Thanks for the reference. The closest thing I found to that was
something roughly similar for what we call Romex wire -- flattish, vinyl
insulated three-conductor (called two conductor with ground) wire used
for house wiring. I'm not sure it was weatherproof, though. It would be
harder to seal something of that shape than it would to seal something
round.

I suspect that the part you referenced is uncommon here because of the
larger gauge of our house wiring due to the lower distribution voltage.
Wire smaller than AWG14 (SWG15) isn't used except for lamp and appliance
cords and the like, never for fixed wiring. The AWG14 or 12 wire used
for house wiring is virtually always in flat Romex cable. (Four
conductor 220 volt wire is round but large diameter.) Interior wiring is
secured to boxes with clamps which are definitely not weatherproof.
Exterior wiring is virtually always in conduit between boxes. I found a
number of weatherproof clamp-type fittings for conduit, with similar
construction to the Farnell part, but the inner diameter is much too
large for the small cable I'll be using. It's been a long time since I
looked carefully at the code, but I'd be very surprised if exterior
wiring is permitted outside of conduit under any circumstances.

Maybe I should just send my 42p to Farnell. . . Hm, better yet, there's
a cottage in Wales we've been told needs beta testing, so maybe we can
kill two birds with one stone. . .

I'll check the electronics store. Maybe someone imports them and sells
them for other applications.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Ian White, G3SEK wrote:

These things have GOT to exist in the USA, but clearly the name is
different.

They are used with metal conduit-and-box wiring systems, wherever you
want to bring a flexible cable out through the wall of a conduit box
with better waterproofing than a plain grommet.

Go to www.farnell.com/uk and search for part # 3034367 - click for
details and this should give a reasonable picture.

The outside of the fixed part looks rather like a through-bulkhead
double female N connector. It goes through the box wall, with some kind
of O-ring seal, and is fixed with a single large nut. The cable threads
through the inside, and is sealed by a rubber ring and a screw-down cap.
Result - a completely waterproof lead-through.

All together now: "Oh, ya mean a [Fill In The Blank] - why didn't ya
*say* so?"

Anyway, the whole point was that these [FITB] things are available in
cheap plastic, and are ideal for getting cables through the walls of
plastic or metal boxes in a totally waterproof way. You can install
in-line connectors on the 'tails' of cable if necessary, and they make a
very easy shape to wrap with waterproofing tape.

This is vastly better than installing chassis-mount connectors on the
box wall, and then trying to wrap tape onto a very difficult shape.