- Reaction score
- 157
I am about to blame my tools.
48 hours after installing some 2 way lights, my customer called to say the switch had "blown up". (The Varilight switch has a transparent surround and she got to see the fireworks as L-E fault popped the RCBO).
Close inspection revealed that my CK tools cable stripper had put a minute (I mean really teeny, the size of a flattened full stop), nick in the L conductor, about 5mm from the place where it had cut and stripped away the grey sheath. This is also the area where the applied Earth sheath is not necessarily continuous. However hard one may try, things move when cables are bent into a back box.
Cable was 1mm 3+E and the basic insulation is quite thin and vulnerable compared to (say) 2.5 T&E. Bending the conductors into place to fit the face plate had pushed back the earth sheath a couple of mm. (Your trousers ride up when you sit down.. same thing) and enabled the two to touch just at the spot where the grey sheath ends. The touch happened after 48 hours. IR had been all excellent when first done.
What this boils down to: Do I trust the CK tools stripper any more? Shall I bin it? Must I inspect the insulation 360 degree round each conductor with a magnifying glass to detect microscopic damage on each use? - Clearly impractical.
Anyone else had problems with CK tools stripper? (Stanley make an almost identical one).
48 hours after installing some 2 way lights, my customer called to say the switch had "blown up". (The Varilight switch has a transparent surround and she got to see the fireworks as L-E fault popped the RCBO).
Close inspection revealed that my CK tools cable stripper had put a minute (I mean really teeny, the size of a flattened full stop), nick in the L conductor, about 5mm from the place where it had cut and stripped away the grey sheath. This is also the area where the applied Earth sheath is not necessarily continuous. However hard one may try, things move when cables are bent into a back box.
Cable was 1mm 3+E and the basic insulation is quite thin and vulnerable compared to (say) 2.5 T&E. Bending the conductors into place to fit the face plate had pushed back the earth sheath a couple of mm. (Your trousers ride up when you sit down.. same thing) and enabled the two to touch just at the spot where the grey sheath ends. The touch happened after 48 hours. IR had been all excellent when first done.
What this boils down to: Do I trust the CK tools stripper any more? Shall I bin it? Must I inspect the insulation 360 degree round each conductor with a magnifying glass to detect microscopic damage on each use? - Clearly impractical.
Anyone else had problems with CK tools stripper? (Stanley make an almost identical one).