How to protect cables
Whether you’re dealing with industrial generator parts or your data center server cabinet, you need to plan for your cable management.
In this article, we’ll be outlining these considerations and the role of different solutions to ensure that your cable management installation is an asset for years to come.
Know your capacity
It’s crucial that you never overfill cable management devices such as cable trays.
- Doing so runs the risk of cable damage, insulation damage, crosstalk, or more seriously if you’re managing power cables, overheating and potentially fire.
- Always use the correct length of cable. Using too much will only create a mess that can create air dams, which in turn damage your cables.
Don’t overtighten
From heavy duty cable ties to nylon cable ties and everything in between, including push mount cable ties and stainless steel cable ties: they’re all an effective way to organize your cables.
- Be careful to not tighten your ties too much.
- Doing so can risk damage to the cable insulation, which presents a safety risk.
- Too-tight cable ties can stop signals from travelling properly through the cables.
- This affects performance and the efficacy of your devices and machinery.
Respect the radius
Every cable has a bend radius beyond which it begins to lose signal. When it comes to machinery, such as HVAC system components and network cables, such as what you’ll find in a rack mount cabinet, this can have significant implications for your business and productivity.
- Prolonged exposure to over-bending can cause permanent damage to your cables.
- This can result in the need for regular repairs and replacement, which has both financial and operational ramifications.
- Cables need sufficient space – don’t over exceed the bend radius by over packing.
Protect your pass-throughs
Occasionally you will need to create holes in furniture, server containers or other items to allow cables to pass through. When passing cables through plastic, wood or metal, it’s important that you use grommets, as these holes can often have rough edges that can damage the insulation of the cable, or even sever the cable itself. Grommets protect the cable as it passes through this hole. You can learn more about grommets in our Guide to rubber grommets.
Keep it clean and tidy
The more cables you have, the more you run the risk of them tangling. The reasons why you need to keep cables organized:
- Safety: The sudden pull of a plug isn’t just a danger to your assets and cable racks. Tripping over cables can result in significant harm that could have easily been prevented by cable or wire concealers. Left unchecked, loose and tangled cables pose serious health and safety violations, which leave you open to fines and lawsuits.
- Efficiency: Working efficiently is your goal, but you’re just wasting time and money if you can’t easily access your technologies because of cable issues.
- Cost: It’s easy for tangled cables to break when stressed by sagging or unnatural bends. When this happens, you’re looking at significant downtime, plus the cost to replace and install new cables.
Know your options
Cable management is essential to preventing problems. Here are just some solutions you should consider:
|
Recommendation |
Purpose |
| Hold small bundle of wires or cables together to keep them organized | |
| Protects wires and cables from abrasions that pass through holes | |
| Insulate wires, providing abrasion resistance and environmental protection. Available in colors, which allows for color coding | |
| Organizes wires and cables into one bundle while allowing them to break out at any point for re-routing | |
| Secures wires and cables at a fixed point on a surface | |
| Defines a route for cables along a wall or within instrumentation, providing mechanical support | |
| Prevents cable damage and failure and used to pass cables into an enclosure or control device. Usually used in industrial settings to control the bend or stop a cable from being pulled out of a system. | |
| Holds cables, protecting them from abrasions, liquids, chemicals and other factors | |
| Protects cables against damage caused by sharp objects, impact and moisture. Conduit is used to route wiring in a building or structure. | |
| Ideal for circuit and electrical boards. Holds wires in place away from panels. |
At a glance: cable ties
As cable ties are the most common solution for keeping cables organized, it’s worth showing you some of your choices. We also recommend you check out A guide to cable ties to learn more.
One-step fastening, provides constant tension, and a stable and secure fixture.
Durable in harsh environments – these are also chemical resistant cable ties.
One of the most popular materials with a well-rounded resistance profile and good for organization – available in different colors for color coding.
High tensile strength for demanding applications.
Heat-stabilized cable ties are a must in applications where heat is generated.
Cable ties with mounts speed up the mounting process while adding an additional layer of secure fastening.
Download free CADs and try before you buy
Free CADs are available for most solutions, which you can download for free. You can also request free samples to ensure the solutions you’ve chosen are exactly what you need. You might find The ultimate guide to cable management helpful. If you’re not quite sure which product will work best for your application, our experts are always happy to advise you.
Whatever your requirements, you can depend on fast despatch. Request your free samples or download free CADs now.
Questions?
Email us at sales@essentracomponents.com or speak to one of our experts for further information on the ideal solution for your application 800-847-0486.