Outside plant cable, single armored or double armored?

The most popular Cat3 telephone cable for underground direct burial installations is your PE89 constructed cable. You might of also looked into the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Electrical Administration (REA) specification for filled telephone cables with expanded insulation to make sure you had what you're looking for.

Let's take a look at a PE89 Aluminum Single Armored Cable from our YouTube Channel



Now let's look at a PE89 (CACSP) Double Armored Cable.



As you can tell these cables are the exact same except the armoring. In section 9.3 of the REA specification a double armored cable is labeled as a (CACSP) for coated aluminum coated steel polyethylene cable.

When might you consider a double armored cable? On a personal level, I believe that the single armor is more then sufficient to support rodents from getting to this cable. The jacket alone is very durable and my hat goes off to the rodent that chewed through that!

Most of our direct burial cable sales are with a single armored but you might want to spend some time researching the installation area for what kinds of rodents are around and if it's a more populated rodent living area.


You might want to check out the North American Rodents Action Plan for more information.

It might not be a bad idea to also install a double armored cable where it may be submerged in depths of 40 feet or more. Here are some additional tips to consider for underwater installations.
    


I hope we've shed some light on this commonly asked question. Now it's time to figure out what you're more comfortable with, single or double. Wish it was as easy as deciding single or double from In-N-Out burger.


Questions? Don't hesitate to leave them below.

"By Mercy Salinas"

25 pair and 100 pair Cat5 Burial Cable Overview

With the flood of wire and cable coming in from overseas you have to keep a good eye out on making sure that you select a high quality cable so you can get a solid return on investment for your network.

Over the past few years I've seen many problems with overseas cables, such as the cable specifying that it was a 24 gauge but after the installation contractor installed it and had problems with making a proper connection we found out that the cable was actually a 26 gauge cable. It's hard to notice since the colored insulation is over the copper conductor. This is such a common issue with overseas copper cable that I feel like it's common practice. It's a dirty trick that enables overseas manufactures to offer a lower price for a false product. (Cool book, poorly made in China ).

Another dirty trick that gets pulled on the consumer is copper clad aluminum cable. Because the cost of aluminum is lower versus copper, these cables are lower in price and you may not realize you have purchased this cable until after your installation is complete and your cable tester won't certify that new cable you just installed.

I always recommend purchasing a cable from a manufacture that has been in business before the year 2000. These types of manufactures have been established and many fall under Trade Agreement Acts for the procurement of goods for federal contracts with the United States Government.

Now that we know what to look for let's look at one of the most popular selling Cat5 burial cables.

This cable is most commonly installed in outside plant installations and is your broadband backbone. The Essex Megapic cable provides an extension of the LAN beyond the premises. Installed in direct burial, underground and lashed aerial applications.

Available in a 25 and 100 pair count and because your purchasing from Superior Essex you can count on quality, made in America and Essex has been making cable since the 1930's out of Detroit.

Let's get a better look at the cable from our YouTube Channel.

  

When making an investment in your network, our 13 year track record of selling this cable gives us comfort knowing that we are offering a quality solution that will meet all your needs.

You can order 04-097-31 by the foot. If you have any comments leave them below.

Thanks.

"By Mercy Salinas"

Tips for Grounding Telephone Wire and Data Cable

We're going to talk about grounding but remember to select the proper protection for your equipment. Once selected the next step is making sure everything is grounded correctly.

Tip 1: Bonding - Bond or electrically connect together at a single point all of the grounds used for protectors. Typical grounds used for protectors are metal water pipes, grounding rods, well casings, chemical rods, etc. (Double check local building codes for options as local building codes do vary) The communications equipment is typically connected to the power companies multi-grounded neutral (MGN) system and is the best source for a single point ground. Connect the protector (primary and secondary) and cable shield grounds to the equipment grounds (i.e. Multi-Grounded Neutral) with a six AWG solid copper bonding wire.

Tip 2: Physical Connectors - Make sure to use the recommended ground wire size and UL listed ground wire connections. Any ground wire longer than 60 feet in length the next largest wire gauge should be installed. Use a large radius at each bend in the ground wire. DON'T coil the ground wire under any circumstances. Coil wire can act as an inductor that dramatically increase the resistance of the path to ground, jeopardizing the effectiveness of over-voltage devices.

Tip 3: Check Ground System Impedance - There are numerous brands of equipment and methods for checking the integrity of a grounding system. Pick one that test both continuity and the impedance (total resistance) with respect to a true ground. And ideal ground should have an impedance under .250 ohms.

Tip 4: Cable Shields - The metal cable shield should be bonded to the protector/ground systems on both ends of the cable.


Tip 5: Unused Cable Pairs - They must be grounded on the unprotected side of the protector.

Tip 6: Campus Building - Treat each building independently. Do all of these tips in each building.

The effectiveness of all over-voltage protectors relies in a path of least resistance for "dumping" transient voltages. The higher the resistance to ground the higher the true activation level is for a protector and the lower the better.

Special thanks to ITW Linx and you can order burial cable, lightning protection and everything else for your installation at Discount Low Voltage

(We do ship to 40 countries)


"By Mercy Salinas"