Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemaelectrical distribution

Wiring Devices Attributes

Wiring devices are the terminating hardware of a branch circuit: receptacles, snap switches, dimmers, GFCI devices, locking and pin-and-sleeve devices, floor boxes, and wallplates. Contractors buy against a written spec, MRO buyers against a failure, OEMs against a build. The same 5-20R duplex sells at four price points depending on grade.

The data is hard for two reasons. Variant explosion: one device family fans out across NEMA configuration, amperage, grade, color, termination, and TR/WR/IG options, multiplying into thousands of SKUs that differ by a suffix letter. And the spec that decides the sale lives in the PDF, not the feed: terminal wire range, strap material, device depth, UL file number, and Federal Spec grade sit on the manufacturer's spec sheet, rarely in the catalog record.

Standards also move under the catalog. NEC cycles keep expanding where tamper-resistant and weather-resistant devices are required, and UL 943 made self-test mandatory for GFCIs built after June 29, 2015. Records written before a cycle stay silent on a field that is now a bid requirement.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
5362W

The catalog number is how contractors order and how submittals are written. Suffix letters carry color and option data buyers filter on.

Device Type
enum
Duplex Receptacle

Separates duplex receptacle from single, snap switch, dimmer, GFCI, locking, pin-and-sleeve, wallplate. Drives which other attributes apply.

NEMA Configuration
enum
5-20R

The most-used facet in the category. A 5-20R will not mate with a 6-20P. Governed per ANSI/NEMA WD-6 dimensional configurations.

Amperage
number · A
20

Must match branch circuit OCPD and conductor sizing. Buyers filter 15 / 20 / 30 / 50 / 60 A before they look at anything else.

Voltage Rating
enum · V
125

125, 250, 125/250, 277, 480, 600. Determines circuit compatibility and, on IEC 60309 devices, the housing color and clock position.

Pole / Wire Configuration
enum
2-Pole 3-Wire Grounding

2-pole 3-wire grounding vs 3-pole 4-wire vs 4-pole 5-wire decides the conductor count pulled to the box. Not derivable from amperage alone.

Color
enum
White

Second-most-used facet. Also encodes function on some lines: red for emergency circuits, orange for isolated ground, gray for controlled.

GTIN / UPC
identifier
783585835013

Required for the IDW, marketplace listings, and barcode scanning at the counter. Item UPC-12 and carton GTIN-14 are different values.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Device Grade
enum
Commercial Specification Grade

Residential vs Commercial Spec vs Heavy-Duty Spec vs Hospital vs Industrial. Same NEMA config, different UL 498 test tier and price.

Termination Type
enum
Back and Side Wired

Back and side wired, side wired only, screw terminal, pressure/clamp plate, or push-in. Contractors spec this on labor time alone.

Terminal Wire Range
range · AWG
#14–#10 AWG copper

Whether the device accepts #10 or stops at #12 decides if it can land on a 20 A circuit pulled in #10. Buried on the spec sheet.

Self-Grounding Strap
boolean
true

Self-grounding devices bond through the yoke to a grounded metal box, eliminating a pigtail. A real filter on Hubbell and Leviton spec lines.

Mounting Strap Material
text
0.040 in. galvanized steel

Galvanized steel vs brass vs nylon strap is the visible difference between spec grade and residential grade at the same NEMA config.

Enclosure / Ingress Rating
enum
NEMA 4X / IP67

Watertight and wet-location devices are specified by NEMA 3R/4X or IP rating. Pin-and-sleeve devices are commonly NEMA 4X / IP67.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

Tamper-Resistant (TR)
boolean
true

NEC 406.12 requires listed TR receptacles for 15/20 A, 125/250 V non-locking devices in the areas it lists. Inspector-visible.

Weather-Resistant (WR)
boolean
true

NEC 406.9 requires WR devices in damp and wet locations. TR and WR are separate ratings; dual-marked TR/WR is a distinct SKU.

Safety Certification / File Number
identifier
UL E2186; CSA C22.2 No. 42 File 285

UL 498 for receptacles, UL 20 for snap switches, UL 943 for GFCIs, CSA C22.2 No. 42 / No. 111. Submittals ask for the file number.

Country of Origin
enum
Mexico

Drives duty, and gates federal, state, and institutional bids that carry domestic-content clauses. Changes when a line is re-sourced.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most wiring devices catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Search signal
+ Controlled Receptacle Marking

Buyers search 'controlled receptacle' for energy-code plug-load rules. Manufacturers list Controlled as its own catalog line; distributor records leave the word in free-text description only.

No facet, so the split-controlled SKU never surfaces. NEC 406.3(E) requires the marking, so a substituted unmarked device fails inspection and comes back.

Supplier signal
+ Device Depth

Manufacturer spec sheets publish a depth dimension for every device; catalog records carry only a shipping carton size. Buyers ask if a GFCI fits a shallow old-work box and get nothing.

Wrong part shipped to a retrofit with 2-1/2 in. boxes. The device will not close up, and the return is a jobsite delay, not just an RMA.

