Armoured cable for DC

[AGT]

Now not allowed to use Swa for DC cabling according to new rules as it doesn’t have enough insulation between conductors double /reinforced insulation. Is required

cabling like PV ultra seems to meet the requirements..
https://www.expertelectrical.co.uk/pv-u ... uff-sheath

Just as a wire up a future string with Swa

[nowty]

WTF, great, ain't going to stop a spade or similar slicing into a non armoured cable no matter how much insulation it has.

I'll stick to my BS 6724 armoured cables thank you.

Seriously would you prefer an armoured or non armoured ?

New non armoured Sh1t



Nowty Towers BS 6724 armoured SWA

[AGT]

Yep in full agreement with you…..

Just cause the Swa manufacturers don’t test the bedding between the cores or something

[Fintray]

My second PV system has 4 core SWA and never had a problem with it and doubt I will have, 6 years so far so good.

[Tinbum]

My second PV system has 4 core SWA and never had a problem with it and doubt I will have, 6 years so far so good.

90% of mine is and has been in 10 years. The only bit that isn't is the bit mentioned at the first post.

[AGT]

Imagine grandfather rights will apply

[Stinsy]

I don’t get it!

If SWA is rated for 1000V DC between cores what possible reason could there be not to use it for a solar array that is probably 400-500V?

[Jinx]

Here are the actual figures from the BS standard for SWA…




The maximum permitted DC volts between conductors is 1800 Vdc

I’ve worked with plenty of SWA, larger stuff generally and some of the inner insulation is so thin it’s translucent but it all states to comply with BS standards. Mechanically the internal insulation is pretty poor, once in a cableway or machine I’m always wary of the insulation but HO7 for example, comes through the gland fully intact until the termination and is much more robust. Common to have to sleeve SWA internals once exposed. Not really relevant here but still.

[Countrypaul]

That new cablw is also available in an armoured version: https://www.doncastercables.com/uploads ... sheet_.pdf
Best of both?

[Marcus]

I wonder if this is a case of regulation lagging behind technological advances:

Some of the earlier pv systems used single string inverters which could have >800v on the string. If there have been any failures on those older systems they might have prompted this decision without considering the fact that most modern systems use multiple lower-voltage strings anyway.