Connections and Understanding [RE-wrenches]

[William Miller]

Friends:

I am a died-in-the-wool conduit user.  I have been researching this concept
of using tray cable.  The samples of tray cable I have seen don't look that
robust to me.  Maybe I've been sent the wrong samples. They have grooves on
the outside of the jacket.  How does this seal in a gland connector?

Routing of unprotected wire concerns me most of all, for example:  I am
currently installing a roof-top system in which the modules are in racks of
8, two rows of racks down the length of the roof, modules in strings of 4
(48 volt system).  I have a combiner on the right end of each row of 16
modules.  This means I have 10 leads to gather at the combiner (4
negatives, 4 positives and two grounding wires).  Am I to understand that I
would run tray cable, unprotected by conduit, 40 feet from the left most
module, across the backs of 16 modules, along with the other leads from the
modules at the far end of the row, all the way to the combiner?  Hey, I'm
all for keeping costs down, but I've long ago established standards that
don't allow wire flapping in the breeze.  Am I missing some hardware that
is available to protect, support and make aesthetically pleasing these tray
cables?  Does anyone have any pictures I could look at of these tray cable
installations, done well?

If these concerns aren't addressed by the industry, I feel we should
collectively condemn this wiring method.  Unprotected, unsupported  wire is
the same concept as "knob and tube" wiring.

Still wondering........

William Miller


At 05:42 AM 5/21/02 -0700, you wrote:
>Matt and John B.,
>
>Great input. The minute any of us think we know it all and stop learning is
>the day we seal our ultimate fate. We absolutely need connectors to get the
>costs down and the MC connector is a good one. Installers will always invent


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William Miller
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