Last updated July 27, 2026
By Dave (Apr 2010)
General electrical symbols — the symbol elements and qualifying symbols that the rest of the set is built from — to aid the design of single line diagrams and general electrical schematics. The chart follows the Australian/New Zealand symbol standard, with a caveat about that standard’s status below.
Download the CAD files for this chart — free, ready to insert.
Which standard these follow
These are the general-application symbols, which sit in AS/NZS 1102.102:1997, Graphical symbols for electrotechnical documentation — Symbol elements, qualifying symbols and other symbols having general application. It is the foundation part of the AS/NZS 1102 series: the pieces that modify and qualify the symbols in every other part.
The series was published jointly by Standards Australia and Standards New Zealand, prepared by the Joint Committee TE/13, Symbols, Units and Quantities for Electrotechnology.
It has been withdrawn
Standards New Zealand, a joint publisher of the standard, lists AS/NZS 1102.102:1997 as Withdrawn, noting: “This document has been withdrawn without replacement. You may wish to search for a more up to date equivalent.”
That applies across the series, not just this part. The symbols themselves are still in use on drawings everywhere and everybody still reads them — but if a specification calls up AS/NZS 1102 by number, it is citing a withdrawn document.
The living reference is IEC 60617, which the IEC has converted into a subscription database holding “more than 1500 graphical symbols”, delivered in GIF, DWG and EPS. There is a fuller explanation of the standard’s status, how to find the IEC equivalent of an AS/NZS part number, and why some Australian symbols differ from the international ones, on our circuit breakers, switches and contacts page.
The short version of the part-numbering rule, since it is genuinely useful: AS/NZS part numbers are the IEC part number plus 100, and the symbol numbers within are unchanged. So this page’s 1102.102 is IEC 617-2, and a symbol number from an old Australian chart will find the same symbol in the IEC database.
Related on this site
Electrical symbols: circuit breakers, switches and contacts has its own chart and CAD download, plus the full background on the standard. See also the A–Z of drawing abbreviations.
References
- AS/NZS 1102.102:1997 — Graphical symbols for electrotechnical documentation: Symbol elements, qualifying symbols and other symbols having general application — Standards New Zealand. Designation, title, and the withdrawn-without-replacement status.
- AS/NZS 1102.106:1997 — publisher preview (front matter and preface) — Standards Australia / Standards New Zealand. Committee TE/13 and the +100 part-numbering rule.
- IEC 60617 DB — Graphical symbols for diagrams — IEC Webstore. Database format, more than 1500 symbols, GIF/DWG/EPS delivery.