Checked against primary sources 2026-08-24
The low-voltage and signaling articles were rebuilt, and Article 770 is gone
If your work touches control wiring, fire alarm, data or fiber, the articles you reach for were renumbered as a group, and two of the numbers now point at a subject they did not point at before.
Quiz yourself: did this section move?
On this page
The new structure
Limited-energy systems now get a set of articles organized by what you are doing rather than by circuit class. Three of the numbers are additions this cycle, three arrived with the 2023 edition, and the rest you have seen before.
| Article | What it covers | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|
| 720 | General wiring methods and materials for limited-energy installations | Number reused. It was Circuits and Equipment Operating at Less Than 50 Volts. |
| 721 | Power sources for limited-energy systems | New number in 2026 |
| 722 | Cables for limited-energy circuits | Added in the 2023 edition. The 2026 edition widened it to take in communications cables. |
| 723 | Raceways, cable routing assemblies and cable trays for limited-energy systems | New number in 2026 |
| 724 | Class 1 power-limited circuits | Added in the 2023 edition |
| 725 | Class 2 and Class 3 power-limited circuits | Retitled in the 2023 edition when Class 1 left it |
| 726 | Class 4 fault-managed power | Added in the 2023 edition |
| 742 | Overvoltage protection of limited-energy systems | New number in 2026 |
| 750 | Grounding and bonding of limited-energy systems | Number reused. It was Energy Management Systems, now Article 130. |
The third column is there because the restructure is easy to overstate. Nine numbers in one range looks like nine new articles, and it is three.
Article 770 does not exist any more
Optical fiber cable used to have an article of its own. In the 2026 edition it does not, and NFPA's panel 16 says why in as many words: once the redundant text came out there was nothing left in Article 770, so the article went. The requirements live in the limited-energy set above.
If your habit is to turn to 770 for a fiber question, that habit now produces nothing.
Class 4 is the newest technology in the range and Article 726 is not new
Class 4 fault-managed power is not a renaming of something older. A transmitter and a receiver watch the circuit between them, and the transmitter controls the source current so that the energy delivered into any fault is limited. On a fault it shuts down inside milliseconds.
The thing that catches people out is that Class 4 is not power limited to the load the way Class 2 is. It is current limited for faults on the run between transmitter and receiver, which is why it can carry real power a long way on small conductors.
The Code gave that its own article in the 2023 edition. What the 2026 edition changes is the neighborhood. Article 726 now sits inside a set organized around what you are installing, next to a power sources article and two cable articles, rather than beside a Class 1, 2 and 3 structure that has been taken apart.
So if you skipped 726 in 2023 because no job of yours was Class 4, this is the natural cycle to read it, not because the article changed but because everything around it did.
Article 742 is the only number in this set with a claim to being new subject matter, and the claim is arguable. Panel 16 built it out of the primary protector rules that sat in Article 805, moving 805.90(A) into 742.10(A), so whether it counts as a first appearance depends on how much weight you give the number. The one article in the 2026 edition that covers something the Code has never covered is 624, and it is nowhere near this range.
Two numbers in this set point somewhere else now
Article 750 here is grounding and bonding of limited-energy systems. Through the 2023 edition, Article 750 was Energy Management Systems, which is now Article 130.
Article 720 is the same trap in the same range. It used to be circuits and equipment operating at less than 50 volts, and it is now the Article 300 equivalent for limited-energy work. Where the old under-50-volt content went is not something we have verified, so this page does not say.
Same numbers, different subjects, and all of those subjects are real. There is a page here on the 750 case specifically, because it is the most expensive kind of change to miss.
Questions people ask
What are limited energy cables?
The cables for limited-energy circuits, and in the 2026 edition they have an article of their own at 722. Article 722 arrived in the 2023 edition and the 2026 edition widened it to take in communications cables, so one article now carries cable requirements that used to be described in several places. The raceways, cable routing assemblies and cable trays those cables run in are Article 723.
Which articles moved in the limited energy restructure?
The set was rebuilt rather than shuffled. Articles 721, 723 and 742 are new numbers this cycle, Articles 720 and 750 kept their numbers and changed subject, and Article 770 for optical fiber is not in the 2026 book at all. The table above gives all nine numbers with where each one came from.
What are Class 2 and Class 3 circuits in plain words?
Article 725 in the 2026 edition is titled Class 2 and Class 3 power-limited circuits and runs two parts, a general one and an installation requirements one. Circuits in it are limited at the power source, and that limit is what earns them alternative rules for things like minimum conductor size and overcurrent protection (NEC 725.1). Class 1 left the article in the 2023 edition for Article 724, and Class 4 fault-managed power has been Article 726 since the same edition.
What does Chapter 7 or Chapter 8 hold now?
Chapter 8 did not go away with the rebuild. Article 800 survives with its scope on communications systems, and the material that sat at 805 and 840 does not appear under those numbers in the 2026 book. In Chapter 7, Article 750 is now grounding and bonding of limited-energy systems, and the energy management content that used to be there is Article 130 in Chapter 1.
Does the Texas exam test the limited energy articles?
The Texas examinations reference the 2026 edition from September 1, 2026, so the numbers in the reference book on the desk are these numbers. We have not seen a published content outline naming Articles 721 through 750, so we are not going to tell you they are on your exam. What is certain is that a citation to Article 770 out of older material now points at an article that does not exist.
Find where any 2023 section went, in seconds
Every moved, reused and vacated number, with the document each one was read in. $29 once, no account. Ten of them free in the quiz first.
Fifty numbers, each checked against the 2026 text, with a public corrections log.
What this page cites
- NEC 720.1 Scope of limited-energy wiring methods, 2026 edition. Through 2023 the number carried Circuits and Equipment Operating at Less Than 50 Volts. source
- NEC 721.1 Power sources for limited-energy systems. Article added in the 2026 edition. source
- NEC 723.1 Raceways, cable routing assemblies and cable trays for limited-energy systems. Created by second revision 7756 in panel 3's second draft. source
- NEC 726.1 Class 4 fault-managed power. Article added in the 2023 edition. source
- NEC 742.10 Overvoltage protection of limited-energy systems. Panel 16's second draft relocates 805.90(A) here. source
- NEC 750.1 Grounding and bonding of limited-energy systems, 2026 edition. source