George's "Which Is Right" of the Day

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So George changed all those connectors for no reason.
kinda makes you wonder what else he does witch is totally not necessary, dosnt it
:)
 
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kwired said:
I remember looking into them a while back as I was wanting to confirm myself for an installation that what I was using was acceptable. I recall determining the 38AST and others in that line were acceptable, just wasn't finding that info when earlier replying to this thread. In particular I wasn't finding the MCI-A rating on any Arlington pages I happened to visit, but I also find some of the marketing type pages are not always completely accurate with such details. You usually can't go wrong with product listing detail information though.
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Once you get past the marketing pages, most manufacturers technical or spec sheets are pretty good.
 
Larry, I took a picture of the label on the 38AST carton. The MCI-A rating was clearly not there. I will look for the info you have put up in the White Book.
 
sandsnow said:
3838AST are listed for use with MC-AP. Connector has MCI-A rating in UL directory. The EGS connectors are also MCI-A rated. Even states it on the box. So unless you have a cable size discrepancy (outside of specified range), both look ok.
Although Southwire tries to be helpful with the chart, Southwire is not the final word. When MC-AP first came out as MC-Smart, there were few connectors with a MCI-A listing. Installers and inspectors were confused as to the correct connector. Now it is the opposite. Everybody has a MC connector(s) that is listed for MCI-A.

I do not know of a separate/additional listing for use with HCF. Anyone point out something here (besides the application chart)? Even the MC-AP HCF tag says to use just a MCI-A connector.

Arlington's info from the UL directory:

AWSX.E18304
Armored Cable Connectors, Type AC

ARLINGTON INDUSTRIES INC
E18304
1 STAUFFER INDUSTRIAL PARK
SCRANTON, PA 18517-9601 USA

For aluminum interlocking grounding metal clad cable Type
MCIA, Cat. Nos.
38A,
38AST,
3838,
3838A,
3838AST,
40A,
40AST,
4040A,
4040AST,
5010 AST,
840,
840A,
840ST,
8400,
8400ST,
850,
850A,
851.

Even UL and the manufacturer of the connector cannot get it straight. Check out the difference in the cable ranges on the EGS connectors. Probably doesn't affect the rotation of the planet, but just interesting trivia.

On the box it reads 0.385 - 0.510

In the UL directory it reads:
For aluminum metal-clad interlocking armor cable Type (MCI-A), Cat. No.
AMC-50, cable diameter in. min. 0.406, max. 0.512.
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I'm not seeing it here?

http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/...n=versionless&parent_id=1073991270&sequence=1

The 383810AST has a broader clamp and set screw.

Then you have this under AC cable:

http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/...n=versionless&parent_id=1073984316&sequence=1

:?

Why are MC cable connectors misquoted under AC cable connectors?

They are clearly not in tune with MCI-A connectors - look through the selection, there's a definite pattern there that 38ASTs do not conform to.
 
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George Stolz said:
I'm not seeing it here?

http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/...n=versionless&parent_id=1073991270&sequence=1

The 383810AST has a broader clamp and set screw.

Then you have this under AC cable:

http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/...n=versionless&parent_id=1073984316&sequence=1

:?

Why are MC cable connectors misquoted under AC cable connectors?

They are clearly not in tune with MCI-A connectors - look through the selection, there's a definite pattern there that 38ASTs do not conform to.
Click to expand...

George,
how dare you question the white book?!?! ;)

I'm having lunch with my confidential informant from UL this week. I'll ask him for a definitive yes or no answer. It might take a while as the IAEI section meeting is next week.
 
sandsnow said:
George
Please post pic of box if you can. Im referring to chart on box if there is one.
Thanks
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I was going to try to post images of the sides of a box of 38AST, but for some reason I can't get to photobucket site which is where I usually store images I post here, may try later.

I will say this box has information for several different connectors printed on it and not just the 38AST. The 38AST and others in that same series says MCI cable so does the 40AST series, but all the others - 3810AST, 4010AST, 5010AST mention MCI-A.

So apparently Southwire's MC-AP which says right on the packaging/tag it needs to be a connector with MCI-A rating can not be used with 38AST or 40AST and others in those series lines.
 
sandsnow said:
If you look at Arlington's online catalog, the 3838AST are shown as suitable for MCI-A

See page E-25

http://www.aifittings.com/home
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You would think they would be consistent with publishing that information from one document to the next, and would certainly be nice to have all information included with packaged products if it applies:huh:

unless maybe they had a listing change and I have an older box
 
After a brief email exchange with a UL rep, she concluded that the MC connector page I linked to above should be right. It was about that conclusive, and I didn't get the impression that correcting things was very high on the list.
 
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