Hence my liking for Hellerman sleeving - made out of rubber. They normally need a special tool to apply - it expands it - but for this purpose the correct size can just be slid on and won't come off without a struggle.
Just noticed in the latest TLC cat a rather nifty junction box designed for inaccessible places.
Indeed, and that is the one cable that needs to be treated differently from the others.
For most light fitting connections, one could argue the connection remains accessible by the expedient of removing the fitting.
We use Hellerman for heat protection sleeving. That's a galvanised rubbery stuff. It's bloody expensive to use on standard sleeving jobs though. Is that the kind of thing you're using?
Yes. Not sure I'd use it if I were wiring houses for a living, but for DIY it's ideal. Costs about 2p per sleeve.
crimped, soldered or brazed. Actually, it looks like the contact pressure is just down to a spring, which would make this much worse than any normal junction box connection, and most unsuitable for inaccessible places.
If you follow the link from TLC to their 17th regs. summary (from Hager), it seems expressly to state that these *do* comply with the requirements of the regs. Not having a copy to hand (well, not having a copy at all!), I can't look up the wording. Do the regs state "crimped, soldered or brazed"? Or is that a previous version or standard interpretation?
From that PDF (page 9):
"Maintenance Free Connections
Maintenance free terminals provide one solution where accessibility is an issue.
Tests, including long term vibration, shock test, long term connection test, pull out, voltage drop, temperature rise and exposure to corrosive atmospheres validate the suitability of these terminals. Equally suitable are solutions such as a ?joint made by a compression tool?."
I can't help feeling that quite a few people here would like to be certain of the proper interpretation. Including me!
I did wonder - but they certainly claim it will. Are they lying?
Beauty is it will fit through a downlighter hole which a standard round type won't. So could also be useful for those situations where you're replacing a pendant light using a loop through rose.
place.
Wouldn't be unusual. I had a set of BA taps, spanners and nut spinners in my toolkit from the 1960s until I finished in 1997. We went metric in the 70s but there were loads of stuff out there with BA threads on. Some were interchangeable like O BA and 6MM but not all. I used to wonder about all that stuff still out there with BSF, Whitworth and BSP threads too.
...and probably doesn't meet BS 2848 (or its harmonised EN equivalent) as required by BS 7671.
For a long time I used 2 mm i/d silicone rubber sleeving for this purpose - e.g. RS stock code 399-445. It complies with the standard, pushes nicely on to a 1.0 or 1.5 mm^2 conductor without special tools, stays put and looks neat.
However I've been unable to source this material in brown and blue at anything like a sensible price. RS told me they had no plans to introduce those colours. Siegrist Orel were surprisingly unhelpful, wanting a large MOQ and a small order surcharge - GBP 70+ for 20 m of sleeving seemed just a little OTT!
So I've taken to using heatshrink - but if anyone knows of a source of brown & blue silicone in small quantity, sensibly priced, I'd be most interested to hear.
Only earth/CPC is allowed stripes, so the totally colour blind can distinguish between protective and live conductors - FWIW.
I suspect 2 reds or 2 browns never caught on to any great extent because it's sometimes helpful to know which line is switched and which not. If one of the two browns had a thin longitudinal white stripe it might popularise this type of cable, with negligible risk of confusion with the CPC.
How many colour blind electricians are out there?
IIRC, some 30% of the blue eyed male population has severe red/green problems. Hence the choice of those for the most common critical combination to be confused rather silly.
Perhaps becoming an electrician isn't the ideal choice of career for a colour-blind person.
Sorry, ignore that bit - complete bollo.
BS 2848 (now BS EN 60684 series) is only mandated for earth sleeving. Colour marking sleeving needs to meet BS 3858, which I've just looked up. It covers Hellerman type sleeving (polychloroprene), PVC and silicone types.
Stet.
You could carry an extra couple of reels of insulating tape for the less used colours, hardly that onerous!
Although as has been said, if you use it on an old colour installation, then you make it a mixed one.
Good - I'd not use it for earth sleeving anyway as that's ok.
Just to inform others RS components etc stock Hellerman sleeving in suitable sizes and colours. Comes in packs of 100 about an inch long - so only suitable for identification in this application.
I bought mine from Farnell. CPC do some too, but annoyingly don't do the sleeve oil. I used to by it in tiny jars that lasted me 5 or more years. Last time, I could only find it in a large bottle, but at least I don't ever envisage having to buy any more in my lifetime.
The sleeving all has use-by dates on it. Some of mine is now 15+ years past the dates, but it still seems OK. I make a point of storing it in the dark (I've noticed used pieces can deteriorate in sunlight).
I decant it into one of those squeeze 'syringes' you get with printer ink refill kits. Ideal for applying a small amount and don't spill if knocked over.
Yes - like all rubber products it will suffer to some extent from light exposure. But seems to last well inside a backing box,etc. I've been using it for 30 years or so and it survives ok in this application.
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