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PVC for fixed wiring inside the building. XLPE where the cable lives in sun and heat — which in Pakistan means the solar DC run on the roof.
PVC insulation on fixed-wiring cable is rated 70°C at the conductor. The cross-linked insulation on solar DC cable is typically rated about 90°C. That extra 20°C only pays when the whole circuit can use it, because the glands, terminals and accessories the cable lands in are ordinarily 70°C parts.
PVC is a thermoplastic. Heat softens it, and enough heat lets it flow — which is how it is extruded onto the conductor in the first place. XLPE is cross-linked polyethylene: during manufacture the polymer chains are bonded to each other, so the material becomes a thermoset and heat can no longer make it flow. That is the whole physical difference. Everything else on this page follows from it, including the temperature rating, the stiffness in your hands and the price.
PVC insulation on fixed-wiring cable is rated 70°C at the conductor and 450/750 V (IEC 60227); cross-linked insulation on solar DC cable is typically rated about 90°C. The higher conductor limit is what allows the standard's XLPE current tables to sit above its PVC tables at the same conductor size — but that gain is only usable when the terminals, accessories and enclosures at both ends are rated for the same temperature, and when the ambient the cable actually sees has been corrected for. On an indoor house circuit in conduit neither condition normally holds, which is why house wiring in Pakistan is PVC and rooftop solar DC is not.
| Property | PVC | XLPE |
|---|---|---|
| Polymer type | Thermoplastic — softens and flows with heat | Thermoset — cross-linked, will not re-flow |
| Conductor temperature rating | 70°C | about 90°C |
| Voltage class we publish | 450/750 V fixed wiring; 300/500 V light cords | None published for the solar DC range — the class is printed on the reel |
| Current rating basis | 36 A at 4 mm², 46 A at 6 mm² — two loaded conductors, method C, 30°C | No ampacity column published — read the XLPE column from BS 7671 |
| Handling | Strips and terminates cleanly with ordinary tools | Stiffer; a firmer bend radius and a sharper strip |
| Where Pilone uses it | Standard cable and flexible cable | Solar DC cable |
The rating is the hottest the copper inside is allowed to get, not the hottest day the cable can survive. The room adds to it, the current adds to it, and the two are added before the limit is checked. That is why every current figure we publish carries its assumptions with it.
Take a 6 mm² two-core run. The table figure is 46 A — BS 7671 reference method C, clipped direct, 30°C ambient, PVC. A flat roof in Lahore in June is not 30°C, and a cable clipped to hot sheeting is warmer again. Suppose the correction factors for your ambient and installation method multiply out to 0.7: 46 × 0.7 = 32 A. The cable has not changed. The figure you are allowed to design to has fallen by 14 A. Take the real factors for your own method and ambient out of BS 7671, or have your electrician take them.
That arithmetic is what the 90°C rating actually buys. Not a thicker conductor — a smaller correction, because the gap between the ambient and the conductor's limit is wider to begin with. Check your own run in the voltage drop calculator once the size is settled.
A 90°C rating belongs to the cable, not to the circuit. The gland, the terminal block, the isolator and the MCB are each rated for a conductor arriving at a stated temperature, and a circuit may only be designed to the lowest limit anywhere along it. Bolt a 90°C cable into 70°C accessories and you have a 70°C circuit wearing an expensive jacket.
This is why swapping a house rewire to XLPE buys nothing you can measure, and why solar DC cable — which lands on connectors and inverter terminals specified for the heat — genuinely does. Pick the insulation to match the job's temperature, then check that both ends of the run agree with it.
Sales copy across this market says XLPE "resists UV better". Be precise about it, because the imprecision costs people cable. Cross-linking raises the temperature the polymer can hold. What stands between sunlight and everything inside is the outer sheath compound. A cable survives on a roof because its sheath is formulated for sunlight and its insulation is rated for the temperature the sun drives the conductor to — two layers, two different jobs, and a cable can be right about one and wrong about the other.
So if the run sits in direct sun, ask what the sheath is rated for, not only what the insulation is made of. And read the voltage class beside it: fixed-wiring cable here is 450/750 V, light flexible cord is 300/500 V, they look alike on a shelf, and a 300/500 V cord used as fixed wiring is under-insulated for the job even though it will run a 220 V load for years without complaint.
Inside the house, on fixed circuits and appliance points, take PVC: our standard cable and flexible cable are 450/750 V PVC on copper drawn in Lahore, and for a 4 mm² appliance point that means 4mm 3 core standard cable. On the roof, between panels and inverter, take the cross-linked build: 6mm XLPE solar DC wire carries 46 A on two loaded conductors, method C, 30°C, with 4mm XLPE solar wire below it at 36 A. To get from the array's kW to a size, work it through the panel to inverter cable size guide. Whichever way the job goes, send the size and the metres and we quote at the day's copper rate — Punjab in 1–2 days, the rest of Pakistan in 2–4.
Tell us the job — house circuit or a roof-mounted solar run — with the size and the metres. We draw the copper in Lahore and quote at the day's rate: Punjab in 1–2 days, the rest of Pakistan in 2–4.