Type tests and published figures
Termination type tests: withstand voltages by class, in one table
AC, DC, impulse and partial-discharge figures for every class in the catalogue, 1.1 kV to 36 kV, each traced to the kit page it was printed on.
What this page decides, and the inputs it needs
A type-test clause needs five inputs before it can be drafted: system voltage class, cable construction, core count, indoor or outdoor mounting, and accessory type.
Construction decides the component list. Accessory type decides the test regime, including how long the AC voltage is held and whether a picocoulomb limit exists at all.
Every figure below is transcribed from the manufacturer's own published kit pages, and each row names the kit it came from. Nothing is inferred from a voltage class, and nothing is averaged.
A type test qualifies a design once, on a sample. It is not repeated on the kit that arrives on site, and it is not a routine test.
Only the screened separable connector is stated to be factory tested on every unit, for AC withstand and partial discharge. No heat-shrink termination kit page in this range carries that claim. The interface and current ratings sit on separable connectors.
Withstand voltages by class, as published
| Class (system voltage) | AC withstand, dry | DC withstand | Lightning impulse | Partial discharge measured at | Published on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 kV | 4 kV for 15 min | 15 kV for 5 min | 8 kV | Not published | GLT-1100 |
| 3.3 kV | 8 kV for 15 min | 21 kV for 5 min | 12 kV | Not published | GLT-1100 |
| 12 kV | 35 kV for 1 min | 48 kV | 75 kV | 12.7 kV | GXO/E-1112, GPO/E-1112, GXOS/E-1236 |
| 15–24 kV | 50 kV for 1 min | 96 kV | 125 kV | 25 kV | GPO/E-1524, GXOS/E-1236 |
| 36 kV | 75 kV for 1 min | 144 kV | 170 kV | 38 kV | GPO/E-3336, GXOS/E-1236 |
Sources: GLT-1100 for the two LV classes; the GXO/E, GPO/E and GXOS/E series pages above them. Three MV impulse values are printed as “above 75 / 125 / 170 kV” on the PILC pages and as flat crest values elsewhere; the flat values are shown here. DC durations are deliberately absent from this table and are dealt with immediately below. This is the kit-page regime; the type-approval regime is the separate table further down and its numbers are different.
Guaranteed technical particulars, IEC 60502-4 and CENELEC HD 629.1
| Test | Parameter for evaluation | 12 kV | 24 kV | 36 kV | Required result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC high voltage test (dry) | 15 min | 38 | 76 | 114 | No breakdown, no flashover |
| AC high voltage test (dry) | 5 min | 29 | 57 | 86 | No breakdown, no flashover |
| AC high voltage test (dry) | 15 min | 16 | 30 | 45 | No breakdown, no flashover |
| AC high voltage test (wet) — outdoor terminations only | 1 min | 25.4 | 51 | 76 | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Partial discharge test | At ambient, and again at conductor 95–100 °C | 11 | 22 | 33 | ≤ 5 pC |
| Insulation resistance, before and after impact test (immersed) | 1 min, 500 V DC | – | – | – | >10³ Ω |
| Impact test — STJ | – | – | – | – | Pass, no visual damage |
| Impulse withstand at ambient, and at conductor 95–100 °C | 10 positive and 10 negative | 95 peak | 125 peak | 170 peak | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Heating cycle test in air | 3 cycles, 5 h heating and 3 h cooling | 16 AC | 30 AC | 45 AC | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Heating cycle test in air — indoor and outdoor terminations | 60 cycles, 5 h heating and 3 h cooling | 16 AC | 30 AC | 45 AC | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Heating cycle test in water — STJ | 63 cycles of 8 h, 5 h heating and 3 h cooling | 16 AC | 30 AC | 45 AC | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Immersion test — outdoor terminations | 10 cycles, 5 h heating and 3 h cooling | – | – | – | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Thermal short-circuit test | Two short circuits raising the conductor to the cable's θsc | – | – | – | No visible damage |
| Humidity test — indoor terminations | 300 h spray, water conductivity 70 ± 0.1 mS/m | 8 AC | 16 AC | 24 AC | Pass; no breakdown, tracking, erosion or mechanical damage |
| Salt fog test — outdoor terminations | 1000 h salt spray at 1.25 × U0 | 7.94 | 15.87 | 23.75 | Pass; no breakdown, tracking, erosion or mechanical damage |
| Examination | – | – | – | – | Pass — filling uncracked, primary seal dry, no corrosion, no tracking |
Printed on the last page of the manufacturer's joints and terminations catalogue under exactly that heading. Voltages are in kV against Umax. This is a full type-approval sequence, and it is a different regime from the per-kit electrical tables above — AC dry is held 5 minutes here and 1 minute there, and the DC figures are 38 / 76 / 114 rather than 48 / 96 / 144. Several rows are printed twice in the source, as the sequence returns to them; each appears once here. Rows marked STJ apply to straight-through joints rather than terminations.
The table indoor and outdoor terminations are actually separated by
Five rows of that sequence are written against a mounting rather than a class, and they are the only published place where indoor and outdoor terminations are qualified differently. AC high voltage wet, 1 minute, is run on outdoor terminations only. So is the immersion test, ten cycles. So is the salt fog test, a thousand hours of spray at 1.25 × U0. Indoor terminations take the humidity test instead: 300 hours of spray at a water conductivity of 70 ± 0.1 mS/m. The 60-cycle heating run in air applies to both.
That answers a question the kit pages cannot. What separates an indoor kit from an outdoor one on the shelf is tail length and shed count; what separates them in the type-test file is salt fog against humidity. A specification asking for wet withstand evidence on an indoor kit is asking for a test the published sequence does not run.
Sources disagree — one set of DC voltages, three durations
The DC withstand voltages are consistent across the kit pages. The duration is not, and the two documents do not agree either. The catalogue publishes 48, 96 and 144 kV for 30 minutes on GXO/E-1112, GXO/E-1524, GXO/E-3336 and GXOS/E-1236, and 96 kV for 15 minutes on GPO/E-1524 alone. The manufacturer's own GXOS/E-1236 web page publishes the same three voltages for 1 minute. And the guaranteed technical particulars run a different DC test entirely: 38, 76 and 114 kV for 15 minutes. That is a thirtyfold spread in the one parameter that decides whether a site DC test passes, inside a single manufacturer's own literature. Nothing is averaged here. State the duration your specification requires, then ask which document governs it.
GLT-1100 electrical performance, reproduced as published
| Test | Parameter for evaluation | 1.1 kV | 3.3 kV | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insulation resistance | 1 min, 500 V DC | – | – | >10ⁿ Ω, exponent not legible |
| AC high voltage test (dry) | 15 min | 4 | 8 | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Impulse withstand at ambient temperature | 10 positive and 10 negative | 8 | 12 | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Heating cycle test | 63 cycles, 8 hour cycle, 5 hrs heating and 3 hrs cooling | – | – | No breakdown, no flashover |
| Insulation resistance after impact test (immersed) | 1 min, 500 V DC | – | – | >10ⁿ Ω, exponent not legible |
| Impulse withstand at elevated temperature | 10 positive and 10 negative, conductor 95 to 100°C | 8 | 12 | No breakdown, no flashover |
| DC high voltage test (dry) | 5 min | 15 | 21 | No breakdown, no flashover |
The published header spans the two voltage columns as "Test Voltage / Hightest Voltage Umax (kV)" without naming either class. They are read here as 1.1 kV and 3.3 kV, because the GXLT/GPLT splicing kit prints the identical 8 / 12 kV impulse and 15 / 21 kV DC pairs and labels them explicitly at 1.1 kV and 3.3 kV. Two further defects survive in the source: the heating cycle row is printed twice, and the insulation-resistance value has the form ">10ⁿ Ω" with the exponent no longer legible.
The heating cycle, and the two tests hung off it
The heating cycle test runs 63 cycles of 8 hours, split 5 hours heating and 3 hours cooling, with the conductor held at 95 to 100°C [GLT-1100].
Impulse withstand is then repeated with the conductor still at that elevated temperature, at the same 8 kV and 12 kV crest as the ambient run. A design that only passes cold does not pass.
Insulation resistance is measured a second time after an impact test, with the termination immersed, at 500 V DC for 1 minute. The equivalent 63-cycle run on the GXLT/GPLT splicing kit is performed in water at 95°C.
The 3-core XLPE pages on the manufacturer's website publish no electrical performance at all, which is why an earlier version of this page treated the 24 and 36 kV rows as borrowed from their PILC counterparts. The catalogue does publish them: GXO/E-1524 at 50 kV AC for 1 minute, 96 kV DC, discharge extinction above 25.4 kV and 125 kV impulse; GXO/E-3336 at 75 kV AC, 144 kV DC, extinction above 38 kV and impulse above 170 kV. See termination kits for XLPE and EPR cable for the full series tables.
Partial discharge: two figures, published in two places
The kit pages publish partial discharge as a voltage: 12.7 kV at the 12 kV class, 25.4 kV at 15–24 kV and 38 kV at 36 kV, each stated as a discharge extinction voltage measured below 5 pC.
The guaranteed technical particulars publish it as an acceptance limit: ≤ 5 pC, measured at 11, 22 and 33 kV, at ambient temperature and again with the conductor at 95 to 100 °C.
Those are not the same test and the voltages do not match, so a clause has to name which it means. The separable connector runs a third regime again, at ≤ 10 pC measured at 1.73 U0.
A clause reading “partial discharge to be within limits” is therefore still not answerable. Name the pC value, the test voltage and the conductor temperature.
Screened separable connector, published specification
| Parameter | 11 kV | 24 kV | 36 kV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous current | 630 A | 630 A | 630 A / 1250 A |
| Alliance bushing | EN 50180 & 50181 Type C | EN 50180 & 50181 Type C | EN 50180 & 50181 Type C |
| AC withstand voltage | 29 kV for 5 min | 54 kV for 5 min | 85 kV for 5 min |
| Impulse withstand, 10 times each polarity | 95 kV | 125 kV | 175 kV |
| Partial discharge at 1.73 U0 | ≤ 10 pC | ≤ 10 pC | ≤ 10 pC |
| Screen resistance | ≤ 5000 Ω | ≤ 5000 Ω | ≤ 5000 Ω |
| Cable cross-section | 25–400 mm² | 25–400 mm² | 95–630 mm² |
A different product on a different test regime: AC held for 5 minutes rather than 1, classes labelled 11 / 24 / 36 kV rather than 12 / 15–24 / 36 kV, and an actual partial-discharge limit. The published table lists the AC withstand row twice, the second time with the 36 kV cell left blank; it is shown once here.
Not published — ask the manufacturer
“Class I” appears on six kit families: GPO/E-1112, GPO/E-1524, GPO/E-3336, GXO/E-1524, GXO/E-3336 and GXOS/E-1236. It is absent from GLT-1100 and from GXO/E-1112, which sit either side of them in the same catalogue. The standard behind the range is published — the guaranteed technical particulars above are headed in compliance with IEC 60502-4 and CENELEC HD 629.1, and HD 629.1 also opens the catalogue's design-standard list. What is not published is the definition: no Gala document says which of those two documents grades the classes, what Class II or Class III would be, or what numeric requirement changes between them. Quote the withstand figures and the two standards; do not quote the class letter as though a figure sat behind it.
The standards actually named, and the one that runs out
Six references appear across this range, on different documents rather than uniformly on all of them.
CENELEC HD 629.1 and IEC 60502-4 head the guaranteed technical particulars, and HD 629.1 opens the catalogue's design-standard list — which also names IEEE 48 and 404, IEC 60502, 60060 and 60230, BS 6480, SEN 24 1434, EDF HN 33-E-01, ESI 09-13, C-81 and IS 13573. That list is a compliance claim across the range, not a per-kit certificate, and it is worth asking which of them the specific kit code was tested to.
