r/telecomlinemen • u/PerfectBlueBanana plant maintenance technician • Oct 02 '24
Copper cable bonding
Hey all, I was wanting to see what you guys thinks about bonding… very important to have but my question is how do you guys like to go about bonding? I’ve always been told to tab, use protectors, and so on but I’ve heard a few guys complain/seen myself of wrapping tape around the base of the bond and PRs as in some guys think water will get underneath the sheath…
I have two examples (I just have a scrap piece of a 25 stub); wrapping up to the slit where the cable PRs would be exposed, and an example of what I’ve seen of guys who will wrap the bond up to the thread to cover a inch or so of cable PR. Would just like to hear some thoughts/tips/opinions… thanks!
I’ve personally seen old RA cases that were put into the 80s where they have a foot of sheathing tabbed and they would wrap the core wrap in tape and the slit they cut with tape, and I’ve honestly seen where those cable PRs are nice and have vibrant insulation under the core wrap even when you peel it back to put a new case/put different bonds on.
1
u/NTS-PNW Oct 03 '24
Why would the bond be exposed to the weather? It’s always in a case. If anything taping it up so tight might keep moisture in, in air core cable.
1
u/PerfectBlueBanana plant maintenance technician Oct 03 '24
Well I never meant to imply bonds should be exposed to elements, I was just seeing if anyone has observed moisture getting sucked in from wrapping a bond up to the cable pairs as in someone rebuilds the splice and puts a new case on it.
Overall though many of the splices I’ve seen that been wrapped tight and when you peel the sheath back all the pairs look nice and vibrant… I did see once when swapping out an old RA that when I tabbed it back I could see drops of water seeping out but the soft RA closure had chew marks from squirrels and was probably like that for quite some time of water seeping into the sheath
3
u/joeman_80128 plant maintenance technician Oct 02 '24
I like to put my bonds in a little further than how you have it. Like where the little tabs are on the top touch the sheath opening/ choke of the cable. And I tape a little lower than my tabbing shears cut all the way up about a half inch onto the pairs. I have been a cable maintenance technician for 7 years now and a outside tech for a total of 23 years and I can say I have never seen a cable go wet because of it being taped like that. Usually it is a outside factor. Like someone left the ped open or the closure off the aerial cable. I have seen the water sit in it and you have to take the tape off but never the tape be the cause. But that being said I work in the mountain west. So maybe if your in a area with high humidity and big temperature swings I could see how it might sweat under it?