Monthly Archives: May 2021

The effort to slim down isn’t always just a fitness goal. It can also be geared towards slimming down your home office and personal space. Getting rid of thick and unruly cables can help add both workspace and headspace to a create a more productive environment. Let’s run through some common networking and entertainment cables that have taken their “slim down challenge” to heart.

Ultra Slim HDMI Cables

These HDMI cables are made using 32AWG conductors, roughly 75 percent smaller than a standard HDMI cable. This makes them much easier to bend and maneuver behind tight spaces, small openings, and odd corners. They’re also great as a compact cable solution for on-the-go video playback for cameras and cell phones.

Slim 3.5mm Audio Cables

The most important part of these cables is the slimmed down 3.5mm molded connection itself. It’s slim enough to plug into 3.5mm jacks on smartphones and tablets without having to remove the protective case around these devices. This is a huge advantage when wanting to keep your expensive tablet or smartphone safe and secure in the case without having to remove it to connect to headphones or speakers.

Slim Cat6/Cat6a Patch Cables

Installers and IT teams use these cables to help reduce space, improve airflow, and provide

When you’re charging a phone or tablet you typically don’t need to go too far. Cables ranging from 3ft to 6ft get the job done at a comfortable length. But when the printer is on one side of the room and your desktop is on the other…you may run into some problems finding a reliable cable to go the distance.

Run of the mill “passive” USB cables have a distance limitation of 16.4 feet, or 5 meters, which poses a problem if you don’t have the flexibility to move your devices and peripheral equipment closer to your central workstation. This distance is a specific length, so most passive USB cables you’ll find will top out at 15ft, and there is no way to daisy chain multiple passive USB cables to surpass this limitation.

Fortunately, there are a variety of “active” cables and USB extenders to help overcome this distance limitation and prevent a total overhaul of your workspace to stay connected.

Active USB Extensions

These cables are built with an internal “booster” to transmit USB signal beyond the 15ft limitation. Most active USB extension cables fall in the range of 16ft-80ft. At this range they can be BUS powered, so there is no need for an additional power cable, which is great for plug-and-play applications or in areas where you don’t have plug-in access for an external power cable.

Active USB extensions also come in a plenum jacket rating for more permanent installations that may need to run within walls and through plenum air spaces without the need for conduit.

USB Extenders

When an 80ft run with an active USB extension cable still won’t go the distance, USB extender baluns utilize the much further distance capacities of ethernet cables (specifically Cat5e and Cat6) to extend USB signals 150ft-200ft. These extender baluns are also plug and play and BUS powered, so it’s a quick and cost-effective way to surpass even the 80ft distance limitation of most active USB cables.

Tray cable is a multipurpose and multiconductor cabling used in industrial power/control, communications systems, traffic control, switching, lighting, and signal transmission. You will find tray cable installed in conduits, ducts, raceways, and cable tray systems. Tray cable jackets are resistant to fire (such as fire alarm cable), UV, chemicals, and oil. This ability to withstand unforgiving environments makes them ideal for wiring mission-critical machinery and systems.

What are the types of tray cable?

Two main classifications of tray cable are Power Limited Tray Cable (PLTC) and Vinyl Nylon Tray Cable (VNTC). Let us run through some of their key features.

Power Limited Tray Cable:

• 300 volt rating
• Flame Retardant/UV Resistant PVC jacket
• 105 Degree Celsius operating temperature
• Approved for Class I and II, Division 2 Hazardous environments
• Industrial control, burglar alarms, point of sale systems, intercom

Vinyl Nylon Tray Cable:

• 600 volt rating
• Flame Retardant/UV Resistant/Burial Rated PVC Jacket
• 194 Degrees Celsius (dry) and 167 degrees Celsius (wet)
• Telemetering, power/control, traffic control, lighting, and signal transmission
• Approved for Class I and II, Division 2 Hazardous environments

What overall jacket material is used in tray cable?

Typically tray cable jackets are made up of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Chlorinated Polyethylene (CPE), and Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH). The most common overall jacket is PVC, which is flame retardant sunlight resistant per UL 1277.

Heat shrink tubing is an inexpensive means of protecting wires from any number of environmental factors which can potentially damage or interfere with the operation of the cable. Not only does heat shrink tubing provide a buffer against abrasion, liquids, and changes in temperature/humidity, it’s also a cost-effective means for cable organization and color-coding identification.

Let’s highlight some of the advantages of using heat shrink tubing to better understand how it improves reliability and maintenance of cables and just how valuable it is in your cable runs and builds.

Size and Color Customization

Depending on the vendor and manufacturer heat shrink tubing is measured in millimeters or inches based on the pre-shrink diameter of the tubing. At Show Me Cables, we list our heat shrink tubing in inches and carry 1/16, 3/32, 1/8, 3/16, ¼, 3/8,