PV Installers: Standard Practice?

[inetdog]

On State of CA radio towers, we use a lot of big blue plastic ties that are claimed to resist UV. The last many years, I've seen many that have been up for at least 15-20 years. We used to use Band-it steel ties, but they dug into the cable jacket and other problems related to corrosion and RF.

<chuckle>
If you are a slave to the NEC, you would have to consider whether the metal zip tie was "likely to become energized" by cutting through the conductor insulation, and if the answer is yes you would have to run a ground/bond wire to each cable tie.

[peakbagger]

I really don't like stainless zip ties as the ones I have seen tend to have sharp edges which concerns me. I have heard various solutions like slipping tubing over them but them the tubing is then the weak point Somewhat related is the use of SS banding on insulation systems. I have seen the bands cut through the lagging over a period of time due to vibration.

As for cables running down a round pipe. I would be tempted to run a piece of PVC conduit through my table saw so its cut into halves and then running the cable under the PVC and tywrapping over it. It would protect the wire and allow a little movement.