Cable markers / Labels

[superheat6k]

I am looking for a neat, simple and fast method of identifying electrical cables.

What are others on here using ?

 

[rogerthebodger]

I am looking for a neat, simple and fast method of identifying electrical cables.

What are others on here using ?

I used standard slide on electrical cable numbering rings. 0 to 9. Mine were yellow but you can get the numbers on colored rings matching the resistance colour codes.

 

[duncan99210]

I use a Brother label maker. You can select cable labels and it prints out a double ended label. Cheap at about £15-20 and I buy unbranded label tapes off eBay at a fraction of the Brother tapes.

 

[sarabande]

I have a Brother P2700 and a baby Brother P1000, both of which generate decent labels you can wrap round cable and for flat surfaces. But the Brother heat shrink labels do not work on them (Heat shrink is too thick). Getting a an E500 is on the cards, as I have a labelling project needing heat shrink with numbers.


How soon do you need to start labelling ?

 

[lw395]

If it's only a few, coloured cable ties are useful.
Or coloured heatshrink.
A mate of mine got into a huge mess with a Landrover project because a load of Dymo-type labels fell off when he cleaned the engine bay.
He's a convert to clear heatshrink over a printed label now!

 

[prv]

I use a Brother label maker. You can select cable labels and it prints out a double ended label.

Hmm. I did that (without the automatic double-ended part) on my first boat re-wire. A couple of years later most of the labels started dropping off as the glue (genuine Brother) gave up and the label material wanted to straight out.

Second boat I used the same machine (with half-width tape) and stuck the labels along the length of the cable with clear heatshrink over them. This works particularly nicely on flat twin cable but will also go on the individual cores at least down to 1.5mm² which is the smallest I use for power.

If I ever do a third boat I will probably get a machine that can print directly onto opaque heatshrink off a spool - this is what the electricians at work use for cable assemblies outside of the wiring enclosures and it's very quick and neat. Inside the boxes they use the number rings that Roger mentioned - these clip onto individual conductors without needing access to an end, but they do require you to have a drawing or at least a list of what each number means. Totally appropriate for a box with a hundred or more individual wires without concise names, not so much when you just want to identify "Fwd cabin lights" where it comes out of a conduit behind the chart table.

Pete

 

[knuterikt]

Brother lables with clear heat shrink over. I prefer descriptive text.
like this http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/wire_labeling

 

[prv]

Brother lables with clear heat shrink over. I prefer descriptive text.
like this http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/wire_labeling

Yep - that's exactly what I did on the current boat. Thanks for finding the photos :encouragement:

Pete

 

[knuterikt]

Yep - that's exactly what I did on the current boat. Thanks for finding the photos :encouragement:

Pete

lots of interesting stuff on that site