Bigger oh sh!t.

[dennis]

[Scott M]

Sounds a /little/ over dramatic to me. Presuambly some cost cutting going on in production but how much cable ever gets near its rated capacity? Unlikely to be a problem on lighting circuits these days. I'd have thought poorly screwed down terminals would still be more of a hazard on domestic ring circuits.

I've seen a few commercial installations in the last few years and it amazes me just how many breakers get put in the main box on relatively small projects. Great for granularity of isolation, and in light of this keeping the average current down, but must eat miles of cable that someone's paying for.

[newshound]

"If it overheats, it will ignite anything that touches it. If it's against a plasterboard wall that will ignite."

As Scott says, sounds a bit OTT.

No indication in the article of how far out of spec it was, or what proportion was affected.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Be nice to know who was actually selling this stuff.

[whisky-dave]

I don't really understand that, surely anything at the right temerature will ignite something next to it if the temperature is abouve the ignition point.

[pamela]

How did substandard cable get sold in the UK in the first place?

Aren't there regulations to ensure a suitable standard? Maybe there's no enforcement but surely a lab or agency would have checked the cable and issued a pass certificate.

[JoeJoe]

I suspect a typical dumbing down BBC again...

Just watched 5 minutes of the 1pm news. American police chief said they found 23 guns in the hotel and 19 in the home of the shooter, or as the BBC immediately put it: "over 40 guns", and then the policeman said 515 injured, or as the BBC put it: "over 500".

I suppose when you manage to negotiate a £500,000 salary for reading the news, you do feel you have the right to treat your viewers who pay your salary as idiots...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Quite. It's not the sort of thing you'd buy in a Sunday market or corner shop. I'd hope any of the usual suppliers - a wholesaler or shed - would only buy from a reputable source.

Grenfell Tower.

[John Rumm]

Atlas Kablo *was* was reputable source for many years. Its only after that their previously tested and approved cables were found to now be of a lower inadequate quality, that their licence various ranges was suspended.

Indeed they do. That is how the reduction in quality was detected.

Not a helpful comparison.

[whisky-dave]

Well that is correct isn't it. 23+19 is 42. They haven't said those are his only guns, he might have more in a lockup o r shed or car.

again true and this also true, maybe there's still some that haven't been c ounted or it depends what you mean by injured. if someone was filming and tripped over and fell knocking themselves out (y es peole have killed themselves filming things) would or should that be add ed to the number of injured. When I first heard the report it was that at least 2 people had died , nex t it was at least 20 then at least 52 last night it was at least 59. at 15:06 UK time.

Police are working to establish the motive behind a mass shooting which lef t 59 people dead and another 527 injured at a Las Vegas concert.

So your report of 515 injured is WRONG. over 500 is RIGHT.

it seems some are....

[John Rumm]

From the electrical safety first website (posted in 2010):

Atlas Kablo has listed on its website batch numbers of products known to be affected at this time by the BASEC suspension and distributors are urged to inform their customers. They have a 2010 manufacturing date and are marked with the manufacturer?s identification `Atlas Kablo?.

The suspension by BASEC remains in place and cables affected are:

Flat twin, single and 3-core with CPC (BS 6004 Table 8 and IS 201-4 Table 1, 1.0 sqmm ? 16 sqmm)

Single core unsheathed (BS 6004 Table 4a, 1.5 sqmm ? 35 sqmm)

Single core sheathed (BS 6004 Table 7, 1.5 sqmm ? 35 sqmm).

Cables affected by the HAR scheme certification licence suspension have also been found to have insufficient copper leading to high conductor resistance. Cables affected are H05VV-F type, PVC insulated and sheathed in sizes ranging from 0.75 sqmm to 4.00 sqmm and with 2, 3, 4 and 5 cores.

[pamela]

I wonder if the general situation is a bit like the market for USB mains chargers.

It's hard enough to get one of those chargers that actually delivers the specified current rating, no matter how carefully you shop to get the genuine article. Counterfeits seems to have a stranglehold on the market. Which leads me to think that if the current rating is faked then so might the safety approvals.

All this certification is only useful if fakes actually get stopped.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Must admit to not having had a problem with a USB charger - but have heard of plenty who have.

I now use a multiple outlet one which is part of a mains socket (came from TLC and part of their expensive Chelsea range) so at least any fire etc would be contained within the steel back box. ;-) Assuming the battery doesn't explode, of course.

It does make you wonder how much money the maker saves by selling something that doesn't deliver the current it claims. Must be tiny.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So they were presumably buying stuff in from a non reputable source? You can't really make something yourself with an inadequate amount of copper by mistake.

Really? It used materials which weren't suitable for the job. Cheaper than those which were. Exactly the same as using less copper than needed in cable. To increase profits.

[whisky-dave]

I had one that went bang literly. But the chargers supplied with my iuDevices have all worked OK and never ca used a problem.

Although I did just get this 'report' at the top of a google spreadsheet I 've had open all day.

" This webpage was reloaded because it was using significant energy."

If it said memory or RAM or something but energy ? Maybe I should invest in a windmill. Or in this lab something that turns sound into power/energy, we've hit 91 db today.

Maybe it's not the components as they are pretty standard surface mount I t hink it's the board & contruction quality and insulation etc.. not being up to it. When you see a charger for £1.99 and sometimes 99p I really wonder abo ut them.

[Roger Hayter]

AFAIK, things like USB chargers are not officially inspected unless they are complained about to Trading Standards, Otherwise the manufacturer certifies them and the importer (who may well be the consumer) is also responsible for ensuring that they meet standards, though not necessarily by testing them again. Relying on well-founded confidence in the manufacturer is sufficient, provided nothing goes wrong.

[mailbin]

Under what's called the New Legislative Framework a manufacturer declares conformance with the relevant Directives, usually having performed tests to meet the standards that are published in the Official Journal of the EU in support of those Directives. The CE mark is applied to show that the product complies with all relevant Directives and can therefore be traded across EU borders and Placed On The Market. This is very much the GCSE level version, if you have a spare few days then much more is available via:

[Graham.]

On Tue, 3 Oct 2017 15:21:09 +0100, John Rumm coalesced the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful comprehension...

A quick Web search suggests that copper power cable is, or should be, pretty much pure copper, so it begs the question what was this stuff alloyed with?

[alan_m]

The BBC made that connection at the bottom of the article!

[alan_m]

CE = Chinese Export