Going by 12 guage AC cable it has a thin flimsy maybe 16 or 18 guage bare solid aluminum wire in contact with either aluminum or dissimilar steel jacket. 12 guage MC cable has a far superior #12 guage insulated green ground wire. Was told at continuing education classes that AC cable has a thicker metal jacket but could never tell the difference. Another bad thing with AC cable if one of the locknuts or screws come loose it might causing dangerous arching or produce sparks during a short. A high resistant ground path in my thinking could take the over current device ( fuse or breaker ) A lot longer to clear. Only some what negative thing on MC cable with high copper prices it cost more. Just did a big box price check. $234 for a 250' coil of 12/2 MC cable.
AC cable
- Thread starter Alwayslearningelec
- Start date
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
No MC-ap does not have a wire type EGC. Like AC the jacket in concert with the bare aluminum conductor are the EGC.
Yes. Building was built in the 1920's. Have not worked on any two phase in last 35 years. Same shop I had to install a three to two phase phase changer for an o!d piece of equipment then wire in a rewound two speed two phase motor that had 8 line wires. At least two motor starter manufacturers made power poles that we screwded onto three pole three phase starters back in the 1970's to replace broken two phase four pole starters. Heard a few times that Philly & Detroit were holdouts on two.phase. Philly still has old buildings with two phase five wire services.
However the HCFC version does.
MC Stat® Plus Lite
MC Stat® Plus Lite is designed for healthcare settings with neutral-per-phase and redundant ground required for NEC 517.13. Its design eliminates shared neutrals and reduces the risk of overloading, helping identify faulty circuits to reduce outages. This cable offers improved safety and...
www.atkore.com
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Correct that's a version AC with a redundant EGC.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
30 years ago before MC became popular we used HCFC for isolated ground circuits.To be correct it's an MC version of an AC
Traditional HCF AC is still available.
I remember doing that as well.
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
- Occupation
- Electrician
With Both AC and MCAP, the strip or grounding/bonding conductor just gets cut off. With ac, many people wrap the bonding strip back over the sheath and/or use it to sort of secure the redhead, but that is not required and it could be just cut off flush.
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
- Occupation
- Electrician
So any of you guys commonly see AC used or stocked in your area? It's very uncommon here in upstate New york, and in the Seattle area, I don't think anybody stocks it, and a lot of supply house guys don't even know what it is. Many years ago I did a job in the Baltimore area and the big box stores there had it.
Strathead
Senior Member
- Location
- Ocala, Florida, USA
- Occupation
- Electrician/Estimator/Project Manager/Superintendent
Yes, the connectors for MC-AP and HCF cable (which is an AC cable by listing) require you to use MCI-A listed connectors to maintain the ground integrity.
Strathead
Senior Member
- Location
- Ocala, Florida, USA
- Occupation
- Electrician/Estimator/Project Manager/Superintendent
Because it is a patented Southwire product.
But why? Seems like 3 wire would have been cheaper and more readily available.
in my case it was always a stock shelf item from my suppliers and we did so much healthcare work we could buy it at low prices, large contractor pricing. There was usually partial rolls laying around our warehouse.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Why would you want to have to re-identify the red conductor at every termination when you could just buy the cable with the green conductors already in it?
HCF is more expensive than green tape.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
It is but if your labor rate is high there is no savings using green tape. Not to mention if someone mistakenly hooks the red conductor up to a hot leg someone may die.
rc/retired
Senior Member
- Location
- Bellvue, Colorado
- Occupation
- Master Electrician/Inspector retired
I don't exactly disagree, but that argument applies to everything. Someone may book a green wire to hot and someone could die. I don't think we should put too much stock into what some unqualified hack might do.
Now, if I already had some HCF cable on the truck, I would absolutely use it for isolated grounding.
rc/retired
Senior Member
- Location
- Bellvue, Colorado
- Occupation
- Master Electrician/Inspector retired
I used to do service work at a county building. I learned quickly to test every color of conductor as their maintenance electrician had no clue of what some colors were required to be.
Ron