Cable Designation Decoder

A coded string like H05VV-F 3G1.5 packs insulation type, voltage class, core count and conductor size into a few characters — but it lands in your catalog as an opaque blob no one can search or filter on. This cable designation decoder breaks those harmonized and regional codes into clean, structured attributes you can map straight into a product record.

Cable Designation Decoder

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Paste cable designations, one per line

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Reports what the printed code claims; confirm voltage class, materials and approvals against the manufacturer datasheet. See how Claro turns part strings into attributes across a whole catalog →

What it checks

Paste one designation or a column of them and the decoder parses each segment, flags anything that does not match a known pattern, and returns the underlying specification:

• Harmonized (HAR) and VDE designations such as H05VV-F, H07RN-F or NYM-J, segment by segment
• Rated voltage class from the leading code (for example H03, H05, H07) translated to its U0/U value
• Insulation and sheath material codes (V for PVC, R for rubber, N for polychloroprene, B for EPR, X for XLPE in HD 361 or 2X in VDE codes, and similar)
• Core count and conductor cross-section from the 3G1.5 / 4X2.5 block, including whether a protective earth core (G vs X) is present
• Conductor and construction flags — solid (-U), stranded (-R), flexible (-F, -K, -H), flat (H, H2), screened (C4), armoured (Z2) — surfaced as plain-language attributes
• UL and AWG style designations (for example MTW 16 AWG or SJOOW 14/3) with the equivalent metric cross-section so US and metric SKUs reconcile; the UL type letters themselves are reported as-is
• Malformed or unrecognized strings, highlighted so a data steward can correct the source rather than publish a guess

How a cable designation decoder works

Cable codes are not random: harmonized designations follow CENELEC HD 361 and related IEC conventions, where each position has a defined meaning. The first letter marks the standard (H harmonized, A recognized national type), the next digits give the voltage class, the following letters describe insulation then sheath, and the trailing block encodes cores and section. The decoder applies that grammar as a lookup, walking the string left to right and resolving each token against the published code tables, then converting AWG values to mm² where needed so a single output schema covers both regions.

The same left-to-right parsing pattern shows up across industrial distribution: a bearing number, a thread call-out, an IP rating and a cable code are all compressed grammars hiding inside a part string. The value is the same in every category — an MRO distributor turning a sheath code into a searchable material facet, a furniture supplier decoding power-cord ratings on lamp listings, or a CPG packer reconciling a label spec against a datasheet. Decoding by hand is slow and inconsistent; a rules-based parser makes it repeatable.

Related resources

FAQ

What does H05VV-F mean? +

H marks a harmonized (CENELEC) type, 05 is the 300/500 V voltage class, the first V is PVC insulation, the second V is a PVC sheath, and -F indicates a fine-stranded flexible conductor. A trailing block such as 3G1.5 would add three 1.5 mm² cores including a green/yellow earth.

What is the difference between G and X in a cable code? +

In the core block, G (German ‘gelb-grün’) means one core is the protective earth, coloured green/yellow — for example 3G1.5 is two live cores plus earth. X means no dedicated earth core is included, so 4X2.5 is four equal cores with no protective conductor designated.

Can the decoder convert AWG cable sizes to mm2? +

Yes. When a designation uses an American wire gauge size, such as THHN 12 AWG, the decoder returns the nearest metric cross-section in mm² alongside the original value so a mixed US and metric catalog can share one attribute schema.

Why decode cable designations into a catalog instead of leaving the code as-is? +

A raw code is not searchable or filterable. Buyers look for ‘2.5 mm² flexible PVC’ or ‘three-core with earth’, not for H05VV-F 3G1.5. Decoding the string into discrete attributes makes products findable on site, comparable across suppliers, and usable by AI search engines that read structured data.

Does using this tool guarantee a cable is compliant? +

No. The decoder reports what the printed designation claims. Whether the cable actually meets that voltage class, material or approval is a question for the manufacturer datasheet and certification, which you should verify before publishing any compliance attribute.