how to convey wire type and size in an electrical schematic

[pwk]

Hi,

I have been using AutoCAD Electrical for over fifteen years.  While I have never had any formal training, I feel like I have become pretty competent with it.  I work for an OEM, and I design the control panels that are used with our machines.  I am able to produce electrical drawings and panel layouts that I turn over to a UL listed panel shop along with all the required components.  Using my drawings, this panel shop has been able to assemble and wire my control panels according to UL standards, usually without asking me any questions.  

One thing that I usually have not explicitly specified in my drawings for this UL shop is the types of wires and cables to use, and the conductor sizes.  For power wiring, they look at the fuse ratings in my drawings and choose wire types and gages based on their knowledge of UL and the National Electrical Code. 

I have a project now for which someone less knowledgeable about electrical codes will be doing the wiring.  He is talented and very capable of doing the physical work, but I don't expect him to just know the type of wire and cable he should use.  With this being the case, I would like to start including information on wire type and gages on my drawings in a way that is easy to read and understand. 

I've started by trying to add information blocks about the required wire types and gages as shown in the image below, but this seems kind of cumbersome, and it requires a lot of space in my drawings.  I am just wondering if anyone here can suggest a way in which I might be able to convey this information without taking up as much space on my drawings.  Any suggestions or examples will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Paul

 

[james.mcmillanNYR6A]

might be a silly question since you are well practiced, have you tried the wire gauge label?

looks like you might want to convey more information this but you can set up what is to be presented for a given layer.

I use standard templates and my predecessor had put the wire colour and size inline and I have followed suit, I usually cover the wire types in note form but they generally are consistent 

[alds02]

There's a lot of variety in how this is done. I have done contract work where the customer doesn't even want any wire information at all, which seems weird to me. I wouldn't expect the person building the panel to read all the details that might dictate the wire size - that seems like the designer's job!

Like you, if I know the person using the schematics is similar in understanding to me, then I describe the wire only enough to be decent documentation for the future. But if the schematics are going out to an unknown person, more might be required.

I'd suggest keeping the wire leaders simple, just gauge and color as @james.mcmillanNYR6A mentioned, and maybe have a key down in the corner, or a full page dedicated just to instructions, that further describes the kind of wire required. But what you showed in your screenshot seems like a good idea for special cases, like when the manufacturer has called for a wire size you wouldn't expect to use.