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Solar Panel Wire: Photovoltaic Wire (PV Wire) vs USE-2 Wire
What’s the distinction between PV wire and USE-2 wire in photovoltaic modules?
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Tracer or Locating Wire vs THHN for Direct Burial Cables
Tracer Wire – also known as Locating Wire – is without question underrated and underused.
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Insulation: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Sometimes called simply “vinyl,” Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) provides cables with the ability to resist oils, acids alkalis, sunlight, heat weathering and abrasion. This range of properties makes PVC a great outer covering for such wire types as underground feeders (UF), control, street lighting, direct burial wires and aerial. It’s often used as an impervious jacket…
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Cathodic Protection Cable (CPC): Halar vs Kynar
CP Cables can have several layers of coating on them, but one of the most important layers is fluoropolymer insulation, which is often then covered with an HMWPE jacket.
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What is Direct Burial Wire?
Direct Burial rated wire is approved to be run in the earth in accordance with the National Electric Code (NEC), usually without the use of conduit to surround it.
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More on Thermoset vs Thermoplastic Insulation for your Copper Wire
Additional information on thermoset vs thermoplastic insulation and advice on how to choose the right material for your copper wire.
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Wire & Cable Acronyms: Making sense of the letters
If you work anything like we do around here, you’ve probably gotten into the habit of using all the wire acronyms in the book, but may not have spent a ton of time reflecting on what they mean in a while. Well, we opened up our old manuals again to refresh our memories, and thought…
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Types of Material Used for Wire Insulation
The insulating materials commonly used to cover copper wire (and other) electrical conductors fall into two broad classes: Thermoplastic and Thermoset. What’s the difference? If we take a look at our Fundamentals of Rome Wire and Cable Manual (yes, it’s from a long time ago but yes, it’s still entirely applicable), we have the following…
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Vertical Tray Flame Test and Vertical-Wire Flame Test (VW-1)
There are many tests used to measure the flame resistance of various copper wire and cable products.
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Made in the USA – ARRA, Buy American, and getting the right copper wire
Making sense of the ARRA requirements when choosing suppliers.