old earth cable-10mm2?

[BES]

hello people
helping a mate sort the mess in his garage ,came across a half reel of what looked like 10mm earth cable. he said i can have it and thinks it was left from approx 10 yrs ago buy builders when kitchen was refurbed. cant make out label on reel markings on cable are 078/001 basec bs 6004 pexman 42, it measures up as 10mm on vernier and has been keeped in dry garage. what i wanted to know with the price of cable today can this be identified as 10mm and will be ok to use due to age and storage.
cheers
neil

 

[GaryM]

Where did you take the measurement of 10mm? Diameter including insulation or total diameter of all seven copper strands?
Ideally you need to measure a single strand accuratly then use the following formula:

CSA of one strand = (π x d²)/4
Multiply that figure by 7 to get the total CSA

π (pi) = 3.142

 

[Deleted member 19807]

is there not a use buy date on it?

 

[GaryM]

is there not a use buy date on it?

Lol - eat before Aug 2003!

 

[Engineer54]

If measured with a vernier as 10mm, that's what size it is. What makes you think 10 years is going to make a difference to this cable?? Think about it, PVC cabled installations have been in use far, far longer than that, ...do they need rewiring?? Of course not!! Thank your mate for some free cable, and think no more on it!! lol!!

 

[topquark]

The formula is Pi x radius x radius x nr of strands !

 

[topquark]

You could always IR test the reel

 

[BES]

cheers guys thanks for help
7 strands 1.35mm each strand

 

[GaryM]

There you go - 10mm!

 

[telectrix]

easiest way to check the size is by comparing with some known 10mm. saves the headache of verniers and calculating by using pi x r sq. as you therefore have no need for pi, you can eat it, as long as the sell by date is within a year or 2.

 

[GaryM]

Or even having a selection of lugs to compare with an unknown conductor size.

 

[telectrix]

or as an excercise even, measure the length, measure the resistance, and then from tables, calculate the csa.

 

[Kiers1970]

you could use it for an R2 wander lead....