Reviewed - Flexible meter tails

Are flexible or flexi meter tails the best-kept secret in the electrical industry? We found some on a recent visit to Doncaster Cables so thought we should test them out.

By Gary Hayers & Joe Robinson
Monday 9th October 2019

Spot the difference - 19 stands of copper.

For years you've wrestled 25mm sq meter tails into the consumer unit main switch, losing skin from the back of your hands in the process. Hidden away on the Doncaster Cables meter tails datasheet is a variant that could make your life much more comfortable.

Standard 25mm sq meter tail cable uses seven strands of copper wire. The version we are looking at here has nineteen: the result, a meter tail which is much more flexible. Extra flexibility makes them much easier to route through consumer units and fix to surfaces.

VIDEO: We put the 19 strand tails to the test

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Apart from more strands, the flexible tails are the same construction as the regular seven strand tails. Weight and overall diameter are unchanged. The flexibility comes at a slight price premium to cover the additional manufacturing costs.

Give them a waggle

When fitting meter tails it's recommended you tighten the terminals to the specified torque. Then move the cable to allow the stands to settle and recheck the torque. During our test, we found that we could tighten the 19 strand variant considerably once the conductors had settled.

Many installers flatten out the conductors to create a more rectangular shape to fit cage type main switch terminals. We found this interesting report, by test house Nemko, for the Electrical Safety Council. The report concludes that flattening is a good practice, but not all main switch terminals will allow this.

The report recommends both ends of meter tails are checked after a change of electricity meter.