Undercarpet cable

Status
Not open for further replies.
steve66

steve66

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
Engineer
I know I have seen a power cable that is flat and made to run under carpet. But I can't find it in any catalogs. I've tried Thomas and Betts, and the Wiremold catalog, the Walker catalog, and Hubble power systems with no luck!!

Can anyone give me a link or a reference to who makes this stuff?

Steve
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

I think I know what you're talking about but what I'm thinking of goes on top of the carept, I think.
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

Steve66 I have seen it used in Sears under the 2'x2' carpet tiles. Unfortunately I don't know who makes the product. Sorry I couldn't help more.

Justin
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

T & B is one manufacturer that makes it.

Ed

FCC1.jpg

FCC2.jpg
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

This is interesting stuff. I didn't know about it.

I know I'm gonna get beat up for asking this but is it NEC legal?
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

Article 324 Flat Conductor Cable. It's pretty cool stuff. Not to be used in residential, school and hospital buildings.

Justin
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

The "beautiful" part about it is when it gets wet! Service Call for tripped breaker, Service call for short circuit, service call for outlet not working.

Hubbel used to make it, can't find parts for it anymore.
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

I'm not buying that Tshea, I don't see any reason it wouldn't work in a swimming pool.
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

Let me take that back Tshea. From what I remember about membrane conductor strips, they use a insertion pin that penetrates the membrane and contact is maintained by a pressure clamp. This set up was only good for about 20 milliamps.

Not knowing how these are built, if I assumed they were built the same way I would question their reliability.

Edit: I still can't spell.

[ February 28, 2005, 09:09 PM: Message edited by: physis ]
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

We had to use it at a local indian casino. They installed card shufflers after the fact and wanted to power them up. They recently did a complete remodel of their facility and relocated all their tables. That's when we realized that Hubbel discontinued the product. We had to carefully demo all the existing stuff so that we could re-install it elsewhere. It works fine for smaller loads. I wouldn't max it out at 20amps, though. It has a tin overlay cover that you put over the top of it to help disperse any loads put on the carpet.
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

I couldn't find it on the thomas and betts web site (TNB.com). One of the items Ed listed came up obsolete, and one was unknown. Looks like it may no longer be made.

Too bad, we just wanted it to get power (and maybe even data and a phone) under our conference room table. I just wanted to hang a cord reel from the ceiling, but the architects didn't seem too thrilled about that idea :) It couldn't look any worse than the octopus we currently have hanging between the table and the nearest outlets.

Steve
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

Physis:

Are you talking about "zebra strips". They are used a lot to connect LCD displays to a circuit board. I hated those things. The worst thing ever made. Once you take it apart, it never worked again.

Steve
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

I believe that AMP makes the stuff.
I think you may now have to find them under the "Tyco corporate name".

Used a short run of it in late 80's for the same conference room application. It worked fine.
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

Steve,.

The stuff I'm thinking of was used for copier keypads, microwave keypads. That kind of stuff. I don't even remember who made it but I had boxes of engineering samples. I don't know if this is the same thing but it looks like it's identical only on a larger scale.
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

Originally posted by paul:
We had to use it at a local indian casino. They installed card shufflers after the fact and wanted to power them up.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't a casino be a "place of assembly"?

If it is a place of assembly FCC is not one of the permitted wiring methods. 518.4(A)
 
Re: Undercarpet cable

Steve, yeah, what you're thinking of is solder tinned at the end where it goes into an edge connector. LCD cables are pretty fine but there's larger too.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top