iwire said:
...Are you using the sheath as the EGC?
If so do you cut out the undersized grounding conductor?
Yes. No.
The area of the sheath is large compared to the grounding conductor. I use the phrase "copper equivalent" cause it is the only way to add the sheath and grounding conductors together. Okonite uses that term in their tables showing the equavelent wire size of the Al sheath.
As for the copper GC, sometimes it is single conductor, and sometimes it is 3 conductor. A TMC connector grabs the sheath and the grounding connection is made to to a lug on the TMC bushing. The copper grounding conductors and the connection to the TMC are all terminated to the grounding connection.
One place to look is the UL spec on the cables. It has a pretty good illustration of how the sheath and copper are terminated for the grounding conductor tests. Both the sheath and the copper GC are used. Article 250.118(11)(b) (NEC 2002)specifically allows the use of the combined sheath and the grounding conductors where the cable is of the corrugated tube type MC.
So far, the AHJ is in agreement.
I wrote a paper on this a couple of years ago and can pm it is any one is interested. It is escrutiatingly, nauseously detailed.
carl