SWA wins approval for TQ range of Copper Tube Terminals

23-01-2019

"Can you afford the RISK of installing Copper Tube Terminals that have not been electrically tested to BS 61238-1: 2003?" That’s the strong message from SWA, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of cable terminations.
After many months of testing, the entire SWA TQ range passed both electrical and mechanical performance standards with flying colours and is now fully approved to BS EN 61238–1:2003.

SWA Marketing Manager Colin Fletcher said: “We invested heavily in having the TQ range independently tested and then further independently verified because we know the importance of compliance for those working to the very highest standards, including those involved in the UK’s premier civil engineering projects. Installers should not have to risk using Copper Tube Terminals that are sub-standard – and now they don’t have to, and one TQ lug can cover for both flexible and stranded conductors!”

The range already meets BS product control standards: SWA TQ terminals are manufactured from high-grade copper to BS EN 12499 and electro-tinned to BS 1872. And SWA offers installers a full tool calibration service in order to meet BS 7609 – the code of practice for installation and inspection.

The SWA TQ range now fulfils regulatory requirements in:

• Electrical performance
• Traceability
• Physical size
• Copper content
• Tensile testing
• Wall thickness
• Sufficient space to crimp adequately.

News of the TQ range’s approval has been welcomed by the electrical industry and all concerned with compliance.
The SWA TQ range was certified by Dekra. SWA requested testing of the full range from the largest terminal (630mm2), to one of the smallest (10mm2). The Testing Lab’s rigorous regime required put the TQ lugs through 200 cycles for the short-circuit tests and no fewer than 1,000 cycles for the heat tests.