Cable Types Guide

Create multi-core and shielded cables and use them across your harnesses

Last updated: July 31, 2026

What is a Cable Type?

A cable type is a reusable definition of a physical cable - a bundle of one or more wires (conductors), optionally jacketed and/or shielded. Where a wire type describes a single wire, a cable type groups several wire types together as its conductors (cores). Once a cable type is in your library you can drop it into any harness, name each conductor, and connect those conductors just like ordinary wires.

Cable Type vs Wire Type

Where each attribute lives

Wire Type

A single wire. Carries its own gauge/CSA, colour(s), and part number. Each conductor inside a cable points at one wire type.

Cable Type

A bundle of one or more conductors, optionally jacketed and/or shielded. Carries a part number, outer diameter, shield/jacket flags, and the ordered list of conductors. Gauge and colour come from each conductor's wire type.

Set up your wire types first. Every conductor in a cable is one of your wire types, so make sure the wires you need are enabled before you build the cable. See the Wire Types guide.

Quick Navigation

Creating a Cable Type Twist Groups The Cable Type Library Submitting to the System Library Adding a Cable to a Harness Connections, Shields & Cut List

Creating a Cable Type

Define the cable's specification and its conductors

Open Cable Types and click Add Cable Type to open the creation form.

1
Enter the Part Number
The cable's part number is its main identifier (for example M27500-20SB2T23). If a matching cable already exists in the system library, EZ Wire warns you - you can still save it as a private cable, but it cannot be submitted for review.
2
Set the Outer Diameter (optional)
The overall cable diameter, entered in millimetres or decimal inches using the unit dropdown next to the field. It's shown on the cable type page. Until an EZ Wire moderator checks and approves the value, the diameter you entered is only visible to you, to anyone who can edit the cable type, and to the EZ Wire team - once confirmed, everyone can see it. Changing the value or the unit later resets the confirmation.
3
Choose Has Shield / Has Jacket
Both default on. Has Shield adds an overall shield to the cable - when the cable is placed in a harness, a shield conductor is created automatically so you can connect to it. Has Jacket records that the cable has an outer jacket, and reveals an optional Jacket Color picker plus an optional Jacket Stripe Color picker for cables printed with a stripe over the base colour - the stripe picker unlocks once a jacket colour is chosen. Both colours show on the cable type page, in the cable type picker, and as a column on the harness Cables page and the cut list.
4
Add Conductors
A cable needs at least one conductor. Click Add Conductor and pick a wire type for each core - that wire type supplies the conductor's gauge and colour. If the wire you need isn't in your library yet, create it from the picker without leaving the form. With twist groups off, drag the handle to reorder conductors; the order is how they'll be numbered when the cable is added to a harness.
5
Save
Click Create Cable Type. The button stays disabled until you've entered a part number and at least one conductor with a wire type selected. Your new cable type is added to your library, ready to use in any harness.

A cable type is frozen once it's in use

As soon as a cable type is used by a cable in a harness it can no longer be edited or deleted - changing its conductors would blank the wire information on harnesses that already reference them. Get the specification right before you place it, or create a new cable type for the variant you need.

Twist Groups

Group conductors into twisted pairs or groups

Many cables twist certain conductors together - for example a differential pair. Under Advanced Settings, turn on Enable Twist Groups to organise conductors into twisted pairs or groups.

Create a group first
With twist groups enabled, click Add Twist Group below the conductor list. Nothing to drop into - and no per-row dropdown - appears until at least one group exists. Add as many groups as the cable needs; Remove deletes a group and sends its conductors back to No Twist Group.
Drag conductors into a group
Drag conductors into a twist group's drop zone, or set the Twist Group dropdown on each conductor row. Drag them back to No Twist Group to remove them.
At least two per group
Each twist group must contain at least 2 conductors. A group left empty or holding a single conductor is flagged and blocks saving until you fix it.

The Cable Type Library

Browse, filter and favourite your cable types

The Cable Types page lists every cable type available to you. Each row shows the part number, conductor count, whether it's shielded, and who it belongs to.

System

System cable types

Shared cables in the system library, available to everyone. You can use them but not edit them.

Yours

Your cable types

Private cables you created. Only you can see and edit them (until you submit one to the system library).

