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#141969 11/16/04 08:45 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 45
S
sanUK Offline OP
Member
Hello all,

Heres a few pics of some T+E that i ripped out last week, (must have been at least 100 meters)

[Linked Image from zen23694.zen.co.uk]

[Linked Image from zen23694.zen.co.uk]

So the question is "has anyone seen this type of cable before, or is it a manufacturing fault " ?.

#141970 11/16/04 09:45 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 25
R
Member
That is strange! Never seen anything like that.

It looks like pretty new cable, so I guess it'll be a manufacturing fault?

#141971 11/16/04 09:47 PM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 382
H
Member
Never seen anything like that before. I suspect there was a manufacturing error there. I’ve only ever seen the egc tucked up nicely between the live and neutral.

#141972 11/16/04 09:48 PM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 382
H
Member
Snap!

#141973 11/16/04 09:52 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 25
R
Member
[Linked Image]

#141974 11/17/04 06:10 AM
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 48
M
Member
Yes, I have.

Cable such as this is common in South Africa as it offeres a higher safety factor - a nail can enter from either side and the first conductor it reaches will be 0v (well, close to Earth anyway!).

In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, the twin had to (at one time at least) be wrapped in a conductive foil so that penetration from any angle would contact Earth first. Having the earth wire on the one side ensured contact with the conductive foil (if it were in the centre, there may be a possibility the wire would stay free of the foil).

M.

#141975 11/17/04 09:43 AM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 382
H
Member
Marc, I think the South African wire you are referring to is this...

[Linked Image from elkonv.com]

It's called surfex and is designed for surface mounting. Very nice to work with BTW. I hadn't thought about it before but with all power circuits there being on earth leakage units even nicking the neutral thought the aluminium sheath would throw the breaker.

#141976 11/17/04 09:53 AM
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 48
M
Member
Dats de baby! Hey man, you take me back a few years! Notice too how the Earth is to one side, not down the centre.

BTW, was it not "surflex" (you typed without the 'l'). It's been well over 5 years since I played with electrickery (not my saying, but I like it!). All I do now is simply find out why things fail.

M.

p.s. it was sort of between round and flat like modern day T+E, just could not quite make up its mind what it wanted to be!

p.p.s seen the newer stuff where it is a braided earth around a twin? no outer sheath. being a radio guy my few hundred watts of RF never made it in to the juice - gorgeous!


[This message has been edited by marcspages (edited 11-17-2004).]

#141977 11/17/04 03:13 PM
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 200
U
Member
Yes, I too have come across it before - but not in any great quantity.

I just shook my head and made a mental note to have "one less" each night - then realised it was real and banished the mental note immediately! [Linked Image]

I have no idea of its origin/s or rationale...


If hindsight were foresight, we'd all be millionaires!
#141978 11/17/04 07:53 PM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 382
H
Member
You and I must have left the 'deep south' about the same time. A quick Yahoo search on "surfex cable" showed that my memory is not too bad as can be seen here . [Linked Image]

One thing I didn't remember was T+E in RSA as can be seen on the web site. It's egc appears to be centrally located like the usual UK ones.


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