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Silicon insulated test cable by the roll?

whjohnson

Those of you who make up your own test leads, where do you buy your cable from? Am thinking of knocking up a R2 wander lead with 30 metres of 4.00mm on a home made roll/holder. Thing is; I can only find lengths limited to 10 metres. Since a kewtech ready-made item costs nearly £100 I'm sure I can make something up for less than half that and which is superior.

Comments welcome.

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    Normal single core insulated (standard hookup wire, or tri-rated) might be OK for PE connections or SELV and PELV up to about 60 V DC or 30 V AC, but that's about it in my opinion (however see below). It's really intended for internal wiring, where there's an earthed or insulated enclosure, or a suitable air-gap to a metal enclosure to be classed as double insulation.

    Make sure you get make sure you get “reinforced", “double insulated” or “insulated and sheathed” cable for test leads for higher voltages. For hand-held or portable test leads, where leads are more easily snagged or damaged in transit, it's preferable to use insulated and [differently-coloured] over-insulated or sheathed ("double insulated") single-core cables. These are often termed “double insulated test lead wire” or similar. One example (PVC):

    Silicon versions are available (e.g. Stäubli SiliVolt-2V range) but these cost more than PVC.

    Further, I would always want to use “double insulated” test leads for:

    • PE when carrying out insulation resistance tests, prospective earth fault current, loop impedance, and RCD tests on LV circuits, just in case there's a fault on the circuit that's not previously identified.
    • SELV and PELV systems with fault currents above 5-10 A, especially those supplied by batteries with high short-circuit currents.
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  • 0

    Normal single core insulated (standard hookup wire, or tri-rated) might be OK for PE connections or SELV and PELV up to about 60 V DC or 30 V AC, but that's about it in my opinion (however see below). It's really intended for internal wiring, where there's an earthed or insulated enclosure, or a suitable air-gap to a metal enclosure to be classed as double insulation.

    Make sure you get make sure you get “reinforced", “double insulated” or “insulated and sheathed” cable for test leads for higher voltages. For hand-held or portable test leads, where leads are more easily snagged or damaged in transit, it's preferable to use insulated and [differently-coloured] over-insulated or sheathed ("double insulated") single-core cables. These are often termed “double insulated test lead wire” or similar. One example (PVC):

    Silicon versions are available (e.g. Stäubli SiliVolt-2V range) but these cost more than PVC.

    Further, I would always want to use “double insulated” test leads for:

    • PE when carrying out insulation resistance tests, prospective earth fault current, loop impedance, and RCD tests on LV circuits, just in case there's a fault on the circuit that's not previously identified.
    • SELV and PELV systems with fault currents above 5-10 A, especially those supplied by batteries with high short-circuit currents.
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