Minimum bend radius on CT leads?

Support
1

I have five IoTaWatt systems that I will install in plastic structured wiring boxes between studs adjacent my load center and sub-panels in a new home we are building. In some cases, several IoTaWatt systems will reside in a single box. In any case, I want to avoid over bending the CT leads. They seem quite flexible, but all wires have minimum bend radii. I called AccuEnergy (who manufactured the CTs) to ask about the minimum bend radius, but they said the CTs were custom builds for IoTaWatt, and they referred me to IoTaWatt for an answer.

The higher-rated CTs (ex. AcuCT-H100-200) seem to have heavier-gauge wires (and presumably larger minimum bend radii) than the lower-rated CTs (ex. AcuCT-H040-50).

What is/are the minimum (and recommended smallest) bend radius/radii of the various CTs provided with the IoTaWatt systems and the AcuCT-H138-400 (which I purchased separately from IoTaWatt)?

Thanks,
George

2

Nobody has ever asked this. I have no idea if there is such a spec on the cables. AccuEnergy gets them from someplace, presumably in China. But here’s what a CT looks like when I get them.

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The wire coils are about 3/8 radius and there are about 18 of them per CT. Considering I’ve probably sold 50,000 of them and never had a cable failure, I’ll stick my neck out and say the minimum bend radius is about 3/8"

That’s an optical delusion. Your brain sees a bigger CT and they are rated for hundreds of amps so 2+2=4 right? Actually, regardless of the primary rating of the CT, the secondary, which is what the cord conveys, is always < 50mA, so no need to use a heavier cord. They are all the same.

Good luck with your project.

3

Thanks for your prompt and helpful reply!

Best regards,
George