Homeline Breaker-Stranded Wiring

[randynavarro]

Is this Al wire ok in this breaker terminal?

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Do the markings on the breaker imply solid conductor wire only?

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[Jim Katen]

Is this Al wire ok in this breaker terminal?

It looks like it's too large. Is that a #6 conductor? The largest you can use is #8. If it's #8, you're supposed to put all of the strands under one side of the saddle, not split them up.

Do the markings on the breaker imply solid conductor wire only?

No. Solid or stranded is fine.

[Douglas Hansen]

What Jim said.

Also - The markings in your first photo indicate that aluminum wire is acceptable. The "SWD" in the first photo means "switching device" meaning that the prototype of this breaker is also listed for use as a switch for fluorescent lighting.

[Neal Lewis]

What about incandescant lighting?

[Erby]

Hadn't noticed when looking at this type of breaker before but it seems to indicate that you can only use one AL wire even though you can use two copper wires.

[randynavarro]

Thank you so far.

The circuit is a 120v supply for the natural gas range. One can see the empty breaker below the top one in the pic--the original intention was to have a 240v electric range.

I couldn't i.d. the exact wire size. Anyone have good tricks for that if there's no visible marking on the cable?

Douglas--see you this weekend in Seattle at the ASHI WW seminar.

Jim--you going?

Anyone else going?

[John Kogel]

Hadn't noticed when looking at this type of breaker before but it seems to indicate that you can only use one AL wire even though you can use two copper wires.

I believe that is correct - only one Al, and if you do attach two copper, the max wire gauge drops to #10.

Randy, I agree it is pretty hard to estimate wire size by just looking sometimes.

In this example, you would expect #8 Cu for a 40 amp range circuit. From that, I would deduce that Al to be a size larger - #6.

[Tom Raymond]

I couldn't i.d. the exact wire size. Anyone have good tricks for that if there's no visible marking on the cable?

I nicked this handy chart off the internet, but can't remember where from.

Download Attachment: AWG gauge table.pdf

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[Douglas Hansen]

What about incandescant lighting?

The SWD rating is an additional (and pretty meaningless) designation. It can also be used as a switch for other purposes, such as incandescent lighting.

I think the idea is that an older magnetic-ballast fluorescent has a greater initial current surge, and the SWD rating means that UL has evaluated it for a certain number of such operations without degradation of the internal contacts.

[Jim Katen]

Thank you so far.

The circuit is a 120v supply for the natural gas range. One can see the empty breaker below the top one in the pic--the original intention was to have a 240v electric range.

I couldn't i.d. the exact wire size. Anyone have good tricks for that if there's no visible marking on the cable?

Fetch yourself over to Ohm Depo and buy 2" lengths of each size of cable.

Douglas--see you this weekend in Seattle at the ASHI WW seminar.

Jim--you going?

Anyone else going?

I'm still trying to clear my schedule, but I'll try to be there.