The gland is the last component chosen and the first one blamed. It terminates the cable into the equipment, grips it mechanically, seals the entry — and on armoured cable it also bonds the armour to earth, which makes it part of the safety system, not an accessory. The letter codes below are the trade-standard types used across India.
| Type | Cable | Where it belongs | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 | Unarmoured | Indoor and general use | Grips and seals on the outer sheath only — there’s no armour to clamp |
| BW | Armoured | Indoor, dry locations | Two-part gland that clamps the armour wires for grip and earth continuity, without a weatherproof seal |
| CW | Armoured | Outdoor and damp locations | Clamps the armour and adds a seal on the outer sheath against dust and rain |
| E1W | Armoured | Outdoor, exposed and wet duty | Clamps the armour with sealing at both the inner and outer sheath — the usual choice where weather is taken seriously |
Three selection rules cover most situations. Match the gland to the cable’s construction first — armoured cable in an unarmoured gland has its armour floating, unearthed and gripping nothing, which defeats the reasons the armour was bought (our cable armouring guide covers when armour is worth having at all). Match it to the environment second: a BW outdoors is a corrosion story waiting to happen. Size it last, on the cable’s actual measured diameters, not the catalogue nominal.
Fitting matters as much as selection. The armour wires must be spread and clamped properly — a gland where the armour was trimmed short to save effort has no earth continuity, and nobody will know until a fault arrives. Use the shroud where fitted; it keeps water off the gland threads. And on a LV XLPE armoured power cable feeding anything that matters, it’s worth a minute with a continuity tester between armour and earth bar after termination. Cheap test, expensive lesson skipped.