We rely on cables to transmit power, signals and data, this they carry out extremely well. However, like all equipment, they need looking after. Most cables that we supply for hire come coiled and taped. This is how we like to see them come back. But you would not believe how some cables re-appear after a rushed get-out. Bird’s nests and
spaghetti are two terms that come to mind.

Cable originally comes off a drum, if you take it off the drum it would naturally present itself in coils, this is due to the ‘memory’ of the cable, it has, after all, been on a drum since it was made. We like to preserve that ‘memory’, and therefore we carefully coil the cables after use helping the cable retain it’s original form. This does take a little care, but is very satisfying when done properly. Coiling cable over the arm deforms the cable, and tying knots in it makes it even worse.

Once the cable is neatly coiled we secure the coil with p.v.c. tape, not gaffer tape as this leaves a rather sticky residue, not cellotape as this is not as easy to break when you next want to use the cable, and not masking or paper tape as this is not strong enough.

If you have used gaffer tape to tape a cable across an entrance for instance, please clean off the sticky residue before returning the cable. Similarly, if you have used the cable outside, and it is muddy, we would appreciate you cleaning the cable before returning it. In certain cases, where cables have been severely misused we have had to charge clients for replacement cables, please do not let you be one of them. If you are hiring cables, please make sure that you have a roll of p.v.c. tape to hand. To tape them up when you have finished, after all 85p for a roll of tape that will tape over a hundred cables, is much cheaper than £1.50 per cable re-coiling and re-taping charge.

All of our cables are colour coded to indicate their length in metres. The colour coding is achieved using one or two rings of coloured p.v.c. tape around the cable near to each connector. Each colour
represents a number as follows:

Black = 0 Brown = 1 Red = 2 Orange = 3 Yellow = 4 Green = 5 Blue = 6 Purple = 7 Grey = 8 White = 9

The length of the cable is read from the connector, therefore a cable marked Brown, Green would be 15 metres long. This is always the case except where the cable length ends in zero. If the cable is black, there seems little point in having a black ring around the cable as it would be difficult to see. Therefore, we omit the black ring on black cables, it is normally fairly easy to differentiate between a cable that is 2 mtrs and one that is 20 mtrs. The above colour coding is also used instead of, or in addition to numbering. One prime example is on multicore spiders. It is very much easier to see a ring of coloured tape, than to have to turn the
plug or socket over to find the number.