ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Run For Your Lives! It's FlatWire!

http://tinyurl.com/346qmf



This is a new product, #14 conductors so thin you just roll them onto the surface of a wall like a 4" wide ribbon and paint over them.



http://www.flatwiretv.com/installation_light.html





The DIYs are gonna love this!

Oh I've done this before, wired a whole house in it! A dollhouse...

What code article applies?

Yup, that stuff is new .. as new as dinosaurs! maybe Southwire has just re-introduced it, but it's nothing really new.

There have been any number of "flat" wire methods / products introduced over the years. The closest current products are the "festoon" cable used with overhead cranes, and a flat cable that was designed to run under carpet.

This product would likely be expected to comply with Article 324 of the NEC.

If a wire burns up, at least it would be easy to find the fault. Things always seem to take a circular path, when electricity was first put into homes, the conductors were on the surface of the wall, then they were concealed within the walls, now they're back on the surface.

yeah that cool but i am not going to use that crap because if someone get a funny idea to get a nail or something and tack on the wall and they dont know where the {beep} flat wire is.

the other thing that i did see that it only have two conductors but where is the grounding wire is ?? Huhh

let someone get a funnny idea and burnt it up and end up call the electrician to come and try to fix this mess and will we have to find a way to resplice that freaking " pancake " wire

IMO i just dont like it too easy to screw up and someone did make a flatwire before for a short while then somehow the NEC code kill it i dont rember where it did wroted it

Merci, Marc

It would be easy to wrap wires around thumbtacks and makes taps off the flat cable. You could mash tacks into the wall, wires leading from the tacks would terminate on nails, and you could cook a hot dog right on the wall!

yeah but i think i will pass the hotdog for now but crank up the amparage on the flat ribbon then you got nice heater in the wall shall we take our work boots off and put the feet up to feel the " warm " wall ??
but no sun of course.

anyway that the idea how it can be abused very easy

Merci , Marc

"Proceed to remove the FlatWire Ready® Transformer,"

Sounds like low voltage to me.

The old under carpet ribbon system required glass insulator material around the ribbon then tin shield over that, to avoid damage to ribbon, this stuff looks like it was made for LV.

Yes - Low voltage right now, but look at thier facts page:
Product FAQ's
What are FlatWire products?
FlatWire Technologies, a division of Southwire, has created a new shift in wiring and interconnect devices for low voltage lighting, audio/loudspeakers, voice/data lines, high performance video, Cat 5, 5e, and 6 data cables, and other low voltage applications. Future products include 120 AC electrical and fiber optics. For specific product specifications, see the individual product group information offered on the website.