Professional cable manufacturer
LiYY / LiYCY equivalent · Class 5 to IEC 60228 · 2000 V test · YY, CY and SY from one family
YY/SY/CY Flexible Control Cable 300/500V
PVC insulated, PVC sheathed multi-core control cable in three protection levels — YY unscreened, CY with a tinned copper braid screen, SY with a galvanised steel wire braid — from 0.14 to 2.5 mm² and up to 50 cores.
3
Variants — YY / CY / SY
0.14–2.5 mm²
Cross-section range
Up to 50
Cores at 0.14–0.5 mm²
−10…+80 °C
Fixed or flexible
↓ Download Datasheet (PDF)
Class 5 copper to IEC 60228
Copper braid screen or steel braid armour
MOQ 100 m — samples available
Grey RAL 7032 or black sheath
PVC FLEXIBLE CONTROL CABLE · YY / CY / SY
YY / CY / SYThree protection levels, one family
0.14 – 2.5 mm²Core cross-section range
Up to 50 coresAt 0.14–0.5 mm²
2000 V ACTest voltage, conductor to conductor
−10 … +80 °CFixed and flexible installation
Key Specifications
The essentials, at a glance
What a panel builder or machine OEM checks first on a control cable — before reading the full specification below.
3
Variants: YY, CY, SY
0.75 mm²
Most-stocked size, 2–24 cores
2000 V AC
Test voltage, core to core
≈ 85 %
Optical braid coverage (CY)
−10…+80 °C
Fixed and flexible
10 × OD
Bending radius, fixed
Product Overview
One family, three levels of protection
This is the ordering family for PVC insulated, PVC sheathed flexible control cable — the products German catalogues list as LiYY (unscreened) and LiYCY (tinned copper braid screen), and British catalogues as YY and CY. A third variant, SY, adds a galvanised steel wire braid for mechanical protection rather than EMC screening. All three share one construction basis: flexible Class 5 stranded copper to IEC 60228, PVC insulation and a PVC sheath.
This cable family is a non-harmonised industrial control cable type: the YY/CY/SY designation follows British practice and LiYY/LiYCY follows German practice, and there is no CENELEC harmonised (HAR) part standard for it. EN 50525-2-11 is frequently quoted for these cables, but that part covers PVC insulated and PVC sheathed flexible cables intended for the connection of domestic appliances, at rated voltages up to 300/500 V and with maximum conductor temperatures of 70 °C — it does not cover multi-core control cables and it does not cover braided screens. We quote the parts that do apply — conductor to IEC 60228, flame retardance to IEC 60332-1-2 and the general requirements of the EN 50525-1 family — instead of attaching a standard number that does not fit.
What the design is actually rated at: the 300/500 V figure in the product name is the market designation for this family. The German datasheets behind the construction give a maximum operating voltage of 350 V and a test voltage of 2000 V AC conductor-to-conductor — 1200 V conductor-to-screen on the screened versions. Design against 350 V; read 300/500 V as a designation rather than a Uo/U rating.
Temperature range is −10 °C to +80 °C for both fixed and flexible installation, with −30 °C to +80 °C for transport and storage. The split that appears on many of these datasheets — “+80 °C fixed, +70 °C flexing” — has no source behind it, and neither does a −40 °C fixed figure, so neither appears in the table below.
Choosing between the three is a question of what the cable has to survive. YY when nothing needs protecting. CY when the signal has to live next to an inverter, a drive or a switching supply. SY when the cable is going to be pulled, dragged or stood on. It is worth being blunt about the last one: a braid of galvanised steel does very little for EMC at the frequencies that disturb control signals, and SY is not a substitute for a copper screen.
For the screened variant in depth, see the CY Industrial Flexible PVC Shielded Control Cable. For the halogen-free version of the same construction family, see the LSZH Control Cable. The Chinese-standard equivalent for fixed installation is the KVV / KVVR / KVVP Control Cable.
More about the manufacturer: About SORIVO →
Key Features
Eight things that decide the specification
Three Variants, One Family
YY unscreened, CY with a tinned copper braid screen and SY with a galvanised steel wire braid — ordered from one construction basis and one supplier.
Class 5 Flexible Copper
Stranded copper to IEC 60228 / DIN VDE 0295 class 5, which is what makes a 50-core cable workable in a cabinet at all.
Tinned Copper Braid Screen
The CY screen is a tinned copper wire braid with an optical coverage of approximately 85% — quoted the way braid coverage is normally measured.
Steel Braid for Abuse
SY adds a galvanised steel wire braid for pulling, dragging and abrasion. It is armour, not a screen, and we say so.
