Careful what wire you use (My gripe for today: unmarked wiring)

Up here in Canada we have a hardware store called "Princess Auto" that originally started with car parts but now mostly sells everything BUT car parts (tools, equipment, connectors, pumps, hoses, etc).

I'm bought a pile of different 14 gauge and 10 gauge wiring for my electric control panel build from them yesterday because the price was too good to pass up... It's to be used for my 30A 240V and 15A 120V AC stuff.

The wiring's from Grote (made in Canada) but oddly enough doesn't have any voltage ratings on it and the insulation seemed a bit thin and soft so I thought I'd look it up on their website: Grote Industries: Primary Wire - General Thermo Plastic Wire (Product #89-5000)

Turns out it's "Primary Wire" which is "Typically wire used for radios, lights and other vehicle applications.". It's only SAE J1128 rated which means it's low voltage only. The complete J1128 spec says: "This standard covers low voltage primary cable intended for use at a nominal system voltage of 60 V DC (25 V AC) or less in surface vehicle electrical systems. The tests are intended to qualify cables for normal applications with limited exposure to fluids and physical abuse."

IMHO, they should have the voltage printed on the wire and packing like everyone else in the world. Looking at the types of people who shop at Princess Auto I can only imagine how much 120V/240V equipment is wired up with this stuff. Will it work? Yes, possibly for a long time without issues. Is it safe? No.

Princess Auto also has a pile of wire (various gauges from 8 to 18) on sale at even lower prices (ex: 25' of stranded #10cu for $7.49 CDN [approx $6.25 USD]!). This stuff's their "Power Fist" house brand with absolutely NOTHING on the wiring or packaging (other than length and gauge) to let you know what it's rated for. At least the Grote brand stuff is marked as "Primary Wire" and you can look up the part number on their website. The Power Fist wiring does however just look like Grote wiring they took off a large spool and just re-packaged. But then they should carry over the packaging information and extend it to include voltage ratings and the like.

They've got some great deals on stuff (especially the "Power Fist" stuff) but some of it really scares me as they rarely have ratings or markings on things that really should. I think I'll stick to just buying things like tie-wraps there. Wiring and anything structural, forget it.

Be warned. If the price is crazy good, you're probably not supposed to use it the way you want to.

Kal

good warning, I don't see much like that down here, glad you checked it out!

Harbor Freight sells a lot of unmarked wire too... I went to Lowes, they have a huge rack of THHN stranded or solid core wire to buy by the foot.

Good point Pol. THHN is likely what people want.

Harbor Freight (from what I understand) is a store very similar to Princess Auto where I bought this wiring.

I think the general rule is: If wiring has no voltage marking on it, it's low-voltage wiring.

Kal

I have to add, big box stores like Lowes have pretty good prices on THHN wire. Anywhere from .24 - .38 per foot. I used 10, 12 and 14 in my control box. Use the lightest wire you can for any application for ease of wiring. Using the afore mentioned Amp limits of course for safety.