mstrlucky74
Senior Member
- Location
- NJ
Are there cam locks that accept aluminum cable? I was told no because all cam locks are brass and that with Al wire won't work.
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Cam Locks
- Thread starter mstrlucky74
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petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
I would look at the instructions that come with those connectors over what someone told you.
I looked at what I have available and it does not specify aluminum or copper. Just wire size.
mstrlucky74
Senior Member
- Location
- NJ
Which ones do you have? thanks.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Can locks are for portable power cable, where are you getting aluminum portable power cable?
- Location
- Placerville, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Retired PV System Designer
What about the stationary side of the portable cable connection? Or will it always be a pigtail?
- Location
- Massachusetts
That is a good point, they do make 'bulkhead' cam locs for mounting on equipment.
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
Panel mount camloks have a threaded brass stud, so you should be able to use any lug that accepts aluminum and is also compatible with brass (which should be just about any cu-al lug).
ETA- I can't imagine using aluminum wire/cable into a cable-mount camlok, kind of defeats the "flexible" concept.
ETA- I can't imagine using aluminum wire/cable into a cable-mount camlok, kind of defeats the "flexible" concept.
curt swartz
Electrical Contractor - San Jose, CA
- Location
- San Jose, CA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I agree. All of the panel mounted ones I have seen have a threaded stud/nut so you can put any standard CU or AL lug on them.
mstrlucky74
Senior Member
- Location
- NJ
It is for a peice of AV equipment to plug into?
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
in the mobile audio industry, they are now using fine stranded copper clad aluminum
power cable, as a cheap knock off for copper... this stuff is in #2 ~ #4/0, and is NOT
UL listed.... it's cheezy. i'm not sure who the manufacturers are, most of this stuff comes
from china, and is branded by half a dozen different companies, monster cable being among
them.
i've never seen aluminum used in conjunction with temporary power, such as you
would see in trade shows, and never seen cam locks used with aluminum conductors, ever.
lighting and sound stage lash ups are severe service applications, and tend to be robust.
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
Why does that not surprise me, not in the slightest.
Anyway, if anyone wants to see if they're really rated for AL conductors, the various manufacturers' data sheets are a great place to look
.
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Location
- Placerville, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Retired PV System Designer
Where did you tap the power from? If fully loaded that would be 375kW, so I hope that the diversity factor helped.
- Location
- Massachusetts
Generator, the total connected load is averaging 60 to 70 KW.
But vendors that want power pay extra for their space so if they pay for a 20 amp circuit(s) I have to provide it.
Some vendors have two circuit, a view have 3 and another has two 30 amp 208 volt circuits.
We also have at least 12 - 15 circuits for the lighting of the tents, the tent company provided the lighting for the tents, many 575 watt and 1000 watt incandescent fixtures.
This is beyond what we normally do so I subcontracted the portable equipment and generator from an entertainment lighting company.
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
no chit.... just cam locks, 1/0 welding cable, and copper wire.
those actually look like pretty nice distribution panels, to be honest.
i did trade shows for about a year and a half, and some of the stuff
that got used is pretty cheezy.... but there's a whole nother thing
to doing trade shows that flies in the face of the NEC, but i've never
heard of an electrical fire at a show.....
except at one of the first CES's in vegas, they *melted* an aluminum
core on a 500 KW dry type transformer.... i suspect overcurrent protection
was not in use, just a multiple 4/0 tap off a main bus... that gets done a bit.
i know that six 4/0 cam locks per leg will pull a megawatt without getting all
that hot... but it does get pretty warm.
that show is one of the heaviest power trade shows there is,
they bring in megawatt gensets, 'cause there isn't enough power
at the convention center to run everything.
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
Some of the crew at the LVCC are great, some of them are, ahem, are a bit set in their ways. I wouldn't trust those to wire a doorbell.
For amusement, here's part of the pile from one of my gigs a couple of years ago, that's maybe a third of the gear:
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