Up to 50 Cores
50 cores at 0.14–0.5 mm², 24 at 0.75 mm² and up to 6 at 1.0–2.5 mm², with the full matrix published rather than a single headline range.
−10 °C to +80 °C
One temperature range for fixed and flexible installation, plus −30 °C to +80 °C for transport and storage, with no unsupported flexing derating.
Flame Retardant
Single-core vertical flame propagation to IEC 60332-1-2 / EN 60332-1-2 (DIN VDE 0482-332-1-2) on the finished cable.
Grey or Black, Cut to Length
Grey RAL 7032 sheath as standard and black on request, supplied on 100 m, 500 m or 1000 m drums or cut to length with customer marking.
Applications
Where YY, CY and SY control cable is used
Machine and panel wiring, building services and plant engineering — the variant follows the environment, not the current.
01
Machine Control Panels
YY inside enclosures and ducts, where the run is short, protected and carries control and indication signals.
02
Drives, Inverters and Motor Control
CY where the control or feedback signal shares a route with a variable-speed drive and has to survive the switching field.
03
Sensors, Encoders and Feedback
Screened multi-core cable for incremental encoders, proximity sensors and analogue feedback loops.
04
Conveyors and Handling Systems
CY on moving machinery where the cable is flexed during maintenance and adjustment but not continuously.
05
Packaging and Processing Machinery
Dense multi-core looms from 12 to 50 cores, where conductor flexibility decides how buildable the panel is.
06
HVAC, Pumps and Building Services
Valve, damper and pump control wiring in plant rooms and risers, indoors and in dry ducts.
07
Steel, Quarry and Heavy Plant
SY where the cable is dragged over edges or walked on, and mechanical survival matters more than signal purity.
08
Test Rigs and Control Desks
Instrumentation and operator desk wiring in laboratories, test benches and control rooms.
Technical Specifications
Full specification sheet
The complete parameter set — the same data our engineers quote from.
Table 1 YY, CY and SY — what the three variants actually do
| Variant | Construction | Braid or screen | Coverage | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| YY | PVC insulation, laid-up cores, PVC sheath, no braid | — | — | General control wiring in panels, ducts and dry indoor routes where no screen or armour is needed |
| CY | PVC insulation, tinned copper wire braid over the laid-up cores, PVC sheath | Tinned copper wire braid | Optical coverage approx. 85% | EMC screening for drives, inverters, encoders, analogue and other signal circuits |
| SY | PVC insulation, galvanised steel wire braid, PVC sheath | Galvanised steel wire braid | Manufacturer value, confirmed per construction | Mechanical protection where the cable is pulled, dragged, abraded or stood on |
Two points are worth keeping straight. First, SY does not correspond to a CENELEC harmonised standard — it is a British designation for a steel-braided PVC control cable, and its braid is armour rather than an EMC screen. Second, copper braid coverage is quoted as optical coverage, which is the usual industry measure for a braided screen; a steel braid is not normally specified by coverage at all.
Table 2 Core count available at each cross-section
| Cross-section | Core counts normally offered | Typical maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 0.14 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 18, 25, 32, 50 | 50 cores |
| 0.25 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 18, 25, 32, 50 | 50 cores |
| 0.38 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 18, 25, 32 | 32 cores |
| 0.5 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 18, 25, 32, 50 | 50 cores |
| 0.75 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 18, 24 | 24 cores |
| 1.0 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | 6 cores |
| 1.5 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | 6 cores |
| 2.5 mm² | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | 6 cores |
The core counts listed are the typical range offered at each cross-section, not a limit set by the conductor standard. Most panel and machine wiring uses 2–12 cores; 18–50 core constructions are common in plant wiring and are quoted individually. The 0.75 mm² row is highlighted because it is the size most often held in stock.
