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Checked against primary sources 2026-09-05

The low voltage certification

California Voice Data Video Exam: 50 Questions, 70%

Voice Data Video Technician is the certification for structured cabling, telecom and audiovisual work. The exam is 50 questions, 2 hours 15 minutes, 70 percent to pass, and the BICSI methods manual is added to the books on screen. The hours rule points at five NEC articles.

Test yourself: thirty free questions, timed

On this page
  1. What the Voice Data Video certification covers
  2. The numbers: 50 questions, 2 hours 15 minutes, 70 percent
  3. The 4,000 hours
  4. A note on those five article numbers
  5. What the 50 questions cover
  6. The books on your screen
  7. Who runs it and how you book
  8. What it costs
  9. If you don't pass
  10. Questions people ask
  11. What this page cites

What the Voice Data Video certification covers

Voice Data Video Technician is one of the five certifications the Electrician Certification Unit issues. Section 291.1 ties the qualifying hours to systems within National Electrical Code Articles 725, 770, 800, 810 and 820.

Read as a list that's the whole low voltage and communications end of the book: remote control and signaling, optical fiber, communications circuits, antennas, and community antenna television. If that's your day, this is your certification.

The numbers: 50 questions, 2 hours 15 minutes, 70 percent

The bulletin and the DIR test information page both give 50 questions, 2 hours 15 minutes and a minimum of 70 percent. The older FAQ gives 2 hours for the specialty exams; the newer pages agree with each other and we follow them.

The 4,000 hours

Four thousand hours on those five articles' systems, worked for a C-10 electrical contractor. The ceilings are 300 hours of stock room and material handling, 4,000 installations covering wire pulling, terminations and panels, 750 troubleshooting and maintenance, and 300 trade specific training.

Installations can carry the whole 4,000, so a technician who has only ever pulled and terminated cable still qualifies on that line alone.

A note on those five article numbers

The regulation names Articles 725, 770, 800, 810 and 820, and all five are in place in the 2023 edition the exam supplies. That's the book your questions are written against, so the numbers line up.

They don't all line up in the 2026 edition. Our crosswalk records Article 770 as gone in 2026, with the cables themselves in Article 722, and it records the old Chapter 8 communications material moving into the Chapter 7 limited energy articles. None of that touches this exam yet, and the next edition page covers when it would.

What the 50 questions cover

This is the most spread out of the five outlines, with nine areas.

Preparation and installation together are 44 percent, and termination is another 14. On a 50 question paper the four smallest areas are two or three questions each, so don't spend a month on access control.

The books on your screen

Every candidate gets the 2023 NEC, NFPA 70E 2024 and the Cal/OSHA Pocket Guide updated 2022. This exam adds the BICSI Information Technology Systems Installation Methods Manual, 6th Edition.

All of them sit inside the testing system and you may not bring or use your own reference materials. If you've never opened the BICSI manual, get hold of a copy before the day, because a quarter of the outline is preparation and it's the reference that covers it.

Who runs it and how you book

The Division of Labor Standards Enforcement runs the certification and CPS HR Consulting delivers the exam through Pearson VUE for exams on or after June 1, 2026. When the Electrician Certification Unit finds you eligible, an Authorization to Test email arrives from PearsonVUEConfirmation@e.pearson.com and you book your own seat.

Scheduling is online at the Pearson VUE ECU page or by phone. The published numbers differ by a digit: the bulletin prints (866) 302-9666 and the DIR test information page prints 866-302-9266. CPS HR answers at ecuexams@cpshr.us or 855-298-4917.

We're an independent study site. We don't run the exam and nothing here is approved by DIR or by the vendor.

What it costs

CCR Title 8 section 292.0 sets a $75 initial application fee and $100 to take or retake the examination. The application instructions print the packaged totals: $175 for one exam, $275 for two, $375 for three, $100 for a re-test and $100 if you fail to appear.

Checks go to the DIR Electrician Certification Fund. Exam payments are neither refundable nor transferable, which the bulletin says in capitals.

If you're sitting two of the specialty exams, the two exam package is cheaper than two single applications. That's the one place the fee schedule rewards planning.

If you don't pass

Sixty days from the day you sat it, then a retest application and another $100. The bulletin, the DIR test information page and the FAQ all say the same thing.

The retakes page covers the form, the money and what to do with the two months.

Questions people ask

How many questions are on the California Voice Data Video exam?

Fifty, with 2 hours 15 minutes of testing time and a minimum of 70 percent to pass. Both the Candidate Information Bulletin and the DIR test information page print those figures.

How many hours do I need for the Voice Data Video certification?

Four thousand hours on systems within NEC Articles 725, 770, 800, 810 and 820, worked for a C-10 electrical contractor. Installations can carry the whole total; troubleshooting is capped at 750 hours and trade specific training at 300.

Which extra book does the Voice Data Video exam supply?

The BICSI Information Technology Systems Installation Methods Manual, 6th Edition, on top of the 2023 NEC, NFPA 70E 2024 and the Cal/OSHA Pocket Guide. All of them are inside the testing system.

Do I need this certification to pull low voltage cable in California?

The certification rule covers electricians who make connections of greater than 100 volt amps working for a C-10 contractor. Whether a specific low voltage job falls inside that is a question for the Electrician Certification Unit, and the FAQ names the Contractors State License Board as the body that enforces in the field.

Does the Voice Data Video exam use the 2023 or the 2026 NEC?

The 2023 edition, supplied on screen. That matters here because Article 770 and the old Chapter 8 communications articles were rebuilt in the 2026 edition, and the regulation's list of five articles reads straight in the 2023 book.

What does the Voice Data Video exam cost?

The application instructions print $175 for one exam, $275 for two and $375 for three, with a $100 re-test fee. None of it is refundable or transferable.

Put it to the test

Thirty free questions, timed, with the working shown

Every miss comes back with the arithmetic worked out and the code section named, so you learn the trap and not just the answer. No account.

Start the free practice testSee the $79 question bank

All questions here are original. They are not actual exam questions, and no question bank can promise you a pass.

What this page cites

If your book is the other edition

The 2023 to 2026 section crosswalk maps every section that moved, both directions, $29 once.

Built and maintained by Jeff Clerisier, Trojan Digital Marketing.

Every rule here is cited to the section it comes from, and corrections are logged in public with the date. This is study material rather than electrical advice, and it does not replace your own code book or your inspector.

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