This FAQ is intended for professional installers and Do-It-Yourselfer's who are contemplating installing their own security system. The opinions expressed here-in are my own. I welcome your comments and suggestions. Feel free to email me anytime!

 

I've seen many methods used when installers pull in wire for security, access control, telephone, and data. Some wire you're pretty limited in jacket colours (CAT5 and CAT3 for instance) because the distributor/supplier only uses one or two sources. On standard four conductor "Station Z" though, I've found many cable wholesalers (I never use an alarm wholesaler) stock a multitude of jacket colours. And this brings up the subject of "cable marking". I can't stand using "Sharpies" (or other brands of felt type markers)... The chances that you (or someone else is) going to rub off the marks you make just isn't worth the headache of trying to identify 40 or more individual wire runs (besides my wife doesn't find black marks all over my fingers particularly "sexy"). This is what I do.

Take your standard box of wire and pull out about four feet. Strip back six inches of the outer jacket and clip all but one of the exposed four conductors. Mark the color that's left on the box in pencil. Now select another box. If it happens to be the same jacket color, repeat the procedure, but this time leave a different color conductor exposed and mark that on its box in pencil. If it's a different jacket color, you can leave the same color of conductor exposed as the first one. Remember to mark each box as you go. Repeat this procedure until you have sufficient wires to complete the "run" you're going to make (or until you run of of boxes). Go ahead and pull the cables through to their final destination. Once they're all neatly tacked back, you can now proceed to clip them at the boxes. As you do each one make note of the color you've indicated on each box, and repeat the procedure you used at the start leaving the same conductor color exposed on the clipped wire.

On your next run you're bound to run into a situation where you're going to have to use the same colors again. Don't. Instead, clip only two of the exposed wires and mark what's left on the box (example: red & green). The next cable (with the same jacket color) would be marked with a different color pair (example: red & yellow), and so on. The more jacket colors you can get ahold of from the supplier the better (and the more runs you'll be able to make)...

Using this method you can use a number of color combinations for each jacket color:

R, B, G, Y, RB, RG, RY, BG, BY, GY, RBY, RBG, GBY, RBGY, R and Copper, B and Copper, Y and Copper, G & copper, then RG & copper and so on... I've managed to actually list 19 color combinations (there are more) for just one jacket color.

The really neat thing is that you'll have a record of every color you've used right on the boxes so you won't have to "hunt" around for which one (or combination) to use next. When everything's terminated gather all your marked wires (in the wiring closet), group them by jacket color and tape them (leaving the color identifiers exposed). Get yourself a zip lock bag and place it over the end. Tape that into place and coil your wire up neatly out of the way (as you normally would). The zip lock will protect the ends from getting damaged or splattered with drywall mud.

Once you're done, take a nice loose leaf or wire bound notebook (the kind Bob La Londe recommends using in his wiring FAQ), and walk around to each protection point you're going to terminate. Write down the jacket and exposed wire colors and then identify each point next to it. You can now clip off and mount your door and window contacts. You can also clip off the identifier where each detector is going to be mounted (as long as you make sure you've written what each one is down in your notebook). You can even leave a carbon copy of the wire codes in the zip lock bag (mentioned in the previous paragraph) if you want.

No "muss"... No "fuss"... No trying to write teeny tiny numbers or words that you'll have to try and "decipher" later. