Rope CTs boast several advantages over their predecessors. Here are some of their fine points:
Rope CTs are essentially split core CTs. This means they also benefit from the same ability to install and remove split core CTs without having to disconnect power to the feeder cables.
Rope CTs are incredibly easy to retrofit. Their small size and light weight means that they don’t need to be secured to a stable baseplate or anchor point. Instead, they can simply be slapped on and their sensor leads connected to the metering device. Installation time is reduced to minutes, if not seconds.
Rope CTs can be used even in situations where space is at a premium. Their thin profile allows them to fit in tight spaces, and their flexibility makes it easy to weave them through closely spaced feeder cables to isolate a specific line.
Rope CTs use a Rogowski coil in their design. The Rogowski coil is wound around an air core (usually a plastic or rubber tube). Without a metallic core, the possibility of magnetic saturation is entirely eliminated. This essentially means that as long as the coil and electronics remain uncompromised, a rope CT will continue to be just as accurate to the last day of its service life as when it was first installed.
Due to their small size, rope CTs can’t store a residual charge of significant amperage and voltage that could be considered hazardous. This makes them intrinsically much safer to handle than other CT types