I can see where this has come from. Bloody Brussels. In Spain the lighting circuit is usually rated at 10A and, just to make things interesting, various sockets are fed from the lighting circuit. Thus, in this case, it is agreed that 1.5mm² (to get the superscript 2, key ALT-253) is the correct size of cable to use. BUT, with our 6A lighting circuits, 1.00mm² is perfectly acceptable. HIGH TIME FOR THE RETURN TO COMMON ******* SENSE and stuff (polite word) the politicians. The way things are going, I wonder how much longer we will be able to keep our Twin-and-Earth or even our 13A plugs & sockets?
Mains smoke and heat detectors
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Nothing to do with Brussels, or politicians. It's derived from an IEC standard. You can see the list of countries involved at http://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:29:0::::FSP_ORG_ID,FSP_LANG_ID:1249,25
Not on my MAC is isn't. In any case, you do not need that stuff, have you tried examining the contents of the Ω button just above the reply box?
From what POV?
The lack of sense or engineering rigour in Table 52.3? Pointless and irrelevant - the table had become nonsense and therefore impossible to comply with before that entry.
The reality of what is OK from the application of basic principles? 0.75mm² flex can support a mass of 3kg - how strong does it need to be to be used in the fabric of a building where it is only supporting its own weight?
Clearly you cannot.
But I don't suppose you will not be guided by your appalling ignorance, mindlessness and xenophobia in the EU referendum, will you.
My competence and judgement says that any technical regulation which is meaningless nonsense MUST be disregarded.
My competence and judgment tells me that in the absence of some definition which states what "power circuit" means as used in this table, it means any circuit which is intended to deliver power to one or more loads. Lights need power don't they?
However, if "power circuit" is meant to exclude a "lighting circuit" which is nevertheless delivering power to lights, then as far as the first part of that table is concerned.....
How exactly does a T&E cable running through walls and an attic to a fan or a smoke detector require more mechanical strength than a T&E cable running through the same walls and the same attic to a lighting fixture?
I suspect he means is general terms it is why a minimum csa of 1.5mm^2 is required even where the current-carrying capacity of 1mm^2 would be sufficient.
As for why an exception is made for lighting circuits (I think this Regulation came in in Amendment 1 to the 17th Edition from memory) I think it is just a half-way house to outlawing 1mm^2 altogether. I would imagine that it was presumed that banning it completely at that time would have upset too many people, but for reasons of harmonisation it has been decided that it is going.
I have nothing against 1mm^2, but I can't think of another jurisdiction which permits it off-hand.
It's not really an exception as written, is it?
Why do they want to ban it when much smaller is allowed for other purposes?
Will they ban 1mm² flexible cable? That could still be used.
When you say "permits it" do you mean it is actually banned or that people just don't use it - for 16A circuits?
An exception from not being permitted.
Flex isn't generally used for fixed wiring (although it can be).
I mean it isn't permitted.
Sure, in general terms we might specify a size which is larger than the minimum needed to safely carry the current and for voltage drop in order to ensure a level of mechanical strength, but I don't see how that could possibly apply in this situation. Nothing is going to be hanging off T&E to need physical support or anything like that, so If 1.0 sq. mm is considered mechanically strong enough to pull through the building structure for lights, then it's mechanically strong enough to be used in the same building structure for anything else.
I suspect that's quite probably the reason, as I commented upon earlier, but they've certainly made a real hash of defining the situation for this current "halfway house."
I think it was an unusually British thing, not least because in many other countries final circuits protected at as little or 5 or 6A are practically unheard of (at least in any regular usage).
Here in the U.S. the smallest size circuit-breaker or fuse normally used is 15A, and the smallest size conductor the NEC permits for general distribution of power (in fixed wiring) is 14 AWG (a shade over 2 sq. mm).
BAS, don't tell me you've joined the other clowns who think they can disregard any part of a standard that they don't agree with, or don't understand?
It's not a question of disregard or comprehension - it is nonsense.
You can comply with it by picking whichever part agrees with what you want to do even though other parts may not.
You can comply with it by picking whichever part agrees with what you want to do even though other parts may not.
So what's the problem?
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