Table 3 Construction and performance parameters
| General Information | |
| Product Name | YY/SY/CY Flexible Control Cable 300/500V |
| Product Family | PVC insulated, PVC sheathed flexible control cable — German LiYY (unscreened) and LiYCY (screened) equivalents; British YY, CY and SY designations |
| Reference Standards | Conductor to IEC 60228 (DIN VDE 0295 cl. 5); flame retardance to IEC 60332-1-2 / EN 60332-1-2 (DIN VDE 0482-332-1-2); general requirements of the EN 50525-1 family. Non-harmonised industrial control cable type — no CENELEC harmonised (HAR) part standard applies. |
| Insulation Compound | PVC — from the EN 50363-3 PVC insulating compound family |
| Sheath Compound | PVC — from the EN 50363-4-1 PVC sheathing compound family |
| Electrical Ratings | |
| Rated Voltage (designation) | 300/500 V — the market designation for this family; see Max. operating voltage below |
| Max. Operating Voltage | 350 V — the value published for the LiYY/LiYCY construction this family is built to. Design against this figure, not against 300/500 V. |
| Test Voltage | 2000 V AC conductor to conductor; 1200 V AC conductor to screen on CY and SY constructions |
| Conductor | Class 5 flexible stranded copper to IEC 60228 (DIN VDE 0295 cl. 5) |
| Cross-sections | 0.14 / 0.25 / 0.38 / 0.5 / 0.75 / 1.0 / 1.5 / 2.5 mm² |
| Core Counts | Up to 50 cores at 0.14–0.5 mm², up to 24 at 0.75 mm², typically up to 6 at 1.0–2.5 mm² — see Table 2 |
| Core Identification | Colour-coded for small core counts, numbered cores for larger counts; the code for the ordered construction is confirmed on the drawing |
| Insulation Resistance | Manufacturer test value, confirmed against the test report for the selected construction |
| Construction | |
| Insulation / Sheath | PVC / PVC — compounds from the EN 50363-3 and EN 50363-4-1 families |
| Screen (CY) | Tinned copper wire braid over the laid-up core bundle, optical coverage approx. 85% |
| Armour (SY) | Galvanised steel wire braid — mechanical protection, not an EMC screen |
| Sheath Colour | Grey RAL 7032 as standard; black on request |
| Outer Diameter | Depends on core count and cross-section; confirmed on the drawing before production |
| Environment | |
| Temperature Range | −10 °C to +80 °C, both fixed and flexible installation |
| Transport and Storage | −30 °C to +80 °C |
| Bending Radius, Fixed Installation | 10 × outer diameter |
| Bending Radius, Flexible Installation | Not specified for this family. Describe the movement in the inquiry and we will quote a construction suited to it. |
| Flame Retardance | IEC 60332-1-2 / EN 60332-1-2 (DIN VDE 0482-332-1-2) |
| Certification & Logistics | |
| Compliance | RoHS 2011/65/EU declaration; Declaration of Performance under CPR (EU) 305/2011 for the construction supplied, with the Euroclass stated in it — Eca is the level a standard PVC control cable reaches. CE marking as applicable, which for cable is a manufacturer's declaration of conformity (DoC) and not a certificate. |
| Certification | No third-party certification is claimed for this non-harmonised industrial control cable type; the compliance documents that apply to the ordered construction are supplied with the shipment. |
| Standard Lengths | 100 m / 500 m / 1000 m per drum; cut lengths on request |
| MOQ | 100 m |
| Lead Time | 7–20 working days; stocked configurations 3–5 days |
The 300/500 V figure in the product name and in Table 3 is the market designation for this cable family; the operating voltage published for the construction it is built to is 350 V, and that is the number to design against. The family has no CENELEC harmonised part standard, so the standard-based values in this table are limited to the conductor class (IEC 60228), the flame test (IEC 60332-1-2) and the compound families (EN 50363-3 / EN 50363-4-1). Insulation resistance is a manufacturer test value confirmed against the report for the selected construction. Final selection should be based on the installation method, the ambient conditions and the applicable local requirements.
Certificates & Standards
Verify before you buy — we make it easy
Conductor to IEC 60228
Class 5 flexible stranded copper to IEC 60228 (DIN VDE 0295 cl. 5), with conductor resistance measured on the finished cable and recorded per batch — the one number a panel builder can verify against the datasheet with a resistance bridge.
Request test report →Flame retardance to IEC 60332-1-2
Single-core vertical flame propagation to IEC 60332-1-2 / EN 60332-1-2 (DIN VDE 0482-332-1-2). This is a flame test on the cable itself, not a building-products reaction-to-fire classification — the two are different regimes and we keep them apart.
Request test report →RoHS and CPR documentation
RoHS 2011/65/EU compliance declaration, and a Declaration of Performance under CPR (EU) 305/2011 for the construction supplied — Euroclass Eca is the level a standard PVC control cable reaches. We do not use the phrase “CE certified”: there is no CE certification for cable, only a manufacturer’s declaration, and a DoC is provided on request where it applies.
Request documentation →
Transparency note: certification status and exact scope should always be confirmed against the certificate for the selected product configuration. We provide the certificate and test reports with every quotation — no blank promises.
Quality & Factory
Checked on the finished cable, not just at extrusion
Multi-core control cable fails at the drum end of the process as often as at the extruder, so the release checks cover the braid and the finished diameter too.
