Unknown Cable.

Sounds like it belongs in the skip

Blencathra:

Sounds like it belongs in the skip

?


It probably came out of a skip...

Brown and black will be continental, which makes it unusual, as round cable is generally preferred to flat.


IF you really want to use  it, please verify the cross section and that it is real copper with an end to end resistance test,

expect no more than 19 miliohms per meter length, per mm2 of cross section - that is a single 1mm core 1m long, or a 2.5mm2 core 2.5m long etc is no more than 19milliohms.

More than this and its either not pure copper, or not the cross-section you were hoping for.


and also megger it, ideally at 1kV. Desco in the states make ESD management kit, the cable may have a deliberately leaky insulator.

Assuming it passes  then you will need to blue sleeve one core, presumably the black one, as the neutral at the ends.



Where does the customer claim it has come from ?

I'd be wary.

Thanks Mike,

                        the customer did not state its origin, he only said he had a big roll of it. As to where it came from I do not know. It is probably fake as it has no number after the name moulded onto the sheath like the original stuff from that maker as shown online.


Z.

If its not made by them really  then it could be something very odd -  black/brown as twisted pair is sometimes used as a firing cable
http://www.klaceycables.co.uk/shop/product/13/demolition-cable,

or for field telephones.as an alternative to D10  UTP .

Or thermocouple compensation cables -
https://www.thermocoupleinfo.com/thermocouple-color-codes.htm

which can be very colourful.

Again, be wary, and verify it is copper first.

Many years ago I came across a large metal fusebox that had been wired in T/E PVC/PVC where on every bend in the single wires the pvc had completely split off and straightened itself out leaving the bent wire completely exposed.

In a large box that was a lot of bare copper!

I'd never use a cable I wasn't sure about.

This cable has been insulation resistance tested at 1000 Volts and has infinite resistance on the small sample that I took home (0.25 metre) . The conductors have been tested with my micrometer and are full sized 2.5mm2. As to the copper content I am not sure, and my small length is too short to fully undertake a resistance test of conductor resistance. The conductors are not plated aluminium, but appear to be solid copper. 


Z.

Given the cost of a drum of T&E is it worth the aggro?

Hello Blen,

                       I would not buy or use unknown cable normally. The customer installed some of this cable to three double sockets in his dad's kitchen. I installed a new consumer unit for him initially. He then said he would do some D.I.Y. home electrics and could I return test and connect it up. He ran main bonding cables and I connected them. He also installed a new cooker hood with external ducting very nicely. I connected that up. He connected up a cooker switch with a 13 Amp socket on it. When I tested it I was initially confused as the main cooker switch had to be on to get the socket to work. That happens when you connect the feed into the load terminals. He had squeezed a C.P.C. hard against the neutral behind a single socket, the R.C.D. tripped. N to E short. I sorted that. He is a good all round D.I.Yer but is not up to being a good electrician. Perhaps that is why he called me in to check his work. He is a very nice man, and is trying to save his retired parents some money I suppose. All of his sockets now test out fine, so that is good. 


Bye,


Z.

Bootleg