ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Why cables look like they do

Quite right there, Ranger.

I also see that still, no-one has voted on my most recent poll in this thread. (I can understand there, I was quite torn about it myself.) I've now decided on option 2: Adopt the harmonised flexes, but keep producing their own traditional types (albeit in decreasing volume) for repairing older appliances with.

It did seem to me (like others) a little unnecessary when the Brits decided to harmonise their colour code for fixed wiring with the rest of Europe, but otherwise stuck with their same cable constructions; if you're going to change, why not also harmonise your cable designs with another part of the world? Anyway, as the fixed cables go the Australian ones seem better-designed than most others; with (as noted before) stranded earths even when the active(s) and neutral are solid, and typically all but the smallest (1mm2) are stranded throughout, like the older (pre-metric) British twin+earth cables.