Serial numbers on individual cables?

[davesparks]

Only the basis that I know the environment and the people who work in it.
A cable tie will get battered so that it will work its way along the cable a little bit. It'll catch in the hand of the person coiling it, they swear at it an cut it off.
Or it will catch on a fly rail as it gets hauled over it and get ripped off.
Or it'll snag on the edge of a flightcases as it gets pulled out.

The tried and reasonably reliable method is either printed tape around the cable or a label with clear heatshrink on the cable. Clear AT7 Dancefloor tape works well if heatshrink can't be used.

 

[Besoeker]

Only the basis that I know the environment and the people who work in it.
A cable tie will get battered so that it will work its way along the cable a little bit. It'll catch in the hand of the person coiling it, they swear at it an cut it off.
Or it will catch on a fly rail as it gets hauled over it and get ripped off.
Or it'll snag on the edge of a flightcases as it gets pulled out.

The tried and reasonably reliable method is either printed tape around the cable or a label with clear heatshrink on the cable. Clear AT7 Dancefloor tape works well if heatshrink can't be used.

Have you actually tried them?

 

[davesparks]

No I haven't specifically tried cable markers fixed with cable ties.
I have had DMX cables with those same cable markers directly fitted to the cables seen them gradually get ripped off or all the numbers scratched off within a few weeks.

I don't know what you are getting at here but you don't always have to try something to know it is a bad idea!

 

[Besoeker]

No I haven't specifically tried cable markers fixed with cable ties.
I have had DMX cables with those same cable markers directly fitted to the cables seen them gradually get ripped off or all the numbers scratched off within a few weeks.

I don't know what you are getting at here but you don't always have to try something to know it is a bad idea!

Perhaps you are not thinking of the same thing.

 

[davesparks]

Perhaps not, but anything which sticks up from the surface of the cable will not last, it's the nature of the industry in which these cables are being used.

Printed labels with clear heatshrink or a bit of Dancefloor tape over the top lasts best.

 

[Besoeker]

Perhaps not, but anything which sticks up from the surface of the cable will not last, it's the nature of the industry in which these cables are being used.

Printed labels with clear heatshrink or a bit of Dancefloor tape over the top lasts best.

Might depend on the durability of the materials used.

 

[davesparks]

It's not just the durability of the materials, it's anything which doesn't maintain a flush profile and could catch on a flyrail or flightcases lip or even someone's hand as they coil the cable.

Local crew and roadies are often brain dead monkeys, trust me on this as I work as local crew in a theatre the way you get treated by touring crews leads to a certain disrespect for their kit!

 

[Rockingit]

Besoeker: Just trust us on this one. Touring show electrics is unlike any form of the electrical industry. I should know, I've been touring for all manner of different styles and sizes of shows all over the planet for 25 years now!

ANYTHING which even remotely interferes with the 'smooth flow' of a cable will be removed within a few uses either accidentally or deliberately as being a pain in the arse. The people assembling and dis-assembling the system will in all probability not be that clued up about the finer points, won't (all) be traveling with the system but they know how to assemble a Meccano kit by following the plan and 'common practice'. What takes six hours to 'get in' will take an army of monkeys about half an hour to 'get out', depending on what time the nearest bar is closing and how much of a pain the truck driver is being over his tacho hours.

 

[davesparks]

It is a genuine miracle that the damned plugs and sockets stay attached to the cables sometimes.

 

[Besoeker]

It is a genuine miracle that the damned plugs and sockets stay attached to the cables sometimes.

So why wouldn't markers adjacent to the plugs?