Looking for a cord reel with constant tension on cord

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woodduder

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West Central FL.
Hi all,
I am working on a new gymnasium and the drawing had shown a floor box for a scorer's table to be at the bottom of the pull out bleachers. The architect did not want the floor box in the gym floor so they proposed that we install a cord reel on the wall behind the bleachers. We would then mount an outlet box in the lowest "toe kick" board of the retractable bleacher, and then behind the board we would attach a strain relief. The cord reel would need constant tension so when the bleacher was retracted the cord would reel in.

BUT the space behind the bleacher is only 9" deep.

Anyone know of a cord reel that is 9" or less wide and you can keep it from locking so it will have to have constant tension? I am thinking 16 gauge would be fine.
 
I would take a close look at 400.7 and 400.8 before going ahead.

personally, I would not want to attach the cord to the bleachers. I think it puts the cord in jeopardy of being damaged.

why can't they just attach a cord reel the to wall and have them extend it by hand as needed?
 
woodduder said:
Hi all,
I am working on a new gymnasium and the drawing had shown a floor box for a scorer's table to be at the bottom of the pull out bleachers. The architect did not want the floor box in the gym floor so they proposed that we install a cord reel on the wall behind the bleachers. We would then mount an outlet box in the lowest "toe kick" board of the retractable bleacher, and then behind the board we would attach a strain relief. The cord reel would need constant tension so when the bleacher was retracted the cord would reel in.

BUT the space behind the bleacher is only 9" deep.

Anyone know of a cord reel that is 9" or less wide and you can keep it from locking so it will have to have constant tension? I am thinking 16 gauge would be fine.
Click to expand...

Best I could find is this. It's 10.5 inches. But I'd pay attention to petersonra's concerns.
 
400.7(A)(9) would allow the use of flexible cord.

Attaching it to the bleachers is how they do it with supply cord to electric operated bleachers, when the bleachers collapse the cord is hanging in somewhat of a coiled up fashion.
 
Many of the cord reels I have installed had instructions to remove the locking device so you could have constant tension. You can do that with all of the Woodhead reels other than their standard duty ones.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
Many of the cord reels I have installed had instructions to remove the locking device so you could have constant tension. You can do that with all of the Woodhead reels other than their standard duty ones.
Click to expand...

i've seen that in industrial situations. use a kellums grip, and it works fine.
sounds like with the space restraints, they'd have to build a pocket in the
wall for it to fit in, however.
 
Or mount it parallel to the wall, and run the wire over a pulley to fit it all in the 9 inch space.
 
I'm in the festoon camp. It can be set up to lie flat and parallel to the wall when the bleachers are retracted, then swing out as they extend. You can have a spring tension system retracting the festoon arm against the wall, but hang the cable loose in festoons on it, with supports sliding along as the arm moves. That way there is almost no tension on the wire.

With that kind of depth restriction, a spring wound reel would actually have to be a wide drum, making it take something like 15-20 turns to retract a 20ft cord of 12/3 SJO cord. That will require a lot of spring tension to be able to retract it without a motor, which means that tension is going to be constant against the grip. A motorized drum system then becomes another size problem and adds an awful lot of complexity and cost to a set of bleachers so that someone can plug in a PA system in front instead of just sending the A/V geek under the bleachers to find the outlet.
 
How about fastening the wire to each layer of seats, with a small loop, leading all the way up to the top which is attached to the wall.
 
Kids run under those bleachers all the time. Anything you do from the wall to the front of the bleachers has potential to be a problem.

If they won't let you go into the floor, how about wireless? We're talking score keeping and a microphone, right? Do they even need line voltage there?
 
I work with a bunch of schools. All the power wiring is festooned for bleachers. Many have wireless controllers for scoreboards and PA/Sound, but a lot of the scorer's tables are fancy and have lighted advertising panels, etc. Bleacher controls (if powered) are also located in the toe kick or a riser. Another issue to consider is if the bleachers are wall to wall and powered, make sure the disconnect is accessible. Behind the bleachers probably isn't a good idea.:happysad:
 
USMC1302 said:
I work with a bunch of schools. All the power wiring is festooned for bleachers. Many have wireless controllers for scoreboards and PA/Sound, but a lot of the scorer's tables are fancy and have lighted advertising panels, etc. Bleacher controls (if powered) are also located in the toe kick or a riser. Another issue to consider is if the bleachers are wall to wall and powered, make sure the disconnect is accessible. Behind the bleachers probably isn't a good idea.:happysad:
Click to expand...
I don't know if required or not but seems all the schools have basketball possession arrow at the scorers table. I suppose it could be battery powered if needed though. Otherwise yes wireless scoreboard controllers are an option and most anymore have wireless microphones for PA announcers to use.
 
OK so to answer a few questions.

I think they will have a laptop for the scorer to use so they will need a power source.

The engineer is totally against a cord being attached to the bottom of the bleacher's steps, they had a picture of that install and told me "we do not want to see it this way". See pic of what they do not want.
http://forums.mikeholt.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=15589&stc=1&d=1472643293


The bleachers are not powered and they have a wire screen on the end so people cannot get behind them.

I do not quite understand the festoon thing, but the architect, engineer and general contractor are stuck on the cord reel.

I did find a heavy duty cord reel yesterday that is only 9-3/8" wide which I think will work. http://www.reelcraft.com/catalog/product_search.aspx?Search=L 4545 123 X&category=default

I can mount it sideways and see if the tension is strong enough to keep the cord coiling back in. This company has to defeat the locking mechanism at the factory.

They want heavy duty and this is the smallest one I can locate.

The picture is showing a power cable at another project. They wanted us to figure out how to do a data cable cord reel. I told THEM to figure it out and I will install it!
 

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woodduder said:
OK so to answer a few questions.

I think they will have a laptop for the scorer to use so they will need a power source.

The engineer is totally against a cord being attached to the bottom of the bleacher's steps, they had a picture of that install and told me "we do not want to see it this way". See pic of what they do not want.
http://forums.mikeholt.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=15589&stc=1&d=1472643293


The bleachers are not powered and they have a wire screen on the end so people cannot get behind them.

I do not quite understand the festoon thing, but the architect, engineer and general contractor are stuck on the cord reel.

I did find a heavy duty cord reel yesterday that is only 9-3/8" wide which I think will work. http://www.reelcraft.com/catalog/product_search.aspx?Search=L 4545 123 X&category=default

I can mount it sideways and see if the tension is strong enough to keep the cord coiling back in. This company has to defeat the locking mechanism at the factory.

They want heavy duty and this is the smallest one I can locate.

The picture is showing a power cable at another project. They wanted us to figure out how to do a data cable cord reel. I told THEM to figure it out and I will install it!
Click to expand...
There is almost endless number of ways to do it but what is pictured there is one "festoon" method so to speak. I guess the cord reel idea sort of is as well. When you have bleachers with powered movers - they are at the low end and of course need to travel the entire distance the low end moves - the cable they use is tied to each segment like what you showed and arranged so it has an accordian effect as the bleachers collapse.

For safety and liability reasons most everyone anymore has some sort of screen on open ends to keep the public out from underneath.

https://www.google.com/search?q=fes...X&ved=0ahUKEwielb2W5OvOAhVEVWMKHQjWC9kQsAQIYg
 
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