Tag Archives: cables

Different Types of Industrial Cables

To wire up different components within electronic gadgets, hook-up and lead wires may be adequate, but the electric industry needs a vast variety of industrial cables to remain connected. Chief among these are power cables to carry high voltages and currents, and cables necessary for industrial automation and process control. Cables may conform to multiple standards such as UL, CSA, and others. Cables often have to transmit power or signal in industrial environments that may harbor the harshest conditions involving physical abuse, high temperature, ozone, chemicals, oil, and other demanding situations.

Challenges and Solutions

With increasing demand from the industry, manufacturers are producing cables for automation and seamless data communication. To support proliferation of mission-critical signal transmission, cable manufacturers offer high quality, high-availability line of industrial cabling and connectivity products.

Seamless Connectivity from the Enterprise to the Sensor

For the most robust and reliable factory networking, manufacturers also offer network switches, I/O modules, and other devices. Users choose their cables from a vast selection of configuration, insulation and jacket materials, shielding options, high-flex capabilities, and other options.

Manufacturers must maintain product consistency for ease of termination and assembly. For instance, precise control of diameters of jacket and insulation along with thickness of concentric wall ensure fast and reliable supplication in automated high-speed equipment.

Shielding

Depending on their use, industrial cables also require highly effective protection from EMI and RFI. There is increasing demand for innovative designs with shielding technology using foil and braid configurations. Manufacturers offer 100% shield coverage improving the protection over a wide range of frequencies. Apart from this, cables also require electrostatic shielding, and sometimes, extra insulation and mechanical strength. Overall, the cable shielding needs to be lightweight, strong, flexible, thin, but extremely effective.

Armoring

For cables requiring maximum physical protection in the harshest of environments, armoring technology is the solution. Armoring offers added advantages such as reduced cost of conduit, easier installation and re-routing, while it provides additional shielding.

Typical armoring of power, instrumentation, and data cables involves interlocking aluminum or steel armor, or continuous corrugated armor of aluminum. Some manufacturers also offer cables with corrugated or smooth protective metal tapes.

Insulation and Jackets

Cable manufacturers offer a large variety of insulation and jacket compounds, often their own formulation. These provide superior performance under different hostile environmental conditions. Cables are typically graded as Class I, II, or III, according to whether they are suitable for hazards differentiated by Division 1 or 2.

For instance, cables suitable for Class I, Division 1 Hazards are used in locations where flammable vapors or gases may exist under normal operating conditions. Cables suitable for Class III, Division 2 Hazards may be used in locations that contain easily ignitable flyings and fibers under abnormal conditions.

Intrinsically Safe

Not all environments need be hostile. Occasionally, under normal or abnormal conditions, equipment and wiring may be incapable of releasing adequate amounts of electrical energy to ignite a susceptible, specific hazardous atmospheric mixture. Manufacturers offer cables with light blue color with approved sealing and separation for use in such situations.

Cable manufacturers offer the most comprehensive line of industrial cabling solutions today. This helps not only for networking on the factory floor or process equipment and devices to their controllers, but also to the control room, and for relaying data between the engineering department, control room, and various office sites or remote manufacturing locations.

Our top selling cables for October

Here are some of the top sellers on the West Florida Components web site for October:

Shielded Audio Cable 3.5mm Stereo Male to Male Plug 6 ft

Audio systems are connected to various devices such as MP3 players, DVD players, speakers, portable CD players, TV tuners, satellite dishes, computer sound cards and camcorders. Depending on the specific use, shielded audio cables come in different lengths. The plug or socket size is usually 3.50 mm. CES makes the cables in 6 ft lengths.

The shielded stereo cables come with suitable male connectors of 3.50 mm diameter for connecting between two terminals. The cables are readily available and can be ordered immediately. The product has a code number of HW144PD. The shielded cables are for connection between different types of terminals, and this cable has stereo male plugs on both ends.

Shielded Audio Cable 3.5mm Stereo Male to Male Plug 10 ft

Special shielded cables for stereo audio systems are made for interconnecting various audio devices. CES makes cables of standard length for connection between various devices. The 10ft cable is the standard size for specific applications when the distance between the devices to be connected is about 10 feet or less. Various audio devices can be interconnected via these shielded cables.

Male to male plug connection cable serve a specific application. The receiving devices are usually CD players, computer sound cards, satellite dishes, TV tuners, and MP players. The plug connectors are of 3.5mm diameter providing male-to-male connectivity. The product is available for immediate delivery.

Shielded Audio Cable 3.5mm Stereo Male Plug to Female Jack 3 ft

The distance between a stereo audio system and the receiving devices varies from location to location. Audio signals can be transferred to receiving devices through shielded stereo audio cables. CES manufactures these cables to suit particular locations limited to 3ft, suitable for interconnecting male plugs to female jacks.

