Armoured Cat 5e cable

[White-Light]

I know a while ago a few of you were asking about armoured Cat 5e cable but couldn't find a cheap source only places that sold 300m drums for huge amounts.

Well a recent problem with my Cat 5e cable on the pc made me seek out some armoured external grade cable and in doing so I found this company:

http://networkvideosystems.co.uk/Cat...red-data-cable

Sold by the meter @ £1.59 + vat at the moment (P&P £9.95).

This stuff is used for external CCTV applications over Ethernet and is stated as suitable for a whole host of external applications including Oil rigs, ship builders, drilling companies etc!!

I bought around 20m and kind of got the feeling talking to the sales person that was probably the minimum length. However, I'm guessing most people on here would want at least that anyway.

Anyway this was how it arrived, tape up on a drum!




I have to say this is one seriously tough cable albeit at the expense of some flexibility. That said it will coil onto a drum so expect for laser use it would be ok as it can be wound and it can also be bent at right angles although not too sharply and will stay there held by the reinforcement wires:




The outer coating is of a very tough hard plastic that's difficult to cut even with a Stanley knife.

Internally the armour consists of 19 (I think) wires of around 1mm round diameter. Think of reasonably thick fence wire and you're not far off. This is spiral wrapped around a central light plastic inner that contains the Cat 5 wires:








The overall diameter is probably similar to TV coax - considerably thicker than normal Cat 5 although that's to be expected.

[White-Light]

I just wanted to add, in the other thread Insanity mentioned an alternative that's not armoured but very tough and flexible albeit for a price:

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...Ethernet-cable

So i guess ultimately between the two you take your choice based on flexibility, price and armourment.

[danielbriggs]

Do we really need two threads about a cable?
Armoured = pain in the arse.
If it's not stranded, then it's poo in the long term.

[White-Light]

Briggsy, use whichever you like.

This is armoured exterior grade cable. If flexibility is more important then there's the Duracat. I'd probably say this is more suited to a permanent installation / pc use and Duracat to interior mobile use.

You won't cut this, you'd probably cut Duracat. Equally this won't bend round corners as tightly as Duracat. Horses for courses.

..and yep we do need 2 threads about armoured cable. The 1st in the general section was reporting where to buy it. This in the review section is a review of it.

[smogthemog]

The only time you would ever need armored data cable is if you where installing permanent wiring in an industrial area where the cable would be prone to being damaged by heavy moving objects. SWA is extremely non committal when it comes to moving it around, meaning it don't wanna go where you want it to! It coils really badly and as Dan says, is a pain in the arse.
It needs to be glanded either end or properly terminated into housings to maintain earth bonding of the outer armored wiring.
Totally impracticable for most of what anyone on here would want it for.

[Insanity]

This is armoured exterior grade cable. If flexibility is more important then there's the Duracat. I'd probably say this is more suited to a permanent installation / pc use and Duracat to interior mobile use.

You won't cut this, you'd probably cut Duracat.

I have used Duracat at several shows now and it's still good as new and still coils up beautifully...

New Years Eve I ran it from Front of House to the outside of the venue (Inflatable venue) all the way back to the stage. That night it poured with rain, the cable was run over several times with a tracked vehicle and after a quick wipe down it was good as new, not a split in sight... So I would say from experience that Duracat is more than capable of exterior use... I for one wouldn't use anything else...

Mark

[White-Light]

Yeah by exterior I also included UV resistance but understand I bought this for my own use as a PC to Router cable with a permanent installation.

I added the post here because in the past people asked about armoured cable.

Obviously Duracat sounds a better bet for non permanent laser use.

@ Smog, I presume the earth bonding you're referring to is a commercial precaution because I can't see any reason why you would need to earth the shielding normally for home use as it doesn't carry a signal, is seperated from the conductors by a jacket and the ethernet conductors are low voltage (+/- 2 volts).

[Insanity]

I guess, but there's not a lot of UV outside when I do laser shows at night

Mark

[mccarrot]

I guess, but there's not a lot of UV outside when I do laser shows at night

Mark

Lol!

I have uses though outsoor cable or a short time, and a really pain in the arse becaude its too stiff.

For our purpose you the cable to be as felxible as possible and with a rubber skin.

I use the DAP cable now.

[White-Light]

Yeah it is quite stiff.

I installed it this afternoon on my network, works great.

I would have said from a cable reel it would have been ok, its only sharp angles that are a problem. However, as Dan said above it is single and not multi core.

For a permanent installation, would probably be the cable of choice, but for laser use where you're using the equipment across multiple venues, there are probably better options as mentioned above.