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Now I completely understand why cables must be fused down when a lower size cable is connected to a larger sized cable. To ensure the cable does not burn out from current that it cannot take.
Yes i know this

Now current doesnt go anywhere it isnt in demand for so if a spur off of say a 6mm for a aircondition unit someone was to take a 1.5mm off that for a light.In my thinking it would work fine as none of the current being pulled by the airconditon unit is going to go down the cable for the light.

Again i know you have to fuse down but im just speaking theoretically
 
The reason for the fuse is to protect the circuit under fault conditions. If your 6mm cable is protected by a say a 30A fuse that is fine for that cable under fault (short circuit or overload) conditions, but if the fault (overload) was on the 1.5mm cable joined to the 6mm cable, the 1.5mm cable could melt and catch fire before the fuse blows.
 
The reason for the fuse is to protect the circuit under fault conditions. If your 6mm cable is protected by a say a 30A fuse that is fine for that cable under fault (short circuit or overload) conditions, but if the fault (overload) was on the 1.5mm cable joined to the 6mm cable, the 1.5mm cable could melt and catch fire before the fuse blows.
thats perfectly acceptable but for example its just one 100w light the 1.5mm will never get overloaded
 
If you are omitting the overcurrent protection to a section of cable , which is what you are describing here, then that section of cable should be protected from the chance of damage. The load also has to be one that is incapable of overload, of which a light (especially if incandescent) is incapable.
However in your case you would also need to ensure that the 1.5mm² cable can handle the fault current in the case of short circuit.

Partial damage to a cable that generates a high resistance connection to line could happen to create a fault that can cause an overload but not cause the breaker to trip.
In general the easiest way to ensure that a cable will not overload is to provide overload protection.
 
Ok, you win, we shall just do away with fuses.. life will be much simpler...
hahaha, mate i understand why we use fuses. But no one can ever give mean answer other then the one there college tutor gave them oh its because in fault conditions, what fecking fault conditions can cause a 1.5mm cable to melt supplying one light.
 
If you are omitting the overcurrent protection to a section of cable , which is what you are describing here, then that section of cable should be protected from the chance of damage. The load also has to be one that is incapable of overload, of which a light (especially if incandescent) is incapable.
However in your case you would also need to ensure that the 1.5mm² cable can handle the fault current in the case of short circuit.

Partial damage to a cable that generates a high resistance connection to line could happen to create a fault that can cause an overload but not cause the breaker to trip.
In general the easiest way to ensure that a cable will not overload is to provide overload protection.

What he said!
 
If you are omitting the overcurrent protection to a section of cable , which is what you are describing here, then that section of cable should be protected from the chance of damage. The load also has to be one that is incapable of overload, of which a light (especially if incandescent) is incapable.
However in your case you would also need to ensure that the 1.5mm² cable can handle the fault current in the case of short circuit.

Partial damage to a cable that generates a high resistance connection to line could happen to create a fault that can cause an overload but not cause the breaker to trip.
In general the easiest way to ensure that a cable will not overload is to provide overload protection.
Thank you, that makes sense
If you are omitting the overcurrent protection to a section of cable , which is what you are describing here, then that section of cable should be protected from the chance of damage. The load also has to be one that is incapable of overload, of which a light (especially if incandescent) is incapable.
However in your case you would also need to ensure that the 1.5mm² cable can handle the fault current in the case of short circuit.

Partial damage to a cable that generates a high resistance connection to line could happen to create a fault that can cause an overload but not cause the breaker to trip.
In general the easiest way to ensure that a cable will not overload is to provide overload protection.

Thank you, but in the case of a short circuit wouldnt it only effect the 6mm cable in the situation described and not the 1.5mm stabbed of the 6mm. also dont mcbs detect short circuits whether big or small and trip anyway.
 
@assegayer

In theory having such a fixed load would not cause issue where as the fact of the matter is the regulations do have clauses to allow this if certain conditions are met, on the short circuit issue, say the lamp had a N/L fault then this is where issues may arise, if you can ensure the ZS still meets the requirements at the light fitting then this should not cause issue either.

In certain scenarios as I just mentioned and not usually in the domestic scene, it is quite acceptable to have a OCPD rated higher than the CCC of the cable when connecting certain fixed loads, this can be essential for material and installations costs in larger installs like industrial where the inrush of a fixed load may warrant a larger OCPD as all that is required is short circuit protection due to the fixed nature of the load, other regulations still need to be obeyed like zs values and this is where a balancing act is often needed or you indeed have to increase the CSA if compliance cannot be met, or additional earthing, whichever is the most cost effective.

In your scenario, a reduction in cable size would require some sort of fusing down unless the OCPD is already sized to the smallest of the cables on the circuit.
 
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Thank you, but in the case of a short circuit wouldn't it only affect the 6mm cable in the situation described and not the 1.5mm stabbed of the 6mm. also don't MCBs detect short circuits whether big or small and trip anyway.
If the short circuit line to neutral occurred because of damage to the, say, far end of the 1.5mm², e.g. a metal disc pushed into the bayonet lampholder; at that point the energy of the short circuit will pass along the 1.5mm² cable back to the 6mm² cable for a brief period of time until the circuit breaker trips. In this case the time to taken to interrupt the fault has to be shorter than k²S²/I², in domestic this is very likely to be the case but worth checking, perhaps, if you are designing something like this.
 
@Richard Burns ...

I do question your overload scenario you mention with a high impedance fault, theorectically I agree it can happen but chances to meet these conditions are so small and the nature of most high impedance faults is such that they are current limiting shows why that it is often omitted as a concern hence we have regulations to allow higher OCPD's than that of the CCC of cables when used on fixed loads, if high impedance faults were considered an issue then this regulation would not exist.
 
I agree it is not likely but assegayer did ask what could cause an overload and this is probably the only way it could happen. Certainly there is no requirement for it to be accounted for in the regulations.
 

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