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Background:

Served my apprenticeship 1964 to 1969 with NORWEB but not been directly employed in the industry since then.

I have just laid a 10mm 3 core SWA cable in a trench under the patio from the house to a detached garage 8.5m away. (cable run will be around 18m to 20m).

There won’t be much load in the garage other than lighting, sockets and an electrically operated door and possibly a router but I am making provision for a 7.2Kw Electric Vehicle Charging point, which will be a further 10m run to far corner of the garage from the garage consumer unit. I may also install more Solar panels on the garage so the supply to the garage may also at some point be a feed to the house. Battery Storage is also a consideration. There is no water feed or metal parts to the structure. Single brick construction, wooden roof beams and tiles.

My question is: As far as I can determine, there are two types of gland for use on SWA cable: indoor and outdoor.
For a belt and braces approach I’ve chosen the outdoor type even though both ends will be indoors. The recommended gland for 10mm cable is Niglon 25CW.
This gland has a compressible rubber/neoprene ring which provides the higher IP rating. However from the pictures you will see that it will never compress sufficiently to make a seal on the cable sheathing.

OD of Cable 18.9 (measured 17mm). ID of Compression ring 24mm.

I realise these glands are for a variety of cable sizes but the next smaller gland isn’t big enough for the 10mm cable and this one seems far too big.

Do I have to apply large amounts of tape around the cable sheath for the gland to compress? Or am I missing a trick?

I also have 1.5mm and 2.5mm SWA for sockets in various places around the rear garden for shrub lighting and an ultrasonic cat repeller. I currently have the internal glands (Niglon 20BW) which is a mistake as most of these will be used external. However these glands also seem too large also and I’m sure the external version will have the same problem compressing onto the sheath. I’m sure the shroud isn’t sufficient protection for an IP66 rating.

2nd Question: to conform to the new colour coding I need to sleeve the cores in Blue and green/yellow.

I have 5mm Green/yellow sleeving which will just about push onto a short piece of core but would take forever to do a long piece. I need some 6mm sleeving which doesn’t seem to be available from my normal sources.

Any suggestions?

Any advise welcome.

Ken

“The difference between genius and stupidity is, genius has its limits.”

SWA Glands : Poor Fit DSC05841.JPG - EletriciansForums.net SWA Glands : Poor Fit DSC05844.JPG - EletriciansForums.net SWA Glands : Poor Fit DSC05845.JPG - EletriciansForums.net SWA Glands : Poor Fit DSC05850.JPG - EletriciansForums.net
 
Those are the wrong size glands; the compression ring should be a much tighter fit.

I normally rely on my wholesaler to provide the correct size gland and cable. Where did you buy them.
[automerge]1568625657[/automerge]
The sleeving only needs to identify the cable. Doesn’t have to be over the whole length of cable. Have you tried some cable lubricant, to aid slipping the sleeving on?
 
Those are the wrong size glands; the compression ring should be a much tighter fit.

I normally rely on my wholesaler to provide the correct size gland and cable. Where did you buy them.
[automerge]1568625657[/automerge]
The sleeving only needs to identify the cable. Doesn’t have to be over the whole length of cable. Have you tried some cable lubricant, to aid slipping the sleeving on?
Those are the wrong size glands; the compression ring should be a much tighter fit.

I normally rely on my wholesaler to provide the correct size gland and cable. Where did you buy them.
[automerge]1568625657[/automerge]
The sleeving only needs to identify the cable. Doesn’t have to be over the whole length of cable. Have you tried some cable lubricant, to aid slipping the sleeving on?
I purchased them from TLC-Direct. Think they were recommended on the same page as the cable.
[automerge]1568626790[/automerge]
Those are the wrong size glands; the compression ring should be a much tighter fit.

I normally rely on my wholesaler to provide the correct size gland and cable. Where did you buy them.
[automerge]1568625657[/automerge]
The sleeving only needs to identify the cable. Doesn’t have to be over the whole length of cable. Have you tried some cable lubricant, to aid slipping the sleeving on?
Is there a special cable lubricant prduct?
 
By the by, have you read up on the issues of ev charging, with pme supplies (if that’s what you have). Couple of threads on here about it.
 
also bear in mind that SWA glands come with 2 sizes of compression rings/entries. e/g. there is CW20S and CW20L.. the S and L identifying the size of the compression hole. Small or Large.

 
OP? Person of a certain age.

Thanks for all the help with the SWA gland sizing charts, much appreciated.
I took the recommendation on the TLC webpage: 10.0mm² 6943X 3 core SWA Steel Armoured Cable - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SW10slash3.html
Thought they would know the correct one for the cable. Apparently not.

Although using the 20CW it is quite difficult to get the nut to tighten on the armour. probably on the limit of the cable size it will accept.

“To the optimist, the glass is half full, to the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.”
 
OP? Person of a certain age.

Thanks for all the help with the SWA gland sizing charts, much appreciated.
I took the recommendation on the TLC webpage: 10.0mm² 6943X 3 core SWA Steel Armoured Cable - https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/SW10slash3.html
Thought they would know the correct one for the cable. Apparently not.

Although using the 20CW it is quite difficult to get the nut to tighten on the armour. probably on the limit of the cable size it will accept.

“To the optimist, the glass is half full, to the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.”
The problem is that 3 * 10mm^2 is on the edge of the two sizes, and therefore different manufacturers advise different sizes. Some even list it as 20/25. But 20mm seems to be recommended more frequently than 25mm.
 
By the by, have you read up on the issues of ev charging, with pme supplies (if that’s what you have). Couple of threads on here about it.
Can't lay my hands on it at the moment but I had a guide from the IET regarding EV charging. I seem to remember the earthing arrangements seemed to be extensive to say the least. When I get some spare time I'll search for the threads.
 
check and see if your 20 gland is CW20S. if so, try a CW20L.
 

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