The plug and jack are both 3.5mm diameter standard size for the CES cable. The cable has a part number of HW 146PD. The cable is extensively used for connecting all audio devices including speakers to the audio source. Suitable connectors are provided at either end of the cable, so that interconnections may be made between the male plugs and female jacks.

Shielded Audio Cable 3.5mm Stereo Male Plug to Female Jack 6 ft

Audio devices such as computer sound cards, satellite dishes, DVD players etc., require a very special cable for connection to the audio source. For the stereo sound to be reproduced without distortion and without any external noise, shielded cables are used for special audio application. 6ft cables are available that are manufactured by CES with a part number of HW147PD.

The plug and jack is 3.50mm in diameter. The cable has been made especially for connecting the stereo male plug to a female jack, with a separation of 6ft or less. It is readily available for shipping.

Shielded Audio Cable 3.5mm Stereo Male Plug to Female Jack 10 ft

Audio systems require special cables for interconnecting various devices. They may be located at some distance from the system. Manufacturer CES produces 10ft shielded stereo audio cables for such connections with part number HW 148PD. It is suitable for connecting a stereo male plug to a female jack within a distance of ten feet or less.

The 10ft cable comes with connectors of 3.5mm diameter provided at both ends of the cable. The connectors are suitable to interconnect a male plug to a female jack. Any stereo device such as the DVD player, computer sound cards can be connected using these cables.

Small Alligator Clip Test Lead Set of 10 Cables 2ft

For connecting several items between various devices, CES produces small test lead sets. The lead has alligator clips. It consists of a set of ten cables and is usually 2ft in length, with a product code of HW149PD. The clips are of 1-inch in size and usually white. The lead is very useful in testing circuit designs.

It is also used for testing services. The ten cables forming one set comes in different colors for easy identification. Usually two cables are of the same color. The identifying colors used are red, black, green, etc. The connecting set is readily available.

Large Alligator Clip Test Lead Set of 10 Cables 2ft

Test leads need to be suitable for connection to the terminals of different sizes. CES produces large test leads for such connections with a part number of HW151PD. The test lead has alligator clips and it comes with a set of ten cables. The clip size is 1 ¾ inches. It can be used for any testing service or any circuit designs.

Each set of the test lead comes with ten cables of different colors. The difference in colors makes for easy identification while testing. Each set of two cables in the ten set lead is of the same color. Colors of yellow, green, white, black and red are used.

DADPTAT9M25F DB9 Male to DB25 Female Adapter

Computer circuits need special adapters such as for printers, etc. Such male to female adapters are manufactured by Microhite, with product number of DADPTAT9M25F and the product code is GS14APF07. The adapter has gold plated contacts and the body is molded PVC. It is provided with a shield of Aluminum Mylar foil.

For easy connection, the adapter has extra-long thumbscrews. The adapter is specially made for converting a DB9 male terminal to a DB25 female terminal. The adapter weighs 1.70-ounces.

DB15F DB15M Adapter Connector

Some connectors will need adapters to be made suitable for different type of connection. A female connector may be needed for suitably connecting to a male connector depending on the circuitry. WFCP makes such suitable adapter connectors with product number G515APF07.

The adapter connector is a 15pin device and is lightweight at 1.13ounces. The part number is DB15F/DB15M manufactured by TTI. Its dimensions are 1.55 inchx1. 58inch x 0.58inch.

12 Gauge 2 Pin Quick Disconnect Bullet Leads Cables 1 Ft

quick disconnectsTwo pin quick disconnect bullet leads are normally used for connections where polarity is critical. The cables come with a 2-pin molded connector. It also has a 2-pin bullet lead for quick disconnect. The cable is 12 inches long and its leads are color-coded. The pins have a positive grip while providing instant connection or disconnection as required.

The cable is made of a 12AWG wire. The bullet type connector is suitable for male to female terminal connections. Suitable locking mating ends are provided so that proper connection is maintained under all conditions. CES produces these cables with the product number of 1376APF09.

Excellent free app for the iPad: DropBox

One major drawback of the iPad is the inability to easily move files from the iPad to a desktop or notebook computer or other mobile device.

That’s where DropBox steps in. No, it’s not perfect, but it is the best app we’ve found – it’s free and there are no wires or cables necessary!

DropBox uses cloud-based storage to make your files available to another device. The basic, free DropBox service gives you 2GB of storage to manage your files. We think that’s plenty for most users.

Here’s how to use it: on your iPad with DropBox opened, click the ‘+’ sign to upload a file to your DropBox storage. When you are logged in on your desktop PC, notebook computer or other mobile device, log into DropBox to retrieve and download your file. Easy! Another benefit is the integration of the DropBox app with the native iPad productivity apps like Keynote and Pages.

You can find the DropBox app in the iTunes store: DropBox for iPad. There are also versions for the iPod touch and the iPhone which are useful, but this version takes advantage of the larger real estate available with the iPad screen.