UL XLPE & XLPO Hook-Up Wire, 90°C to 150°C, 300–600 V

Cross-linked polyethylene is the answer to a specific complaint about ordinary PE and PVC: they soften, they creep, and they will flow away from a hot terminal given enough time. Cross-linking turns the polymer thermoset — it can no longer melt, only char — and that one change is what takes a cheap, tough, easily stripped insulation from 80 °C to 150 °C.

TEBAOFLEX builds the family across seven UL AWM styles, from 90 °C to 150 °C and 300 V to 600 V, on solid or stranded copper:

UL 3320 (90 °C / 600 V, to 2 AWG) · UL 3385 (105 °C / 300 V) · UL 3287 (105 °C / 600 V, high-strength copper) · UL 3266 (125 °C / 300 V) · UL 3173 (125 °C / 600 V) · UL 3271 (125 °C / 600 V, to 2000 kcmil, motor leads) · UL 3321 (150 °C / 600 V, to 4/0).

Two things set this family apart from the fluoropolymers and silicones elsewhere in our câble haute température range. The first is price: at 125 °C, cross-linked polyolefin does a job that would otherwise need PFA or silicone, for a fraction of the cost. The second is that the compound can be made halogen-free, low-smoke and flame-retardant — which no UL style number will tell you, because halogen-free is a property of the compound and not of the style.

Le XLPO variant of UL 3173 adds UV and ozone resistance and is the one used on the DC side of photovoltaic and energy storage equipment. It is the same style number as the XLPE version, and that surprises people — see the Standards tab.

Send the style number if you have one. If you do not, send the temperature, the voltage and the largest conductor, and we will tell you which of the seven you are actually asking for.

Simple to build, and the simplicity is the point: a copper conductor and one extruded wall. Everything that makes this family interesting happens inside the compound.

1. Conducteur : solid or stranded copper, bare or tin-plated. Size range depends on the style — 32 AWG at the fine end, 2000 kcmil at the coarse end.
2. Isolation: a single extruded wall of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) ou cross-linked polyolefin (XLPO), cross-linked after extrusion.

What cross-linking actually changes

Un-cross-linked polyethylene is a thermoplastic: heat it and the chains slide past each other, so it softens, then creeps, then flows. Cross-linking ties the chains together chemically. The material can no longer melt — at the top of its range it stays dimensionally where it was put, and beyond that it chars rather than flowing away from the conductor. That is the whole reason a polyolefin can be rated 125 °C or 150 °C when the same base polymer un-cross-linked is an 80 °C material.

Two routes get you there. Chemical cross-linking uses a peroxide and a curing stage — that is what UL 3320 specifies. Irradiation cross-linking passes the finished wire under an electron beam after extrusion, which allows a thinner and more consistent wall because the geometry is fixed before the material becomes thermoset. Most of the thin-wall styles in this family are made the second way.

XLPE or XLPO — and why one style number covers both

XLPE is cross-linked polyethylene. XLPO is the wider family: a polyolefin blend, usually formulated for flame retardance, UV resistance or halogen-free performance that straight polyethylene will not give. They strip and cut the same way and they behave similarly in a terminal, so a UL style written around the properties rather than the exact polymer can accept either. UL 3173 is exactly that — the style permits extruded XL, XLPO ou XLPE. If you have been handed two datasheets both marked 3173 that look like different products, that is why, and neither of them is wrong.

Halogen-free is a compound property, not a style property

This is the single most common misunderstanding in this family. A UL AWM style fixes the material class, the wall, the temperature and the voltage. It says nothing about halogen content, smoke density or corrosivity. A halogen-free UL 3266 wire and a halogen-bearing UL 3266 wire are both legitimately UL 3266. If your specification needs halogen-free, it has to be called out separately against IEC 60754-1, and the smoke and flame properties against their own standards — exactly as they would be on a halogen-free silicone cable. Ask for the compound, not just the style.

Conductor options, including one that is not ordinary copper

• Bare copper — the default.
• Tin-plated copper — solderability and a stable crimp surface; the usual choice for panel and equipment wiring.
• Coated high-strength copper — specified by UL 3287, and the reason that style exists as something other than a duplicate of 3320. Where the lead is pulled, tensioned or wound, conductor tensile strength is the property being bought.
• Solid or stranded — every style in this family permits both. Solid for automated insertion and mass termination; stranded for anything that moves or is dressed by hand.

