Cabling standards update

BICSI’s representative on the CT-001 Australia New Zealand cabling standards committee - Ashley Martin, Technical Manager Australia/ New Zealand at TE Connectivity - attended the recent CT-001 meeting and compiled the following update.

Since the last Standards Update, there have been only minor updates to provide all of the BICSI members. Factors such as the Christmas/New Year holiday period have meant that project work slowed slightly. However, with the new year now fully upon us, work is back underway and I thought it best to let all members know what is in the pipeline.

The first project on the horizon will be the localised adoption of ISO/IEC 14763-3:2014 to become an Australian/New Zealand Standard. This adoption, however, creates some headaches. Anyone who has read, or used, the latest edition of ISO/IEC 14763-3:2014 would have noticed some confusion between test reference methods and the newly devised Channel Test method. The AS/NZS adoption aims to include an Appendix ZZ (as done in the previous AS/NZS 2012 edition) to better clarify all three test reference methods (1 Test Cord, Enhanced 3 Test Cord and Channel Test) to make the document much easier for field testing of fibre-optic cabling systems. As this project progresses, members will be updated on its details.

The second major project will be the update of AS/NZS 3084:2003. As most are aware, this Standard has been around for some time and is well overdue for it to be modernised. A Working Group has been set up (WG65) to discuss how best to collate information from other Standards - including AS/NZS ISO/IEC 14763.2, and to harmonise all of the content with no duplication. This project is still in its infancy and will take some time to provide a Standard that is usable and relevant to today’s installation practices.

The final major project underway is the local adoption of the ISO/IEC 14543-3-X series of Standards. These Standards deal with Home and Building Electronic Services - specifically those using the open KNX protocols. WG66 has reviewed all Standards and determined their suitability for the Australian and New Zealand landscape. One exception to this is the decision to not adopt Part 7 - which deals with wireless devices. The decision not to adopt this Part was taken due to conflict with the chosen frequency of devices listed in the Standard to that which is permissible by the ACMA. Until this issue is resolved, this Part shall not be a local adoption.

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