My apologies for the delay in getting back to you all - Had a really busy couple of days.
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Nick & Scott,
Thanks for taking the time to do these AutoCAD posts; much neater than my hastily drawn skethes.
I was going to mention the neutral links drawn as fuses, but you noticed it yourself anyway.
One other minor point: If you are trying to indicate the wire color codes accurately, the hot leg of the single-phase service cable to the house main fuse is always red, not the color of the phase it is connected to. (I drew all houses tapped off blue phase for convenience, although obviously the services are evenly distributed between the phases.)
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Bill:
My thanks to you too, of course, for scanning and posting my original sketches.
The original underground cables had a lead armor and were then wrapped in some sort of hemp/bitumen compound. They can still be seen in older systems, but to the best of my knowledge are no longer made (too expensive, plus the modern paranoia about lead, no doubt).
Later cables used steel wire armor with a similar outer covering. Modern replacements are steel wire armor with a tough PVC jacket. (See SWA cable 6942X, 6944X in the TLC catalogue, pg. 14.)
P.S. In overhead distribution areas, single-core SWA-PVC cable is now commonly used for an underground service from the nearest pole. The armor is the concentric neutral, and in PME serves as protective earth as well.
[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 10-21-2001).]