Why it survives impregnation

Motor and transformer winding leads get dipped, varnished or vacuum-impregnated with the winding. A thermoplastic wall in a hot varnish bath is a liability; a thermoset one is not. That resistance to varnish and impregnation, together with resistance to ozone, oil and gasoline, is why this family holds the motor-lead and winding-lead position that its price would not otherwise justify.

This family is the workhorse of the 105–150 °C band. It is not the most heat resistant material we make and it is not the most chemically inert — it is the one that is good enough for most of what needs to be above 90 °C, at a price that lets you use it everywhere rather than only where you must.

Où il est utilisé

• Control panels and switchgear — the halogen-free, low-smoke version of this wire is what replaced PVC in cabinet wiring across most of Europe.
• Motor and transformer winding leads — the connection out of a winding that has to survive impregnation, varnish and the heat of the machine. UL 3320 and UL 3271 are designated for exactly this.
• Chokes, relays and inductors — small windings with the same impregnation problem.
• Appliance internal wiring — the largest volume application, and the reason most of these styles exist.
• Electrical and electronic equipment — where the 300 V styles are often tagged for higher peak electronic use. Read the next section before relying on that.
• Photovoltaic and battery energy storage — see below.
• Large motor terminations — UL 3271 runs to 2000 kcmil, which is where this family stops being hook-up wire and starts being a power lead.

Photovoltaic and energy storage: the XLPO version

The XLPO build of UL 3173 is compounded for UV and ozone resistance on top of the 125 °C, 600 V rating, and it is used for internal system connection, inverter connection and battery pack connection in storage equipment. It strips and cuts easily, which matters when a technician is terminating hundreds of connections in a rack, and it is markedly more economical than a fluoropolymer at the same rating.

Two boundaries worth stating plainly. This is equipment internal wiring, not a PV array cable — module-to-module and string wiring outdoors is EN 50618 / IEC 62930 territory and a different construction. And on the high-voltage DC side of a vehicle or a large storage system, 600 V is not enough: that is ISO 19642 XLFE cable at 1,500 V DC.

The “600 Volts Peak — For Electronic Use Only” trap

Several 300 V styles in this family — UL 3266 and UL 3385 among them — may carry a tag reading 600 Volts Peak, For Electronic Use Only, and UL 3287 a similar tag at 2,500 volts peak. This is not a 600 V rating. It is a peak-voltage allowance for electronic circuits, granted under conditions the tag defines, and it does not make a 300 V style interchangeable with a 600 V one for power wiring. If a supplier answers a 600 V requirement with a 3266 part number, that is the distinction they have skipped past.

Choosing a style, in the order the questions actually arrive

What this wire is not for

• Not above 150 °C. The family stops there. Above it you are in fluoropolymer or silicone — see PTFE, PFA ou silicone hook-up wire.
• Not a building or installation cable. AWM is appliance wiring material: a recognised component inside equipment, not a wiring method.
• Not a PV array cable. Module and string wiring outdoors has its own standards.
• Not automatically halogen-free. Ask for the compound.
• Not as chemically inert as a fluoropolymer. Good resistance to oil, gasoline, ozone and varnish is not the same as PTFE’s indifference to almost everything.

The seven styles

All seven are rated horizontal flame. Ratings, sizes and use designations above are taken from the UL style records rather than from a supplier datasheet, which is why they occasionally disagree with what you have been quoted.

UL 3173 — 125 °C, 600 V, XLPE build

Alternative strandings are available at 18 and 20 AWG (34/0.18, 19/0.235 and a 0.813 mm solid) at the same resistance and slightly different diameters.

UL 3173 — XLPO build for photovoltaic and energy storage

Minimum bending radius for fixed installation, XLPO build: 10 × cable diameter. UV and ozone resistant; passes UL VW-1 and CSA FT1.

UL 3321 — 150 °C, 600 V AC / 750 V DC

Intermediate sizes (12, 16, 20, 24, 28 AWG) are standard and are omitted here only to keep the table readable. Bend radius 10 × D; braid covering optional.

