Keeping up with Cables in new installation

I have a number of commercial jobs coming up. They are all new construction. It looks like most of the jobs will have about 15 detectors, several keypads, several sirens, 7-8 access control units, and 7-8 electric locks, and a digital video recording system (10-12 cameras).. There will also be magnetic locks on several outside doors, that will be locally monitored. In all, there will be somewhere around

60 cable runs. Now I know that there are many ways that an installer can keep up with his cable runs, but I would just like to know how you would keep up with your cable runs on a simular installation, when working alone. One other ingrediant; there will be about 3 months between running the cables and final installation. My mind does not remember things too well these days. Thank you.
Reply to
bhnjr
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Everyone seems to have his own favorite method of marking cables. Here's mine. Write directly on the cables, about two feet from each end, what they do and where the other end is. Sharpie brand fine tip laundry markers work well on most every type of cable jacket I've used over the years. The ink dries quickly and it will last until Jesus comes back.

Regards, Robert L Bass

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Reply to
robertlbass

Wire # tags and a wirelist.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

Not only that, check out the price of the labels. Yeow! js

Reply to
alarman

Except when they spray drywall mud all over...you gotta cover it with plastic bag if you write on the wires.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

Need some help?

Reply to
Jackcsg

I prefer a wirelist because I store the wirelist in a db for every job...client calls in wants to add something...I already know if we have a wire there or not. Tagging the wires with words would mean a trip out there to see if we prewired for something...this way I can give them a price in 2 seconds.

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| > Crash Gordon wrote: | >> Wire # tags and a wirelist. | >>

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Reply to
Crash Gordon

Brady labels ->

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Reply to
mbbaker

Yah..I know. I do have a similar product but I only use if for stereo stuff which I don't keep in a db. I had one of the expensive ones but one of my guys dropped it off a 12 ft ladder...bada bing.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

Wires numbered at both ends *and* a building diagram with numbers indicating location of wires.

Reply to
Bill

Something I used to do on big jobs was to make all motion detectors ......say tan wire. All door contacts brown wire. etc etc along with a number list or word tags or writing on wire. Makes it a lot easier to keep track of ,sort out and trace wires if necessary. How the wires are marked would depend on the size of the job, and how many people were working on it or if I'm not going to be working on it at all and having a sub do the work. If you do the work, you're going to remember some of what you did and you should have developed some pattern to your wiring. If someone else is doing it, you'll want them to give you the most detail as they can. Written wire list take the most time and attention but is best.

Reply to
Jim

bag if you write on the wires.

True. Of course, that's also true of other wire-marking methods. What I like about my method compared to a wirelist is there's nothing to lose. If the wirelist is somehow misplaced it can be a royal pain toning out the system.

Many years ago when panels were only a few zones I used punchblocks to splice the cables. I'd write up a legend and tape it to the inside of the metal cover. The legend identified every position on the

110-block. A mag contact served as a tamper sensor on the inside of the cover. I used wirelists a few times until one of my techs started labeling the wires with a Sharpie. From then on that was the method we used.

Regards, Robert L Bass

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Reply to
robertlbass

We use tha sharpie method and usually you can break off the mud and still discern the wording underneath. on the few you can't... thats what the toner is for. the trick is to not use too fine a point on the sharpie. thick black lines are easy to read even in poor lighting and the wire legend never gets lost unless your helpful sub cuts off the wires - but even then they weren't lost.... just mixed up...

And now they have the push butt> Except when they spray drywall mud all over...you gotta cover it with

Reply to
JoeRaisin

Yah but with wire tags even if they spray paint on them you can just unravel a bit of it to see the number. Lost? If my guys lose the wirelist they don't get paid for that job...simple incentive.

Reply to
Crash Gordon

Back when we were much bigger and buying wire by the truckload, I used to have the wire manufacture print on the wire A-Z 0-9 all my guys had to do was black out a letter & #...worked ok...but still prefer tags.

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Reply to
Crash Gordon

That's funny.

Sometimes those marks take days to wash off entirely.

Reply to
Jim

Thanks to all for the helpfull ideas: I appreciate them, one and all . . .

