solid core, green/yellow sleeve wire, ~1mm^2

[John Stumbles]

Anyone know where to get some (say 50 or 100m) solid cored cable/wire with green/yellow earth-colour insulation?

[Andrew Gabriel]

I would expect an electrical wholesaler to have it, although

1.5mm will be easier to find.

(1.5mm)

[Andy Burns]

1.5mm^2 single solid core 6491X green/yellow

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Any electrical wholesaler?

[John Stumbles]

Thanks Andy (and Dave): TLC does seem to be the correct answer. (The CPC one is stranded: I had tried them first and assumed if they didn't do it nobody would :-))

[Andy Burns]

Why the non-stranded requirement?

[John Stumbles]

It's for wiring up heating control panels & the like: I have plenty of brown and blue sleeved 1.0mm^2 solid stripped out of lighting T&E but no green/yellow sleeved (and running bits of loose sleeve onto bare wire is fiddly).

Non-stranded avoids faffing around tinning tails or trying not to get one strand go astray with possibly unfortunate consequences.

Not sure I want 100m / £20 worth though :-(

[Tim+]

Tinning tails? Isn't that a bad idea (for screw terminals at least) or is it okay for earth wires?

Tim

[dennis]

You shouldn't tin wires to go in screw terminals anyway. Crimping on bootlaces is the way to go.

[The Medway Handyman]

TLC do cut lengths on a lot of cable. Dunno if they do on that stuff.

[Dave Liquorice]

+1

And the strands in stranded singles are nothing like those in stranded flex. The stuff I used for the heating control panel here was 7 x 0.6 mm, which works out as a tad under 2 mm^2 which seems an odd size. Can't remember what it was bought as and I did use bootlace ferrules as well.

Also it's all to easy to put a nick into solid when stripping the insualtion that will produce a higher resistance and mechanically weak point.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The sheds sell it in shorter lengths. If you don't mind paying a much larger price per metre.

[Man at B&Q]

They're identical to all intents, if you compare like for like.

MBQ

[John Williamson]

Most of the stranded single core I've used had 7 or 9 strands as against the twenty or more in flex.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not really - stranded singles are just to make installation easier. Not designed for continual flexing - like flex.

[Dave Liquorice]

Eh? As I said the stranded singles I use were 7 x 0.6mm (*). 1.5 mm^2 in flex is made from 30 x 0.25 mm^2. A very different size of strand...

(*) Quickly measured, a bit of digging shows that 1.5 mm^2 stranded single is 7 x 0.53 mm, which does make the maths work.

[Man at B&Q]

The *strands* (for that what were referred to, not the complete assembly with insulation) used in x/y are the same, however it's sold. If you want to compare x/y agains a/b then obviously they are different. The flexibility will also be affected by the sheathing which will vary according to the application.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

So you are not comparing like with like.

MBQ

[John Williamson]

The *strands* in stranded cable for fixed installations are of greater diameter than the strands in flex or for automotive use. A 2.5mm^2 flex or vehicle cable will have in excess of 20 small, flexible strands, while a 2.5mm^2 stranded cable for use in a fixed installation will have either 7 or 9 strands.

To add to the confusion, single core cables as used in automotive applications have the small strands as used in flex, single core mains cables have the larger strands. These fail due to vibration fairly quickly if installed in a vehicle. I found this out when the last strand of a temporary repair failed and I ended up with no electrics at all on a Land Rover, in the dark and rain, at the side of the road.

[John Williamson]

Well, nor are you. Stranded single core flex as used for vehicle wiring and other interconnections where vibration is expected is not the same as stranded single for use in a fixed installation. Never should have been and never should be, unless you only have the flexible stuff in stock on a rush job.