Southwire MC Cable

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MCAP Healthcare is common place here.
I have not personally seen the non-healthcare version.
 
jumper said:
I don’ t know. Hard to say without some type of description.

What is it? What is different or special about it?

I am not keen on just clicking on some unknown video without being given a reason why.
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To me it looks like the MC² from years back. Its just taking advantage of the MC with bond wire being an approved grounding means without the grounding conductor.
The wheel has not been reinvented, :D
 
Me too. It looks like the only difference is a larger ground bonding wire and no paper wrap. Only advantage I see is not having to wrap the smaller AC ground wire back (which you really are not required to do) before putting it into the connector and no red head needed.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
Me too. It looks like the only difference is a larger ground bonding wire and no paper wrap. Only advantage I see is not having to wrap the smaller AC ground wire back (which you really are not required to do) before putting it into the connector and no red head needed.

-Hal
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Prolly a silly question, but I was always curious.

Why do they use paper in AC and plastic in MC? Any idea?
 
jumper said:
Why paper in AC?
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The standards for Armored Cable Type AC were first developed in the second decade of the 1900s.

Practical plastics didn't exist till Mid-1900s.

With several initial decades of "dry location only", rather than upgrade AC, it was probably easier to just create the more versatile MC standard.
 
MCAP has been around for many years, mfg states its 30% faster to install as do not have to bond EGC to box.
AC is the older wiring method, has to be supported every 4.5 ft, MC is 6 ft.

With MCAP southwire can a green EGC and go after the heathcare market, that was AFCs for a long time.
 
tom baker said:
MCAP has been around for many years, mfg states its 30% faster to install as do not have to bond EGC to box.
AC is the older wiring method, has to be supported every 4.5 ft, MC is 6 ft.

With MCAP southwire can a green EGC and go after the heathcare market, that was AFCs for a long time.
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I don't think the video showed it but you still need a green tail to the device, correct? So you are saving splicing ground wires is all I see. Don't know if that is 30% of the job.
 
GerryB said:
I don't think the video showed it but you still need a green tail to the device, correct?
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Actually, all one has to do, to avoid the box to device bonding jumper is to use "auto-grounding devices". The yoke mounting screw is listed as a bonding means and can be use in place of a jumper.

I like MC AP.
 
MCAP is similar to AC in that you have a bonding conductor pressed in contact with the armor.

One big difference is that this bonding conductor is a full sized EGC.

Using the approved connectors, this bonding conductor is cut off at the end of the armor and the connector provides the bonding connection, again like AC.

Because this is a full sized EGC, you _may_ pull this into the box and splice it like the EGC of ordinary MC. (Of course this completely defeats the benefit of using MCAP, and your splice hardware needs to be rated for aluminium, but you are _permitted_ to do this.)

-Jon
 
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