MIL-DTL-16878, “Wire, Electrical, Insulated, General Specification for,” has been updated. It’s been released as the Revision H with Amendment 1 interfiled. At the same time, the Supplement 1A for Revision H has also been released. The specification covers unshielded wire for hookup and leadwiring of electrical and electronic components and equipment. As part of the push to remove lead from the electronics industry, the document is now inactive for new design. We’ll discuss the replacement documents below.
MIL-DTL-16878 has 14 slash sheets associated with the documents. These are detailed specification sheets for variants that need additional information. The supplement also inactivates these detail specifications. So the replacement list will apply to them as well.
Wondering exactly what “inactivation” means? This is the term the U.S. Dept. of Defense uses when a specification is in such widespread usage that it needs to have a current status maintained for repair and the generation of replacement parts for older equipment. However, since some of the technology in the specification is now obsolete, you’ll be required to use another specification moving forward. An inactive document cannot be used for any new design.
What are the replacement documents for MIL-DTL-16878? The NEMA HP series are the new standards to use for this type of wire. There is a complete list correlating the old MIL-DTL-16878 wire types with those of the various NEMA HP series standards. The table columns include a general description of the wire type, the label for the wire type in MIL-W-16878D, MIL-W-16878E, MIL-W-16878F, MIL-DTL-16878G and of course, MIL-DTL-16878H with Amendment 1. For each of the MIL-DTL-16878 revisions, there’s a new NEMA standard to use.
FYI: Section 3 on Requirements has been updated with the inclusion of additional instructions for recycled, recovered, environmentally preferable or biobased materials. You’ll also find a change to the specification in Section 4, Verification. The ISO/IEC 170725 has been added as the requirement for your calibration system when using the inactive MIL-DTL-16878.
If you use this specification, you’ll need to get a copy now. Head to the Document Center Inc. webstore at www.document-center.com. You can order specifications and standards online in either paper format or for pdf download. Here’s the direct link for the order page for MIL-DTL-16878.
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