World Class Engineered Cable Blog

Installing cables that are not designed to withstand dynamic / flexing applications can lead to failure. Find out what causes Z-Kinking and how Exane's^® PowerFlex and TorqueFlex products help you avoid this costly issue by downloading Marmon Electrical's white paper, "Z-Kinking: Risks to Performance and Prevention" by Damian Billeaudeau, National Sales Manager for Marmon Electrical‘s Oil & Gas group. 

Attleboro, MA - Comtran, a member company of Marmon Electrical and leading provider of specialty cable and system solutions, has expanded its industry-leading UL 2196-listed VITALink® product portfolio with the addition of unshielded Ethernet cables. The cables round out the existing shielded VITALink® Ethernet product offering.

East Granby, CT – With the growing concerns of the coronavirus, RSCC Wire & Cable wants to assure our customers that we are being proactive so we can continue to deliver our products and services in a timely manner. At this time, we do not anticipate business interruption.

Attleboro, MA – Comtran, RSCC, and Cable USA, part of Marmon Electrical, are combining expertise and manufacturing capabilities to create a market-based team serving the transit infrastructure market. The unified product portfolio includes industry-recognized brands: HUB-Link^®, VITALink^®, Gardex^®, Integratrax^®, and Firewall^®.

Attleboro, MA –Comtran and RSCC, part of Marmon Electrical, leading providers of circuit integrity products are leveraging the strength of the VITALink® brand by offering a merged portfolio of 300V and higher constructions to service the fire safety market. The combined VITALink® portfolio is now the most comprehensive UL 2196 approved fire safety product line available.

RSCC ROCKFLEX^® L2 Central Office Power (COP) is a more flexible, easier to install cable since it utilizes flexible Class I or Class K conductors. Its tough low smoke zero halogen (LSZH) thermoset, low-friction insulation has superior mechanical properties in the areas of abrasion, cut-through, notch propagation and heat deformation and eliminates the need for the traditional braid covering, making its installation much easier and faster.

The wire meets Telcordia (Bellcore) GR-347-CORE and ATIS-0600017 2014, is RoHS and REACH compliant and is formulated for superior 2 years long term water resistance. The wire’s intended use is for 600/1000V AC or DC applications in Central Offices (COs), Outside Plant (OSP) remote terminals, Customer Premises and Building Entrance Terminals (BETs) and cell towers and data centers. LSZH insulation is preferred for highly occupied environments or areas with large concentrations of equipment. 

The wire carries numerous UL Listings such as RHW-2, USE-2, DP-1, HDFPC with a variety of ratings including IEEE 1202/FT4-ST1, oil and gasoline resistant, sunlight resistant, VW-1, CT use as well as approvals for AWM Styles 3237 and 3578 which make the versatility of this wire unmatched in the industry

For full specifications and more information: ROCKFLEX COP L2 Class I   ROCKFLEX COP L2 Class K

Expensive VFD Cable For IGBT Drives in Marine Shipboard Applications should be specified to protect expensive motors and electrical equipment?

Harmonic currents generated from IGBT power devices can cause excessive heating of motors and other electrical equipment, as well as adversely affect sensitive digital equipment. Standard constructed single or multi-conductor cables will cause premature motor bearing failure, crosstalk, noise to the inverter, and electric shock!

A VFD cable is specifically designed to cancel voltage, magnetic fields and reduce charging currents generated by induced pulse width modulated switching.

EXANE Marine Shipboard VFD construction provides:

- EXANE insulation can withstand the stresses of  substantial voltage spikes
- Sinusoidal lay length contain and cancel magnetic fields generated by power conductors onto the ground conductors
- Double overall shielding, properly grounded, contains the electric field, thus preventing induced voltage “cross-talk” to adjacent cables
- Segmented ground conductors reduce noisy ground currents
- Outer jacket is resilient to UV light, oils, muds, and abrasion

In summary, a properly designed VFD cable will reduce common-mode currents, motor frame voltages and protection against electro-mechanical interference (EMI) for optimized system performance and life expectancy.