IEC 60060 is the high-voltage test techniques standard and IEC 60230 covers impulse tests on cables and their accessories, so between them they govern how the AC, DC and impulse figures above are applied. IEC 60502, 60060 and 60230 are named together on the GXLT/GPLT splicing kit as the standards its own particulars comply with.
IEC 60502-4 is also named on the screened separable connector. Its published scope is test requirements on accessories for cables rated 6 kV up to 30 kV, which does not reach 36 kV — so the 36 kV column of the particulars is carried by HD 629.1 rather than by the IEC reference beside it. Worth confirming, because a clause that cites only IEC 60502-4 at 36 kV cites a standard that does not reach the class.
EN 50180 and EN 50181 define the type C bushing interface the connector mates with. Those are dimensional and interface standards, not withstand ones, and quoting them as evidence of a voltage rating is a common drafting error.
What to ask for before the clause is signed
Six requests, each aimed at a gap named above. Sent together, they return one reply rather than four.
- The type-test report number, issuing laboratory and date for the exact kit code being quoted, not for the series.
- The DC withstand duration that governs, given that 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 minute are all published against the same class.
- Which partial-discharge figure applies: the kit pages' extinction voltage below 5 pC, or the particulars' ≤ 5 pC at 11, 22 and 33 kV.
- Which of IEC 60502-4 and CENELEC HD 629.1 carries the 36 kV column, since the IEC scope named beside it stops at 30 kV.
- The definition of "Class I", and what Class II would change — the standards are named, the grading is not.
- The short-circuit and thermal ratings for the specific kit, beyond the thermal short-circuit row's "no visible damage".
Third-party evidence, and exactly where it stops
CPRI certified 33 kV heat-shrink joints and terminations in August 2012. MSEDCL approved the products to 11 kV in 2015 and to 11–33 kV in 2016.
Both stop at 33 kV. The 36 kV class, GPO/E-3336 and GXO/E-3336, rests on the manufacturer's own type-test figures alone, which is worth knowing before a utility specification is answered with a blanket approval reference.
Two UL files exist: E328538 for heat-shrink tubes, listed in 2009, and E335936 for Busboot and Bustube, listed in 2011. Neither is a listing for a cable termination kit and neither should be quoted as one.
Testing is done in house on a partial-discharge lab, a high-voltage lab and a general product-testing lab, under a quality system certified to ISO 9001:2015, alongside ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018. Above 36 kV nothing is catalogued at all; the honest scope is set out on 66 kV: what is and is not made.
Each test, in one line
- AC withstand, dry
- Power-frequency voltage on the assembled termination in air, no breakdown and no flashover permitted. Held 15 minutes at LV, 1 minute on the MV kits, 5 minutes on the connector.
- DC withstand
- Direct voltage for a stated duration. The voltages are consistent throughout; the duration is the disputed figure.
- Lightning impulse withstand
- Ten positive and ten negative impulses at crest value, repeated on GLT-1100 with the conductor at 95 to 100°C.
- Heating cycle test
- 63 cycles of 8 hours, 5 heating and 3 cooling, conductor held at 95 to 100°C.
- Insulation resistance
- 500 V DC for 1 minute, once before and once after an impact test with the sample immersed.
- Partial discharge
- Measured at 12.7, 25 or 38 kV by class. An acceptance limit of 10 pC or less at 1.73 U0 exists only for the connector.
- Screen resistance
- 5000 Ω or less, applying to the earthed outer conductive screen that makes the connector touch-proof.
Questions this table raises
Is the type test repeated on the kit I receive?
What does "Class I" mean where it appears on these kits?
Which DC withstand duration should go into the specification?
Why does the connector table say 11 kV where the kits say 12 kV?
Do indoor and outdoor versions carry different withstand figures?
Do any of these figures extend above 36 kV?
Send the class, the construction and the clause
Quote the voltage class, cable construction, cores and cross-section, indoor or outdoor, and the withstand figures your specification demands. Raise the gaps named above in the same message.