UL 3266 10 AWG 125°C 300V XLPE Wire for Internal Wiring

UL 3266 10 AWG 125°C 300V XLPE Wire for Internal Wiring

This page covers UL AWM Style 3266 in 10 AWG, a single conductor with extruded XLPE insulation rated 125°C and 300 Vac with a Horizontal Flame designation. It is written for equipment and appliance OEM engineering and procurement teams whose drawing, BOM or wire specification calls for Style 3266 at this conductor size.

10 AWG is the largest size in the Style 3266 conductor range of 32 AWG–10 AWG. The insulation requirement at this size is the same as everywhere else in the Style: 15 mils minimum average and 13 mils minimum at any point. Marking is General, and the official Use is “Internal Wiring.”

Two questions follow from sitting at the top of the range, and both are addressed below: what happens when a drawing calls for a heavier conductor, and what a wall requirement designed for the whole range means in practice at the heavy end of it.

Confirmed UL Style 3266 Construction and Ratings

Nine points to clarify about the table above:

1. 10 AWG is the largest conductor size in the Style range. Heavier sizes are outside Style 3266.
2. Both conductor forms are permitted at this size; the Style presets neither.
3. The insulation requirement is 15 mil minimum average and 13 mil minimum at any point: two independent minimums, not a range and not a nominal wall.
4. That requirement is the same at 10 AWG as across the rest of the range. The record publishes no size-dependent wall table for this Style.
5. The temperature rating is 125°C, stated without a duty qualifier.
6. The normal voltage rating is 300 Vac. The record gives no DC rating.
7. 600 Volts Peak – For Electronic Use Only is an optional tag indication, not the working-voltage rating.
8. Conductor material, plating, strand count, strand diameter and lay length are not defined by the Style.
9. Finished OD, OD tolerance, conductor resistance, metric cross-section and ampacity are not defined by the Style, and the Style range is not a stock list.

10 AWG at the Top of the Style Range

Every size from 32 AWG up to and including 10 AWG falls inside Style 3266, and nothing heavier does. A specification, BOM or legacy listing describing “UL 3266 8 AWG” or a range such as “10–4 AWG UL 3266” contains a requirement the Style record does not support.

Where an enquiry combines Style 3266 with a size above 10 AWG, the requirement is not confirmed as valid. The buyer is asked for the drawing, or for the UL Style actually required at that conductor size, and any construction in a different Style is quoted and described under that Style’s own record rather than under the Style 3266 name.

Being the largest size in the range also assigns 10 AWG no circuit role. The Style designates no size as a power, supply or motor conductor, gives no ampacity, and none is inferred here from the conductor size, the 125°C rating or the 300 Vac rating. Current-carrying capacity is evaluated through the buyer’s equipment design and the applicable approval process.

A 15/13 mil Wall on a Heavy Conductor

The insulation is extruded XLPE, and the wall must satisfy both conditions together: an average thickness of at least 15 mils, and a thickness of at least 13 mils at every point around the conductor. Both are floor values, and the second is not a tolerance on the first.

Because the requirement does not step with conductor size, the same two minimums that govern a fine 32 AWG construction also govern 10 AWG. At this end of the range that wall is a comparatively slim skin over a substantial conductor, so the finished wire is dominated by the conductor rather than by the insulation. That is a description of the requirement, not a performance statement, and no dielectric, mechanical or handling property is inferred from it here.

Minimum wall values do not produce a finished outer diameter. Actual OD depends on the conductor material and form, the actual conductor diameter, the XLPE extrusion and manufacturing tolerance, so adding a generic 10 AWG conductor diameter to the minimum wall does not give a valid product dimension. Where grommet fit, terminal entry or routing clearance is controlled, state a maximum finished OD and OD tolerance in the RFQ.

The material is extruded XLPE, also written as cross-linked polyethylene. This page does not restate it as PVC, silicone or a fluoropolymer, and does not attribute chemical, oil, solvent or moisture resistance to it, since the record contains no such rating.

Ratings and the Optional Peak Tag

The temperature rating is 125°C. This page does not describe it as continuous or continuous-duty, does not claim any higher figure, and derives no service life, thermal cycling count or thermal margin from it.

The normal voltage rating is 300 Vac, and Style 3266 is not described here as a 600 V wire. Tags may indicate “600 Volts Peak – For Electronic Use Only”: both qualifiers stay attached whenever it is cited, it is a peak indication for electronic use rather than a working voltage, and it does not widen the official Use. The record gives no DC rating, so none is stated or derived.

The flame designation is Horizontal Flame. VW-1, FT1, vertical flame, self-extinguishing and fire-resistant descriptions are not part of this record.

Conductor Construction at 10 AWG

The Style states the conductor range and the words solid or stranded. At 10 AWG the following are RFQ fields rather than Style values:

• solid or stranded form
• conductor material
• plating or surface finish
• strand count, strand diameter and lay construction, where controlled
• maximum conductor resistance, where controlled
• metric cross-section, where a drawing specifies mm² rather than AWG

Conductor form matters more at this size than at fine gauges, because it affects handling and termination in the assembly, so a drawing that controls solid or stranded should say which. No stranding class, flexibility grade or flex life is applied here, since the record contains none, and a description such as “stranded tinned copper” belongs to a specific product datasheet rather than to Style 3266 generally.