Filtering

Click Show Filters to narrow the list by Part Number, Conductors (exact count), Shield (shielded / unshielded), and Created By (System or User). Use Apply Filters and Clear to manage the view.

Favourites (SHOP plan and above)

On the SHOP plan and above you can favourite cable types with the star toggle. Favourited cables show a star and are listed first in the picker when adding a cable to a harness - handy for the cables you reach for most.

Submitting to the System Library

Share a cable type for review and inclusion in the shared library

If you've created a cable type you think others would find useful, you can submit it to the system library. Check Submit cable type to the system library on the create or edit form. An EZ Wire moderator then reviews it and either approves it (it becomes a shared system cable type) or rejects it.

What happens to your cable

Pending review

Your cable is queued for a moderator. You keep using it in harnesses exactly as before while it waits. Changed your mind? Untick the submission checkbox on the edit form to withdraw it and take the cable back to private.

In system library

Approved - the cable becomes a shared system cable type available to all users, with your original attribution preserved. It's no longer a private cable type, so it moves out of your ownership: you carry on using it everywhere, but editing it is now down to the EZ Wire team.

Rejected

Not accepted - you keep the cable as a private cable type, can make changes, and resubmit it by ticking the submission checkbox again.

Whatever the outcome, the cable stays usable in your harnesses throughout. Two things stop a submission being accepted: a part number that already exists in the system library, and any conductor that uses one of your own private wire types - a shared cable has to be buildable by everyone, so swap those conductors to system wire types before submitting.

Adding a Cable to a Harness

Place a cable type into a harness and name its conductors

Open a wiring harness, click the Cables tab in the harness navigation, and click Add Cable.

1
Choose a Cable Type
Pick from your library in the searchable list. Favourited cables (SHOP plan and above) appear first, marked with a star. Typing searches your whole library on the server, so the picker stays quick as the system library grows. Only the first 250 matches are listed - the picker says so when there are more, so keep typing to narrow them down.
2
Give the Cable a Name
Name the cable for this harness - for example CAM, KNOCK, or CRANK. Cable names must be unique within the harness.
3
Choose how conductors are named
Pick a naming scheme: Cable name + wire part number (e.g. CAM-M22759/32-20-9, the default) or Cable name + number (e.g. CAM-1). Names are generated automatically, and you can edit any individual conductor name before adding.
4
Add Cable
A conductor is created for each core, plus an automatic Shield conductor if the cable type is shielded. Conductors are listed under their cable on the Cables page, and you can rename the cable or any conductor later. Deleting a cable removes its conductors and any connections made with them.

Conductor names are unique across the whole harness

Every conductor name must be unique across the entire harness, not just within its cable. If a generated name would clash, EZ Wire flags it inline and keeps the dialog open so you can rename the cable or edit the conductor names before saving.

Connections, Shields & Cut List

How cable conductors behave once they're in a harness

Conductors as wire types in connections

When you build a connection, each of a cable's conductors can be chosen from the wire-type selector - they're marked with a Cable badge. A conductor can be used in a single connection only; once it's used, it disappears from the list.

Connecting to a shield

When you pick a destination for a cavity, a shielded cable's shield is listed alongside the ordinary cavities - that's how you document a shield drain going to a ground stud or a connector pin. The shield is its own wire type, so the wire type field shows the shield's name (for example CAM-SHIELD) and can't be changed. More than one cavity can land on the same shield.

Cut list & bill of materials

Cables get their own section on the cut list - one row per cable, showing its name, part number, jacket colour and cut length. A cable's cut length is the longest conductor run inside it, since every conductor shares one jacket; shield runs don't count towards it. Conductors are never cut as loose wires, so they're left out of the wire rows entirely, as are shield connections. Cables also appear as length line items in the bill of materials and its CSV export, totalled by part number.

Best Practices

Tips for working with cable types

Build your wire types first
Every conductor references a wire type, so enable the gauges and colours you need before creating the cable.
Use meaningful cable names
Short, descriptive names like CAM or CRANK flow through into every conductor name, keeping your idents readable.
Favourite the cables you use most
On the SHOP plan and above, favouriting keeps your go-to cables at the top of the picker when adding them to a harness.
Share standard cables with the system library
Submit widely-used cables for review so the whole community benefits - you keep using yours while it's pending.

Related Guides

Keep building your harness

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