CATIII & CATIV Metering Requirements
- Thread starter willram2
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hbiss
EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
- Location
- Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
- Occupation
- EC
Re: CATIII & CATIV Metering Requirements
The latest and greatest now is CAT 5e and CAT 6. I assume what you are talking about are cable certifiers. Unless what you have can be upgraded, which I doubt, you've got yourself some expensive doorstops. Any cable installed today is going to be CAT 5e or 6 and any certification will have to be for that level. No mandate, just doesn't make any sense to certify for anything lower. You could probably tie knots in CAT 5e and it will pass CAT 3.
A word of advice concerning cable certification. If your customer doesn't ask or require it don't offer it.
If you are a decent installer and can install cable without kinks and tight bends the installation should be fine. No matter how good you are though sometimes you get kinks that you catch and straighten out, sometimes the cable gets pulled tight and a bend becomes a little too tight where you can't see it. In the real world this won't affect the operation of whatever is connected to the cable one bit but a cable certifier can pick this up and your customer will naturally want the run replaced.
So, unless you want to replace alot of perfectly good cable don't offer your customer certification unless you have to. And, unless you have to alot you will save yourself a bunch of money by not buying these things since they are expensive and become obsolete quickly.
The latest and greatest now is CAT 5e and CAT 6. I assume what you are talking about are cable certifiers. Unless what you have can be upgraded, which I doubt, you've got yourself some expensive doorstops. Any cable installed today is going to be CAT 5e or 6 and any certification will have to be for that level. No mandate, just doesn't make any sense to certify for anything lower. You could probably tie knots in CAT 5e and it will pass CAT 3.
A word of advice concerning cable certification. If your customer doesn't ask or require it don't offer it.
If you are a decent installer and can install cable without kinks and tight bends the installation should be fine. No matter how good you are though sometimes you get kinks that you catch and straighten out, sometimes the cable gets pulled tight and a bend becomes a little too tight where you can't see it. In the real world this won't affect the operation of whatever is connected to the cable one bit but a cable certifier can pick this up and your customer will naturally want the run replaced.
So, unless you want to replace alot of perfectly good cable don't offer your customer certification unless you have to. And, unless you have to alot you will save yourself a bunch of money by not buying these things since they are expensive and become obsolete quickly.
pierre
Senior Member
- Location
- Westchester County, New York
Re: CATIII & CATIV Metering Requirements
willram2
The ratings you are talking about have nothing to do with the cable testing. These ratings are for the safety measures that the meter offers to the person using the meter. The 4 zones which are I, II, III and IV, are distinguished by their location in the premise wiring and protection against the magnitude of transient voltage. Outside and service equipment for instance are zone IV, where equipment inside the building, such as a copy machine would be zone I.
The industry standard used to be IEC 348, which has been replaced with IEC 1010. A higher CAT number indicates an electrical environment with higher power available, larger short-circuit current available, and higher energy transients.
Todays better meters offer a range of protection. Be careful when purchasing this equipment because a manufacterur can claim to "design to" a standard with no independent verification. You should look for the UL or CSA label to make sure that the equipment has been properly listed.
These 'better' meters are more expensive, but your personal safety is more than worth it.
The proper use of meters is a very important subject that seems to be avoided in most instances.If you want more info, go to a site such as Fluke, or AEMC to view their info about this subject.
Good Luck
Pierre
willram2
The ratings you are talking about have nothing to do with the cable testing. These ratings are for the safety measures that the meter offers to the person using the meter. The 4 zones which are I, II, III and IV, are distinguished by their location in the premise wiring and protection against the magnitude of transient voltage. Outside and service equipment for instance are zone IV, where equipment inside the building, such as a copy machine would be zone I.
The industry standard used to be IEC 348, which has been replaced with IEC 1010. A higher CAT number indicates an electrical environment with higher power available, larger short-circuit current available, and higher energy transients.
Todays better meters offer a range of protection. Be careful when purchasing this equipment because a manufacterur can claim to "design to" a standard with no independent verification. You should look for the UL or CSA label to make sure that the equipment has been properly listed.
These 'better' meters are more expensive, but your personal safety is more than worth it.
The proper use of meters is a very important subject that seems to be avoided in most instances.If you want more info, go to a site such as Fluke, or AEMC to view their info about this subject.
Good Luck
Pierre
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