Mechanical protection for cables

[Fintray]

When I was preparing for my second PV installation, I installed 25M of 4 core 6mm SWA from the panel position back to the inverters. It was better to do it this way as the route was not straightforward.

[sharpener]

For my first set of panels I had a perfectly good length of red/black 6mm^2 T&E reclaimed from an electric shower in another house, this will do nicely I thought. So it was embedded, more that 50mm deep, in the ventilated cavity during construction of the false wall installed in our bedroom to keep the damp at bay, and brought out at the meter position on the ground floor. Fortunately the then installers were happy with it.

The original plan was to put another 2kW of AC down the same cable by adding another slave inverter to the 2+2kW Steca setup in the loft but for a variety of reasons this didn't happen. And 11 years on I now can get 3.2kW worth of panels in the same space.

But getting the DC feed from the new panels down by the same route is nigh on impossible now. And unless they come up with a cunning ruse it will need working on a ladder while coning off the main road outside, and then drilling through a stone wall a foot thick. Not pleasant so I thought I would leave it to the professionals(!) even though I have all the tools and equipment, then they can't suck their teeth and say "dear, oh dear..." as plumbers are wont to do.

[Oldgreybeard]

When building this house I fitted as many spare cable runs as I could, trying to second guess what I might need in future. This included a few runs of SWA and underground data cable outside, in anticipation of things like lighting, car charging, CCTV, a possible pond and water feature, etc.

Annoyingly I didn't install enough, so have twice had to dig trenches and bury additional cables. With hindsight I wish I had just run a network of fairly large (100mm perhaps) cable ducts all over the place, with bits of string in to pull extra cables though. Mind you, there's every chance that I'd have put those in the wrong place!

[Stinsy]

+1 for SWA being a lot easier than galv conduit.

[Fintray]

When building this house I fitted as many spare cable runs as I could, trying to second guess what I might need in future. This included a few runs of SWA and underground data cable outside, in anticipation of things like lighting, car charging, CCTV, a possible pond and water feature, etc.

Annoyingly I didn't install enough, so have twice had to dig trenches and bury additional cables. With hindsight I wish I had just run a network of fairly large (100mm perhaps) cable ducts all over the place, with bits of string in to pull extra cables though. Mind you, there's every chance that I'd have put those in the wrong place!

I know the feeling, I put in cables for a whole house music system with cables for various speakers in the living room, data and video cables. Along came Sonos and most things having built in wifi so the cables remain unused!