transmission. They are used in machinery, equipment, devices and vehicles of all kinds. The large variety of requirements leads to just as much model variety. The classics among the control and connection cables include products of the Ölflex brand from Lapp Kabel, such as the Ölflex Classic 100 series with coloured cores or the Ölflex Classic 110 with numbered cores. Their name is derived from the terms “oil resistance” and “flexibility”.

Overview of all ÖLFLEX control wires

Rubber cable for harsh use

For rubber cables, there is a distinction between sheath insulation with PVC and PUR sheath. Rubber cables or rubber wires such as H05RN-F and H07RN-F are characterised by their all-weather suitability with moderate mechanical resilience. The rubber cable of type NSSHÖU, on the other hand, is a mechanically extremely robust cable for harsh environments such as mines.

What types of cable are there in the area of rubber cables

Data lines for transmitting data

Typically, wires are used for digital transmission, for which the electrical conductor, insulation and connector are precisely specified. The presumably most wide-spread wire types are data cables such as the LIYY or the shielded design of the LiYCY. Used in machinery and plant construction and in measurement/control technology. 

Sensor cables are used to control sensors. They are available with PVC or PUR sheaths and can be purchased as cables for self-assembly or ready-assembled with injected M8 or M12.

Network cables, also known as patch cables. Specifically, Ethernet cables in Cat 6 or Cat 7 quality network cables (Cat 6/Cat 7 patch cables) represent the standard data lines today. Special field buses are used for networking industrial equipment. The PROFIBUS cable is the most wide-spread type of work for this.

Overview of data lines and their properties