Marking wires and cables

[chrisb]

What is the best economical solution to mark T&E cables? I guess that the best option would be a cable marking kit with printed sleeves that slip over, or a labelling machine that prints on heatshrink sleeving, but they are both out of my price range for the use they will get.

 

Any other suggestions? White electrical tape & a sharpie?

 

Thanks

Chris

[Onoff]

Sharpie on the sheathing, cable markers on the individual cores where they terminate at the breakers, neutral and earth blocks works for me.

[Jeremy Harris]

A cheap Brother label printer works fine.  The labels can be either stuck to T&E, or wrapped around individual wires. 

 

I used to use different coloured electrical tape, but so much of the stuff has really nasty adhesive now that I stopped using it.  A sharpie works OK too, at least on the outside of T&E, but I prefer using the Brother labelling machine, as it has the option to make wire wrap-around labels.

[chrisb]

1 minute ago, JSHarris said:

A cheap Brother label printer works fine.  The labels can be either stuck to T&E, or wrapped around individual wires. 

 

I used to use different coloured electrical tape, but so much of the stuff has really nasty adhesive now that I stopped using it.  A sharpie works OK too, at least on the outside of T&E, but I prefer using the Brother labelling machine, as it has the option to make wire wrap-around labels.

 

I did this about 3 years ago when I re-cabled an office for cat5. It all looked good when I did it, but the next time I saw it, all the labelling tape had fallen off (even when stuck round the cable back to back). I suspect it might make a difference if I used better tape, what type did you use?

[chrisb]

24 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Sharpie on the sheathing, cable markers on the individual cores where they terminate at the breakers, neutral and earth blocks works for me.

 With the cable markers, is there a better type to get?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovalgrip-PVC-Cable-Marker-Kits-for-electrical-cables-0-to-9-R-S-T-L-N-etc/153181666587

Appears the cheapest on eBay which is more like the price I was hoping to pay, rather than £££ for a Hellerman-Tyton kit or similar.

[Ferdinand]

8 hours ago, chrisb said:

What is the best economical solution to mark T&E cables? I guess that the best option would be a cable marking kit with printed sleeves that slip over, or a labelling machine that prints on heatshrink sleeving, but they are both out of my price range for the use they will get.

 

Any other suggestions? White electrical tape & a sharpie?

 

Thanks

Chris

 

If you are just doing a few to help people trace them (eg several through a duct) - then what about colour coded small zip ties?

 

eg - 250 assorted for about £1

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331886665283

 

F

[Jeremy Harris]

9 hours ago, chrisb said:

 

I did this about 3 years ago when I re-cabled an office for cat5. It all looked good when I did it, but the next time I saw it, all the labelling tape had fallen off (even when stuck round the cable back to back). I suspect it might make a difference if I used better tape, what type did you use?

 

I've always just used the Brother stuff, and not had any issues with labels coming off.  Perhaps some of the clones of the Brother label tape that are around may have adhesive that's not as good?

 

Years ago I used to print paper labels and cut them up and poke them under clear heatshrink as cable markers, but it was a real faff and I needed power to run the small heat gun, so stopped doing this when I bought the labelling machine.

[Vijay]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

 

If you are just doing a few to help people trace them (eg several through a duct) - then what about colour coded small zip ties?

 

eg - 250 assorted for about £1

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331886665283

 

F

or maybe these? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100XNylon-Self-Locking-Label-Zip-Tie-Network-Cable-Marker-Tags-Cords-Wire-Str-YN/123315647616?hash=item1cb62f7480:g:pi4AAOSwr7ZW6oMW

[Onoff]

9 hours ago, chrisb said:

 With the cable markers, is there a better type to get?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ovalgrip-PVC-Cable-Marker-Kits-for-electrical-cables-0-to-9-R-S-T-L-N-etc/153181666587

Appears the cheapest on eBay which is more like the price I was hoping to pay, rather than £££ for a Hellerman-Tyton kit or similar.

 

I prefer the coloured H-T ones tbh. You can tell at a glance the number by the colour. I'll look at the RS number on my boxes in a while. 

 

For years I just used the 3M tape dispenser type. Think it's empty now or at least severely depleted of rolls. 

 

Edit: Knowing the number by colour at a glance assumes you have the resistor colour code engrained into your brain since aged about 10!

Edited September 22, 2018 by Onoff

[PeterW]

19 minutes ago, Vijay said:

or maybe these? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100XNylon-Self-Locking-Label-Zip-Tie-Network-Cable-Marker-Tags-Cords-Wire-Str-YN/123315647616?hash=item1cb62f7480:g:pi4AAOSwr7ZW6oMW

 

That’s what I use. Quick and easy and can write on both sides if needed !

[chrisb]

After a bit more eBaying, I've secured a H-T kit, brand new for £15 delivered, so all good! Resistor colour code is definitely there somewhere, but it'll soon come back to me ?

I'll also pick up a pack of the marker cable ties as they will be useful for cables & pipes.

 

Thanks all!

[Onoff]

44 minutes ago, chrisb said:

After a bit more eBaying, I've secured a H-T kit, brand new for £15 delivered, so all good! Resistor colour code is definitely there somewhere, but it'll soon come back to me ?

I'll also pick up a pack of the marker cable ties as they will be useful for cables & pipes.

 

Thanks all!

 

0 - Black - Bad

1 - Brown - Boys

2 - Red - R***

3 - Orange - Our 

4 - Yellow - Young

5 - Green - Girls

6 - Blue - But 

7 - Violet - Virgins 

8 - Grey - Go 

9 - White - Without

[Onoff]

In the mid 70's when I was taught the rhyme above it was a even more non pc! I've changed it slightly do as not to get banned. 

 

[Jeremy Harris]

Colour is a funny thing to me.  I think in colour, and every word has a specific colour, or sequence of colours, which made memorising resistor colours codes easy. I don't consciously translate colour bands into numerical values, but just "see" the value from the colour.  My late mother used to make me do party tricks by asking me the colours of words like the days of the week, or numbers.  It does mean I remember phone numbers and credit card numbers/PINs easily, because they are just colours.

 

For years it was just a bit of a curiosity, one of those odd things that didn't seem at all significant, but around 25 years or so ago there was an article in New Scientist, or maybe a paper in Nature, describing exactly the way I think in colour.  Apparently it's not that unusual; it's even got a name and is in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

 

In my case I lived for the best part of 40 years keeping quiet about it most of the time, although I invariably got quizzed by my mother, trying to catch me out, as I don't think she ever really understood that I think in colour and have to actively translate colours to words, with often subtle colour shade differences (for example Wednesday is a dark green, but Thursday is a sort of muddy green).  I think the only advantage it's given me is being able to remember facts a bit better than most, which certainly helped when doing exams, otherwise it's just a bit of a curiosity.

[joe90]

I saw a tv programme a couple of years ago about people that thought in colour, fascinating.

[Onoff]

20 minutes ago, joe90 said:

I saw a tv programme a couple of years ago about people that thought in colour, fascinating.

 

I bet that was like music to Jeremy's eyes...

[Jeremy Harris]

9 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

I bet that was like music to Jeremy's eyes...

 

Music is an odd one, as it isn't in colour for me, although written and spoken words and numbers are.  Not hearing music in colour is something I've always thought of as a bit of a disability, just because I like music and wish it was expressed as colours, as I think it would be even more enjoyable.