Ditto for air-con installations.

I guess the real problem isn't the cables as such, but the lack of a comprehensive BS or EN standard for them.

It seems that SY/CY/YY cables are commonly used for fixed wiring in Germany etc - and presumably accepted as "correct", if only by virtue of their local national standards, so I suspect the real physical problems from using these cables are minimal. Presuming they've come from a decent manufacturer at least (and given one or two instances in the last few years of BASEC registered manufacturers producing sub-standard cables) documented compliance with standards alone can't be seen as a total guarantee.

It is interesting how much variation there is of acceptable cable types between countries with pretty much identical laws of physics. Most of the rest of Europe would be horrified by our T&E whose stiff conductors don't always make good contact in cage clamp terminals and where the c.p.c. is both undersized and under protected.

I reckon it's about time the standards committees pulled their fingers out and produced a suitable standard, so we would know where we stand with them, officially,

   - Andy.

Ditto for air-con installations.

I guess the real problem isn't the cables as such, but the lack of a comprehensive BS or EN standard for them.

It seems that SY/CY/YY cables are commonly used for fixed wiring in Germany etc - and presumably accepted as "correct", if only by virtue of their local national standards, so I suspect the real physical problems from using these cables are minimal. Presuming they've come from a decent manufacturer at least (and given one or two instances in the last few years of BASEC registered manufacturers producing sub-standard cables) documented compliance with standards alone can't be seen as a total guarantee.

It is interesting how much variation there is of acceptable cable types between countries with pretty much identical laws of physics. Most of the rest of Europe would be horrified by our T&E whose stiff conductors don't always make good contact in cage clamp terminals and where the c.p.c. is both undersized and under protected.

I reckon it's about time the standards committees pulled their fingers out and produced a suitable standard, so we would know where we stand with them, officially,

   - Andy.

Andy,

You should not use this cable for Air con installations where it goes external, it has no UV protection and the installation will degrade, also BS7671 discourages the use due to it not being made in the UK or Europe under any manufacturing standards, so you can't rely on the manufactures data, also there are no tables for Volt drop etc to calculate from

Parts of that argument are a bit specious. The copper cores are of course made to a standard, just not one invented here, and knowledge of the stranding and copper purity from that allows those skilled in the art to deduce a resistance and a voltage drop- tables in OSG or '7671 are for those who can't, but those who can, are allowed to.

Makers of doubtful integrity can of course claim to meet a BS and fail to do so, just as much as they can claim and fail to meet a DIN.

The problems arise, as you point out, from its poor performance in UV, which is a matter of sensible routing and containment,  (much as it would be for "Arctic flex" or twin and earth) and specifically folk not knowing how to terminate the braid, or not realizing it is woefully inadequate for use as the CPC without a parallel inner core, and being pretty wispy is not really much of a protection against nails..
The fact it is tested at  650V and not 1000V in the factory is actually something of a reg herring, as in practice the insulation breakdown is many kV.

It would  be possible to write a BS for it, but as others have noted, it suffers from the not invented here problem, and the makers are not that bothered about doing extra tests just for the UK market.

Mike.