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Identifying the quality of electric wires is the first step to ensure electricity safety. In fact, it is not complicated. By mastering the following key methods, you can quickly screen out inferior products.
Formal electric wires must pass the national mandatory product certification, and there should be clear certification marks on the package or the wire body. The surface of the wire body should also be printed with information such as the manufacturer's name, product model, specification, and rated voltage, with clear and wear-resistant handwriting that is not easy to fade when wiped by hand. There should be a qualification certificate inside the package, marked with production date, implementation standard, inspector number, etc. Products with vague markings and incomplete information should be treated with caution.
The copper conductor is the core of the electric wire. High-quality copper conductors are purplish red or rose red, with uniform and bright color, and no oxidation blackening on the surface. When bent by hand, they have good flexibility, are not easy to break, and can rebound quickly after bending. Inferior copper conductors are dark, yellowish or whitish in color, with many impurities. They feel stiff when bent, or even break at the first bend. Wipe the surface of the copper conductor with white paper. If black marks are left, it means the copper material is impure with high impurity content.
The quality of the insulation layer directly affects safety. High-quality insulation layers have uniform and compact texture, smooth and flat surface, no bubbles, cracks or impurities. They are elastic when squeezed by hand, and can rebound quickly without leaving white marks after being pressed hard by nails. Inferior insulation layers are mostly made of recycled plastics, with rough hand feel, obvious white marks left after pressing, and even cracks. Cut a small section of the insulation layer and ignite it with a lighter. Qualified flame-retardant products can extinguish themselves after leaving the fire source, with little smoke and light odor; inferior products burn fiercely, drip molten materials, and have pungent smoke.
Shrunk specifications are a common problem of inferior electric wires. Use a micrometer to measure the diameter of the copper conductor to see if it matches the nominal specification. For example, for an electric wire with a nominal cross-section of 2.5 square millimeters, the diameter of the copper conductor should be about 1.78 mm, and an error exceeding 0.02% is unqualified. At the same time, measure the thickness of the insulation layer. The national standard requires it to be no less than 0.6 mm. You can also measure the total length of the whole roll of electric wire. The national standard allows an error of no more than 5%, so be alert to products with insufficient length.
Electric wires of the same specification and length should have roughly the same weight. For example, the national standard 2.5 square millimeter copper core wire weighs about 3.2 kilograms per 100 meters. If the weight is significantly lighter, there is likely to be problems such as shrunk copper conductor or cut corners on the insulation layer. You can carry a qualified sample with known weight for comparison.
Bend the electric wire repeatedly for several times. For high-quality electric wires, there will be no cracks on the insulation layer and no breakage of the copper conductor. For inferior electric wires, after bending three or four times, the insulation layer may crack and the copper conductor may also break. In addition, formal electric wires are neatly coiled with intact packaging, while inferior electric wires are often loosely coiled with rough packaging.
Summary: To identify the quality of electric wires, confirm the certification marks, check the color of the copper conductor, feel the elasticity of the insulation layer, measure the specification and weight, and conduct a simple combustion test. By remembering these points, you can effectively avoid inferior products and take the first step to ensure the safety of household electricity consumption.
