Domestic Cable Quality

[farad]

Hi,

I'm just about to start a full re-wire of my house and looking for some decent T&E cable. Is the Turkish Altin brand, sold at Wickes, as good as any other BASEC approved cable?

Thanks

 

[Guitarist]

never had these problems with imperial stranded cable. all went ---- up when we converted to the solid core crap

Well said that Man.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Altin- got 6 rolls various sizes, ALL CRAP. Insulation outer looks like marxipan (grey i grant you) & all have stripping problems. Awful stuff.

 

[Amp David]

Even Screwfix are selling decent cable, so can't understand why anyone would want to go to any shed to buy it?

 

[farad]

Thanks to everyone that's replied to this thread. All things considered, I'm going to save my Wickes points for something else and go with Draka or Prysmian.

 

[Amp David]

You made a good choice their Farad.

 

[shocking_eg]

Prysmian is all we use, heard some horror storys about cheap cable that was stamped up as BASEC but it wasnt at all !!

Prysmian and draka is worth the extra money, you can tell the quality when you strip it ! lol
must be quality if its made in the UK !!! lol

 

[Geordie Spark]

Prysmian is all we use, heard some horror storys about cheap cable that was stamped up as BASEC but it wasnt at all !!

Prysmian and draka is worth the extra money, you can tell the quality when you strip it ! lol
must be quality if its made in the UK !!! lol

The only thing wrong with the Prysmian cable I've used is the stupid cardboard box & fragile cardboard reels they use.

 

[Guitarist]

The only thing wrong with the Prysmian cable I've used is the stupid cardboard box & fragile cardboard reels they use.

Totally agree mate, it's like a magic box... you tap it and it all opens.

 

[rich.250]

The only thing wrong with the Prysmian cable I've used is the stupid cardboard box & fragile cardboard reels they use.

On the plus side, the stuff is awesome on a proper reeler

 

[huntos33]

Remember as a lad trying to strip a cable my company used made by idh" irish driver harris" i think ? my god it kept me awake for nights .

 

[huntos33]

The more expensive the cable the better it strips i find as with everthing you get what you pay for, cheap cable slow 2nd fix i guess

 

[Knobhead]

I don’t know if any of you will remember SWA cable where the insulated cores were bound together with a wide two layer tape and then the armouring laid over this. An extruded outer sheath overall.
As an apprentice I was making off one of these cables (70mm) and everything was going well, went to make off the other end and the inner serving wasn’t taped but extruded? We’d got the foreman, charge hand, tradesman and myself all scratching our heads. Every test we did said it was the correct cable at each end. In the end the decision was made rip it out!
Later I stripped it down, half way along the length I found where the manufactures had swapped form one form to the other.
BICC (I think, it’s a long time back) had supplied the cable were most apologetic it had escaped their system.

It went in to the Christmas fund.

 

[ipf]

Strange one that Tony. Was there a refund from BICC ????? Then again, I bet you weren't too bothered, eh.