You are correct, TomBrooklyn. Has anyone noticed lots of random breaks in the 'drain' wire. I'm just wondering if that is the norm, or perhaps I just had some factory defective cable. I wouldn't think breaks in the wire would hurt much, the fault current wouldn't necessarily loop around the spiral wrap of the armor just because there was a break in the wire..only if the break gaps were several inches apart..which wasn't the case with the cable I had been using.