- 1Incoming material control — copper conductor, PVC compound and braid wire are checked against specification before the cores are extruded.
- 2In-line process monitoring — conductor diameter, insulation and sheath thickness and the lay length of the core bundle are tracked during production.
- 3Electrical routine tests — conductor resistance, insulation resistance and the withstand voltage test between conductors — and between conductor and screen on the screened versions — are measured on the finished cable and recorded.
- 4Screen and braid check — for CY and SY constructions the braid is checked for wire diameter, coverage and continuity, and the completed drum is measured against the ordered outer diameter.
19+
countries served
60+
industrial & panel projects
100%
routine test before shipment
How to Order
From inquiry to loaded carton in 5 steps
Send Inquiry
Tell us the variant (YY, CY or SY), the core count and cross-section, the sheath colour and the quantity.
Confirm Configuration
We confirm core count, cross-section, screening option and quotation within one working day.
Sample Evaluation
Sample for qualification — stocked configurations within a few working days.
Bulk Production
7–20 working days; stocked configurations within 3–5 days.
Delivery & Support
Drum packing, shipping documents and support through panel-build qualification, including construction drawings before the first production run.
FAQ
Questions buyers ask before ordering
YY is unscreened — PVC insulation and a PVC sheath over laid-up cores. CY adds a tinned copper wire braid screen for EMC, which is what you need next to a drive, an inverter or a switching supply. SY adds a galvanised steel wire braid for mechanical protection — pulling, dragging, abrasion. The abbreviation that gets misused most is SY: steel braid is armour, and at the frequencies that disturb encoder and analogue signals it is close to useless as a screen.
No, and that is worth being precise about. EN 50525-2-11, which appears on a great many datasheets for this product type, covers PVC insulated and PVC sheathed flexible cables for the connection of domestic appliances, up to 300/500 V, with maximum conductor temperatures of 70 °C. It does not cover multi-core control cable and it does not cover braided screens. This family is a non-harmonised industrial control cable type; what we do quote is the conductor to IEC 60228, flame retardance to IEC 60332-1-2 and the general requirements of the EN 50525-1 family.
Both, for different purposes. 300/500 V is the market designation the family is sold under and the figure you will see on competitor pages. 350 V is the maximum operating voltage published for the LiYY/LiYCY construction this cable is built to. When you size insulation coordination, design against 350 V.
It depends on the cross-section, which is why Table 2 is a matrix rather than a range. Up to 50 cores at 0.14–0.5 mm², up to 24 at 0.75 mm², and typically up to 6 at 1.0–2.5 mm². Anything outside the matrix is quoted individually — the limit is buildability and the outer diameter, not the conductor standard.
No. This is a flexible control cable — flexible enough to be routed by hand around a machine — but it is not a continuous-flexing or drag-chain cable, and our bending radius figure is the fixed-installation one. If the cable has to move repeatedly, describe the travel, speed and cycle count in the inquiry and we will quote a chain-suitable construction instead of letting a standard control cable fail in service.
For signal and control circuits near a drive, yes — that is what the screen is for. For the motor output itself, the better answer is a symmetrical drive cable with three power cores and a PE in a concentric arrangement, because a general multi-core control cable does not control the common-mode current the way a drive cable does. Tell us the drive rating, the cable length and the switching frequency and we will quote the right construction rather than the convenient one.
There is no such thing as CE certification for cable. CE marking is a manufacturer’s declaration of conformity, and for cable it is a question of which regime applies — the Low Voltage Directive, or CPR (EU) 305/2011 for reaction to fire, which is documented by a Declaration of Performance and a Euroclass rather than a certificate. We provide a RoHS 2011/65/EU declaration and a DoP where it applies, and we will not print a phrase we cannot support.
Grey RAL 7032 is standard — the colour the German LiYY/LiYCY datasheets specify — and black is available on request. Standard supply is 100 m, 500 m and 1000 m drums, with cut lengths, customer marking and single-drum labelling for project deliveries.
Need a control cable for a panel or machine build?
Tell us the variant, core count, cross-section and quantity — we reply within one working day.
Get a Free Quote
Send your control cable requirement
The more detail you give, the faster and more accurate our quotation. Our engineers reply within one working day.
- Variant: YY (unscreened), CY (copper braid screen) or SY (steel braid armour)
- Core count and cross-section, or the drawing reference if you have one
- Required outer diameter or installation constraint, if any
- Sheath colour and whether customer marking is needed
- Length per drum or cut lengths, and the quantity for the first order
- Destination market, for the declaration and marking scope
Inquiry received
Thanks — our engineers will reply within one working day.
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