UL 3266 — 125 °C, 300 V, halogen-free build

Flexible tinned copper conductor, high-temperature-resistant polyolefin insulation, test voltage 3,000 V, temperature range −30 °C to +125 °C, minimum bending radius 6 × outer diameter. Halogen-free to IEC 60754-1, gas corrosivity to IEC 60754-2, flame retardant to IEC 60332-1, smoke density to IEC 61034-1 and -2. Resistant to ozone, oxygen and weather, and to varnish and impregnation processes; good oil and gasoline resistance.

UL 3385 — 105 °C, 300 V

Available 30 to 10 AWG with a 0.40 mm nominal wall below 16 AWG and 0.50 mm at 14 AWG and above; overall diameters from 1.10 mm at 30 AWG to 4.00 mm at 10 AWG. Full dimensional data on request — the wall and diameter schedule follows the same pattern as UL 3173 with the thinner 300 V wall.

UL 3320, 3287 and 3271 dimensions

These three are made to order against the UL wall schedule for the size and are not held to a fixed published table here. UL 3271 in particular runs from 30 AWG to 2000 kcmil, with insulation from 30 mils minimum average at the fine end to 95 mils at the largest sizes — a range far too wide to be useful as a single table. Send the size and we will issue the drawing.

What the UL style fixes, and what it does not

UL 3173 permits two different polymers, and that is not an error

The style record for UL 3173 reads “extruded XL, XLPO or XLPE”. That single line explains a recurring confusion in this family: you can be shown two datasheets, both correctly marked UL 3173, one an ordinary appliance hook-up wire and the other a UV-resistant photovoltaic wire, and both are genuine. The style is written around temperature, voltage, wall and flame behaviour — not around the exact polymer.

The practical consequence: on this style, the style number alone is not a purchasing specification. If you need the UV and ozone performance, ask for the XLPO compound by name. If you are replacing an existing wire, ask which of the two you have before you order a drum of the other.

3271 or 3173? The question is size and use, not material

Both are 125 °C and 600 V. They are commonly quoted against each other and the difference is not the insulation:

• UL 3173 stops at 9 AWG and is designated internal wiring of appliances.
• UL 3271 runs to 2000 kcmil and is designated motor leads or internal wiring of appliances, and adds a 750 V DC rating.

So: small, inside a machine, 3173. Large, or a motor lead, or a DC rating needed, 3271. Being asked for “125 °C 600 V XLPE” without a style number usually means 3271 if the conductor is big and 3173 if it is not.

The peak-voltage tag is not a voltage rating

UL 3266 and UL 3385 are 300 V styles that may be tagged 600 Volts Peak — For Electronic Use Only; UL 3287 carries a similar allowance at 2,500 volts peak. These are conditional electronic-use allowances, not general voltage ratings, and they do not make a 300 V style a substitute for a 600 V one in power wiring. If a quotation answers a 600 V requirement with 3266, this is the step that was skipped.

On UL file numbers

A UL file number identifies the company that holds the certificate, not the wire. A file number printed on somebody else’s datasheet does not transfer to a wire bought from a third party, and any supplier quoting one that is not their own should be asked to explain it. We do not print or quote other companies’ file numbers.

Ce dont nous avons besoin pour établir un devis

• Le style number if you have one — or the temperature, the voltage and the largest conductor if you do not
• Solid or stranded, bare or tinned; and whether the conductor is tensioned or wound
• Whether halogen-free, low-smoke or flame-retardant is required, and against which standard
• XLPE or XLPO, if the application is outdoors, UV-exposed or a PV/storage cabinet
• CSA recognition, colour, marking and put-up

Certification TEBAOFLEX

Jiangsu TEBAOFLEX Special Cable Co., Ltd détient le certificat UL UL-US-2449012-0 et le certificat cUL UL-CA-2437036-0, tous deux datés du 27 décembre 2024 selon le rapport E542560-20241225, ainsi que le certificat VDE 40060055 dated 28 March 2025. These are company-level certifications. Send the exact style, size and compound you intend to order and we will confirm the approval scope that applies to it before you commit, and issue the test documentation with the shipment.

Documentation fournie avec une commande

• Plan de construction et données dimensionnelles pour le style et la taille convenus
• Compound datasheet where halogen-free, smoke or flame performance is part of the specification
• Procès-verbaux des essais de routine du lot de production, y compris l’essai de tension appliqué
• Certificate of conformity referencing the style and the agreed standards
• Liste des tourets et colis avec les détails de marquage

For the scope of a specific AWM style, consult the issuing body directly — UL Solutions.