Engineering firms involved in specifying critical circuit and fire safety electrical systems recognize that the initial materals costs to install a fire proof wrap system  are less than installing a high performing fire rated cable sytem .   However, engineers should consider the significant long term costs and maintenance headaches associated with these types of fire proof wrap installation systems.

Though the up front cost of purchasing a high quality fire rated cable system can be higher up front, petrochemical facilities wil not have to incur the following:
1- Higher labor costs due to the time and complexity of the installation
2 - Long term susceptibily to external elements includiong weather, rodents, moisture and algal growth.
3 - Expensive long term maintenance costs to install replacement or additional cables withing the fire wrap system.

Downloadable below, the RCC White Paper - Fire Wrapped Systems as an Alternative for Cricial Curciut Cables: is this the best suited fire protection Solution for Petrochemical Facilities?"  addresses these shortcomings and cites documented evidence from qualified industry sources

Systems important to life safety require extra attention when specifying what equipment to buy and how to install it. It’s vital for these systems to remain operational during an emergency to limit the loss of life by providing functionality to emergency response teams, as well as evacuation efforts.

Fires can be catastrophic to life and property that’s why many standards and jurisdictions are requiring the functionality of emergency systems during a fire event. Some of these systems include emergency power, lighting, communication, and suppression.

Cables are the vital link between emergency equipment and their power or control source therefore they must also remain functional during a fire event. The details of installation can seem daunting without the proper partnership. Fire are very complex in nature. Materials expand and contract at different rates causing movement. Excessive movement can cause failure, and most systems are designed to accommodate a specific amount, but no more.

Below are several important points to understand when specifying any fire rated cable system for a project.

Functionality: Cables alone are not enough to satisfy operational requirements during a fire. Support methods, grounding requirements, fill ratio, vertical supports, pull boxes, installation orientation, splices, and material compatibility play a role in ensuring that your emergency system remains functional.

Flexibility: A fire rated system should cover your bases so it can be installed with ease. A properly designed fire rated cable system gives the contractor flexibility during an installation as to not override costs and delay the project. Some designs require less pulling because they can be consolidated into a single cable or can be offered in long lengths. Ampacities may diminish if a cable is covered. Consider what tools and equipment are needed to complete the installation and verify that these are allowed by the UL FHIT listing.

Splicing: With so many people working on site, and with all of the heavy machinery, sometimes accidents happen and cable gets damaged. Perhaps the complexity of the cable routing requires two lengths to be pulled separate and splice them together. Having an option to splice on the job and maintain fire protection requirements will save time and money trying to fix the problem by pulling new cable in, fire wrapping, or reordering cable that may have long lead times.

Compliance: The cable system should comply with governin

Reduced Diameter Exane 15 Wire
Meets NFPA 130 for crowded locations

Today’s Transit Vehicles and Locomotives are more sophisticated requiring much more electronics which necessitate the use of more transit cables and wire. Cable trays, conduits and wire raceways have become very crowded. More space is needed in cabinets and wire panels to handle the increased number of transit cables and wires. Wire bundles and harnesses contain more wires and are larger than ever before. How can we bring these wire bundles down to size and reduce overall weight at the same time?

RSCC’s Exane 15 transit cable and wire is the answer to these problems. Exane 15 is a reduced diameter low voltage power, control and instrumentation wire for Rolling Stock applications in sizes 22 AWG to 10 AWG and available as both a single conductor and multi conductor configurations. It is a 600V 125C wire that employs a dual layer insulation system that meets the requirements of NFPA 130.

The use of Exane 15 will result in
1 - Weight savings of up to 30%
2 - Space Savings
         Up to 32% diameter reduction on wire bundles
         Up to 54% volume reduction in wire raceways and conduit fill.