Reply to
bhnjr

Even though there's plenty of paper on the roll?

Reply to
Jim

Gray firewire?

Ethical to keep records? I think so. I have records of every job I've ever done except for a few that got damaged by a roof leak. So what if they aren't your client currently...who knows how long they may stay with the other company..they might come back. I've had clients quit, go with another company the house gets sold to someone new, the new owner calls me because that's the decal still on the can...bada bing I get it back. Happens a lot.

I don't believe in wirelists written in the can.

"julian" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com... | On 8 Nov 2005 21:42:48 -0800, "Jim" wrote: | | >

| > snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote: | >> I have a number of commercial jobs coming up. They are all new | >> construction. It looks like most of the jobs will have about 15 | >> detectors, several keypads, several sirens, 7-8 access control units, | >> and 7-8 electric locks, and a digital video recording system (10-12 | >> cameras).. There will also be magnetic locks on several outside doors, | >> that will be locally monitored. In all, there will be somewhere around | >> 60 cable runs. Now I know that there are many ways that an installer | >> can keep up with his cable runs, but I would just like to know how you | >> would keep up with your cable runs on a simular installation, when | >> working alone. One other ingrediant; there will be about 3 months | >> between running the cables and final installation. My mind does not | >> remember things too well these days. Thank you. | >

| >Something I used to do on big jobs was to make all motion detectors | >.....say tan wire. | >All door contacts brown wire. etc etc along with a number list or word | >tags or writing on wire. Makes it a lot easier to keep track of ,sort | >out and trace wires if necessary. How the wires are marked would | >depend on the size of the job, and how many people were working on it | >or if I'm not going to be working on it at all and having a sub do the | >work. If you do the work, you're going to remember some of what you did | >and you should have developed some pattern to your wiring. If someone | >else is doing it, you'll want them to give you the most detail as they | >can. Written wire list take the most time and attention but is best. | | | Yes I agree with the wire colour idea. We use red for powered devices, | grey for phone, brown for doors, white for windows. We run 24/8, CAT3 | wire to all keypads. Often the end of the keypad wire is run to the | adjacent door, thus saving a brown wire run, We use the brown pair of | the CAT3 for the door contact, duh! Siren, strobe get individual 18/2, | with 18/3 run for power. Ground wire is present if needed, but panels | are generally not grounded. Smoke and other supervisory devices get | grey wires as well. | | Additionally we use standard wrap around wire markers and keep track | on a wirelist that is later tranferred to disk and accessible quickly | from the office or my home office (thank you PC Anywhere!). | | On the wirelest itself is a breif description of the location of the | device. Keypads are above light switches unless otherwise noted and | when used, motion detectors are in corners, hidden. Glassbreak | detector locations vary so much due to different layouts, that there | is little standardization, but since I purchased a digital camera, | it's easy to relate the wirelist description with the picture, should | there be a problem locating a wire. Since DVDs are so cheap, it's no | big deal keeping lots of 1 -1.5 Mb pictures around. I have to go to | each site to check the prewire anyway, so it's a good use of my time. | I also take pictures of speaker prewires so it's easy to see the | speaker location after drywall. | | Our alarm and audio prewires are buried and this takes the drywaller | out of the wire location equation. How many times have you cursed the | drywaller for pulling a wire out of the wall in the wrong place? That | won't happen anymore. | | It is alot of work to keep accurate records, but it pays off in the | long run. I don't know about anyone else, but when I sell my accounts, | the paperwork and recording keeping will be hard to surpass. I've seen | some real poor recording keeping as I'm sure most of you have. | | Anyone ever use the inside of the can as the 'wirelist'? I took over | an old PC1550 system this week that had this done. I wrote it down on | my blank wirelist sheet anyway..... | | Just wondering.... is it ethical to keep records, i.e. files including | programming sheets and wirelests, of systems that are now monitored by | others? | | Julian

Reply to
Crash Gordon

Try One of these: about 100 bucks:

Crash Gord> Wire # tags and a wirelist.

Reply to
Mike Sokoly

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