Cable Sizing

What a lazy moron.

Are you wiring a skyscrapper or a residence or a backyard shed? What problem do you have that you feel you need software to solve?

Just asking your advice... It's a long term solution. I'm constantly calculating cable sizes and legally it needs to be right (in the UK and Ireland). I can do it manually...e.g. Mathematically by taking into consideration volt-drop, power-factor, grouping, temperature etc... but this can be tedious as I need to look up the properties of the cable etc. On average each run that I calculate is 50m - 200m. Many different cable types, from deep sea to street-lighting. DC & AC. 110V - 600V. the max current I've dealt with is 2000A.

Please don't reply if you're not going to be constructive.

Shay

Jeeze, you English guys are defensive.

About a year ago I had a temporary situation where I had to do some serious computer sort of work and it had to be portable. What I wound up doing was buying an obsolete Pocket PC on eBay (Jornada 540). It only cost $40, as I recall, and it had a good battery and came with the computer interface cables.

It sounds like what you need to do is, (1) Obtain valid, reliable information and then (2) as an option you might want to, or need to, put it in a form where its readily retrievable. The two options that I can think of for doing that is to either make an old-fashioned chart, or put it on a spread sheet, using Excel, for instance. Then as a further option you could download the spread sheet into a Pocket PC. Spread sheets aren't that hard to program, but it does require some spin up time. Or, you might be able to find a good secretary, etc., to do it for you. In any case, it looks like you are probably stuck with doing your own initial research.

I've seen one based on the NEC (US). Its actually an expert system that does a whole lot more than just wire sizing. I'm not sure that'll do you any good, but I'm guessing there must be something similar for UK and other jurisdictions.

I don't know who wrote it. I saw it in use at an A&E firm in India on a US project. It may have been produced in house.

Hi there... thanks loads for your advice.

Oh... by the way... I'm Irish (the type that hates being called english)...lol I'm from Derry in N.Ireland....lol

:-)

Thanks again.... shay

This software is free but from NZ, (I think NZ, has similarities to the UK regulations: - BS7671).

The calculation is straightforward in any case, if you just want to check. (To be sure, to be sure).

Seek and you will find. Jaymack