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The paper makes for easy stripping so I hope it stays.

Having now worked with both Romex and T&E, I can safely say that the Romex is easier to strip. [Linked Image]

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Stranded conductors are pretty much the norm here for everything except domestic light circuits.

As far as British T&E is concerned, the 2.5 pictured above plus the two smaller sizes are always solid. 4 sq. mm (about #11 AWG) and upward is stranded. (Although with the reduced earth, the 4 sq. mm cable actually has a solid 2.5 earth conductor.)

However, stranded was used for smaller sizes of T&E before we changed to metric sizes around 1970. For example, here's a piece of 7/.029 from the 1960s:

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The old designations specified the number of strands and the diameter of each strand, thus 7/.029 is 7 strands of 0.029" each. That gives a conductor CSA of 0.0045 sq. in., equivalent to approx 2.9 sq. mm or somewhere between #12 and #13 AWG.

Here are the comparative sizes of all three cables for reference. Top to bottom: 2.5 sq. mm T&E, 7/.029" T&E, #12 Romex:
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Note the reduced earth still on the old cable: Only 3 strands but each of larger diameter than those in the live conductors.

Here's another old stranded cable, 3/.029 which works out to 0.002 sq. in. CSA, approx. 1.3 sq. mm or #16 AWG. This is a 3-core without earth, which is all I could find in my scrap box:
[Linked Image]

Under the old system, only the smallest T&E of 1/.044 wasn't stranded (near enough 1 sq. mm or a fraction smaller then #17 AWG).

P.S. Yes, the strands on the old cable were tinned. They changed to bare copper with the move to metric-sized cable about 1970.




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 04-16-2006).]