Electrical wires exposed to rain/elements for a week

[jschjsch]

We have been in the process of having old driveway lights replaced with led spike lights. The electrician has been away for nearly a week and have been waiting for him to install the spike lights as all that has been done is the removal of the old lights. As there are open wires in several places including in the photo which have been exposed to the elements for nearly a week I'm concerned in particular of the recent rain and if it will had caused some damage or corrusion that may come to light in the future. Please can you offer advice on whether this is a normal procedure or if they should have been protected until the installation of the spot lights. Essentially I'd like to know whether these exposed cables will need replacing now? Thanks

 

[SJD]

It looks to me like I'm seeing armoured (SWA) cable with the armour snipped off, the edges just visible. The armour needs to be earthed, with a proper gland at at least one if not both ends. Hopefully your electrician plans to do this.

Personally I would have protected the ends by covering with them something waterproof (e.g. strong plastic bag & tape) you could always do this yourself in the meantime. Though I would have preferred not to disconnect them from the old lights etc until I had the junction box or new fitting available to terminate them into.

I'm assuming also everything is isolated/disconnected, and there is no way any of those exposed cables can be energised. I'd be very worried if they could, e.g. by someone accidentally switching something on!

 

[Jim_e_Jib]

If water has migrated into the cable, it could cause the steel wire armour to corrode which is not something you want to happen.

The water may also give rise to poor insulation resistance which could lead to nuisance tripping of any upstream RCDs.

It does look like your electrician should have checked the weather forecast and, as above, protected the cables from water.

Hopefully, a few sunny days will drive any water out.