Official Use: Internal Wiring

The official Use is “Internal Wiring.” The record attaches no equipment category to it, so this page neither narrows it to appliances nor widens it into building or field wiring, branch-circuit or facility wiring, conduit or tray installations, external equipment wiring, portable cord, or interconnection between separate enclosures.

The Use also does not name motor leads. Where a design requires a wire designated for motor lead service, that is a different AWM Style with its own record, and a Style 3266 construction at 10 AWG is not presented here as a substitute for it or as equivalent to it.

Enquiries at this gauge often come from contexts such as internal supply links, heavier internal harness runs or equipment interiors with elevated ambient temperatures. Those are buyer enquiry contexts that can be reviewed against the drawing, and they do not change the Use. Compliance of a finished product is established at the equipment level and is not conferred by the Style designation of one internal wire.

How to Specify UL 3266 in 10 AWG

A Style designation is a construction requirement, not a complete purchase specification. A complete enquiry adds:

• the UL AWM Style 3266 requirement and the 10 AWG size
• the 125°C and 300 Vac requirements
• solid or stranded construction
• conductor material and plating, where controlled by the drawing
• strand construction and maximum conductor resistance, where controlled
• insulation colour and any identification requirement
• the marking requirement, including whether the optional peak tag indication applies
• maximum OD and OD tolerance, where controlled
• the internal wiring location
• the drawing, BOM or equipment specification
• documentation requirements, quantity and packaging or reel preference
• the destination and the requested Incoterm

No price, currency, pricing formula or price validity period is published on this page. A quotation is prepared against a defined construction and commercial scope and issued as a separate quotation document.

What Style 3266 Does and Does Not Define

Style 3266 defines:

• 125°C temperature rating and 300 Vac normal voltage rating
• Horizontal Flame
• conductor range 32 AWG–10 AWG, solid or stranded
• extruded XLPE insulation, 15 mil minimum average / 13 mil minimum at any point, uniform across the range
• Marking: General
• Use: Internal Wiring.
• optional tag: 600 Volts Peak – For Electronic Use Only

Style 3266 does not universally define:

• conductor material, plating, strand count, strand diameter or lay length
• sizes heavier than 10 AWG
• finished OD, OD tolerance, bend radius, flex cycles or flex class
• conductor resistance, ampacity, current rating or metric cross-section
• a DC voltage rating
• motor lead service or any equipment category
• chemical, oil, solvent or moisture resistance
• colour, reel length, MOQ, stock, lead time, production capacity or shipping term

Common Procurement Errors

• Requesting 8 AWG or larger as Style 3266, or writing the range as 10–4 AWG.
• Writing “125°C continuous”, or claiming a higher temperature rating.
• Describing Style 3266 as a 600 V wire, or using 600 Volts Peak as the working voltage.
• Dropping “For Electronic Use Only” from the optional tag, or stating a DC rating.
• Treating 15 mil as a nominal wall, or omitting the 13 mil minimum-at-any-point requirement.
• Assuming a heavier wall applies because the conductor is heavier.
• Deriving a finished OD from the minimum wall values.
• Assuming the conductor is tinned copper or always stranded at 10 AWG.
• Claiming a stranding class or flexibility grade.
• Deriving ampacity from conductor size or the ratings.
• Presenting 10 AWG as a power or motor lead conductor on the basis of its size.
• Describing the insulation as PVC, silicone or a fluoropolymer, or claiming oil and chemical resistance.
• Leaving conductor form, colour, marking or OD out of the order documents.

RFQ Information to Confirm

Style and ratings

• UL AWM Style 3266 requirement
• 10 AWG requirement
• 125°C temperature rating requirement
• 300 Vac voltage rating requirement

Conductor and dimensions

• Solid or stranded construction
• Conductor material and plating requirement, if controlled by the drawing
• Strand construction, if controlled
• Maximum conductor resistance or controlled mm² cross-section, if applicable
• Maximum OD and OD tolerance, if controlled

Identification and application references

• Insulation colour and identification requirement
• Marking requirement, including whether the optional peak tag indication applies
• Internal wiring location
• The circuit requirement for engineering review, rather than a self-derived ampacity
• Drawing, BOM or equipment specification

Commercial

• Quantity and packaging or reel preference
• Destination and requested Incoterm
• Requested UL marking and compliance documents, including any RoHS / REACH documentation requirement

UL Marking and Documentation

CableApex is an international sales and export company and does not hold a UL File for Style 3266. Supplied wire is UL-recognized component wire where supplied under a qualified manufacturing scope, with UL marking according to the confirmed ordered construction. The Style record lists Marking as General.

Applicable RoHS / REACH documentation can be confirmed according to the ordered construction. CSA, FT1, VW-1, CE and dual UL/CSA designations are not claimed here, and no conclusion is drawn about acceptance under other national or regional schemes.

Commercial, origin, compliance and transport documents are identified during quotation and confirmed according to the order. They are not supplied as a fixed package with every shipment.

Related Categories

• UL 3266 XLPE Wire
• XLPE Wire
• AWM Wire