Competitor signal
+ Buy American Act / TAA Status

Manufacturers publish domestic-content status, sometimes with an expiry date, on their own product pages. Distributor catalogs carry Country of Origin at best, and no field answering the bid clause.

Federal, VA, and public-university bids get quoted from a catalog that cannot prove compliance. The line is disqualified or the quote is never built.

Marketplace signal
+ USB Port Type and Output Power

USB receptacles span Type A only, Type A/C, and dual Type C Power Delivery up to 55 W. Buyers searching for a USB-C PD outlet get every USB device in the class with nothing to sort on.

A 5 V Type-A device ships against a laptop-charging requirement. The customer buys the 55 W PD unit somewhere that lists the wattage.

Review signal
+ Mating Device Reference

Locking and pin-and-sleeve buyers need the plug that fits the receptacle. Manufacturer literature pairs L6-30R to L6-30P; catalogs treat the two SKUs as unrelated records.

No cross-sell in a category where the mate is always needed, and RFQs come back asking a counter rep to look up what the catalog should have said.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way electrical distribution suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

NEMA Configuration
NEMA 5-20R5-20R5–20R520R5/20RN5-20R
5-20R

The most-used facet in the category. Six spellings means six buckets, and the 5-20R filter returns a fraction of the SKUs that qualify.

Device Grade
Spec GradeSpecification GradeComm'l/IndHeavy Duty SpecExtra Heavy Duty SpecCommercial
Commercial Specification Grade

Grade sets the price tier. Ungoverned, spec-grade and residential SKUs sit in one result set and the cheap one wins the click.

Tamper-Resistant
TRTamper ResistantTamper-ResistantT/RTamper ProofTRWR
Tamper-Resistant

'Tamper Proof' is not the listing term, and TRWR hides two ratings in one token. NEC 406.12 makes this a pass/fail field.

Color
WhiteWHIWWhtGloss WhiteOffice White
White

Color is a suffix letter in most part numbers, so it arrives as a code rather than a value and never lands in the color facet.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Is this 5-20R dual-marked TR and WR, or just tamper-resistant?
  • Will this GFCI fit a 2-1/2 inch deep old-work box?
  • Do the side screws take #10, or does it stop at #12?
  • Is this hospital grade — does it carry the green dot?
  • Is this line Buy American Act compliant for a federal job?
  • Which catalog number is the self-grounding version?
  • Are the USB-C ports 55W Power Delivery or the older 5V type?
  • What's the matching plug for this L6-30R receptacle?

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

IDEA Industry Data Warehouse (IDW)
Manufacturer catalog numberUPC / GTIN-14UNSPSC codeElectrical Attribute Schema attributesCarton and pallet quantityCountry of origin
Distributor's own faceted catalog
NEMA configurationAmperage and voltageDevice gradeColorTR / WR flagsTermination type
Submittal and spec packages (CSI 26 27 26)
UL / CSA file numberFederal Spec grade (W-C-596, WS-896E)NEMA configurationSpec sheet PDFDevice dimensions
Amazon Business
GTIN / UPCBrand and MPNAmperage and voltageSafety certificationCountry of origin

Wiring Devices data, in practice

Do tamper-resistant and weather-resistant need separate attributes?

Yes. They answer different code sections. NEC 406.12 requires listed tamper-resistant receptacles for 15 and 20 A, 125 and 250 V non-locking devices in the occupancies it lists. NEC 406.9 requires weather-resistant devices in damp and wet locations. A device can be TR only, WR only, or dual-marked TR/WR, and the dual-marked version is its own catalog number at its own price. Collapsing them into one 'TR/WR' flag or a description string means a buyer filtering for an exterior receptacle cannot tell which SKUs are listed for the location, and the inspector will.

Is 'spec grade' a real classification or marketing language?

It is real, and it is testable. UL 498 is the baseline listing every receptacle carries. Above that, the federal specifications — W-C-596 for receptacles, plugs, and connectors, WS-896E for snap switches — define graded performance tiers, and manufacturers cite them on spec sheets alongside the UL file number. Hospital grade is a further UL 498 supplement, identified by the green dot on the device face. Grade is what separates two SKUs with identical NEMA configuration and a wide price spread, so it belongs in a governed enum, not in the long description.

Why does country of origin keep drifting on this category?

Wiring device lines get re-sourced between plants, and the catalog number usually does not change when they do. The record was loaded once with the origin that was true at launch and never revisited. That is tolerable until a public-sector or institutional bid arrives with a domestic-content clause attached, at which point the field is load-bearing. Manufacturers publish domestic-content status on their own product pages, sometimes with an expiry date on the claim. Treating origin as a static launch-time field rather than something to re-mine against current supplier documents is how quotes get built on data that stopped being true two years ago.

What breaks first when this category's data is thin?

The NEMA configuration facet. It is the first filter a buyer touches and the one most likely to be inconsistent, because the value arrives from suppliers in half a dozen spellings and sometimes only inside the product title. When 5-20R, NEMA 5-20R, and 520R sit in three buckets, the filter returns a subset of what the catalog actually stocks, and the buyer concludes you do not carry it. Everything downstream — grade, color, termination — is then filtering inside an already-wrong result set.

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Run this against your own wiring devices.

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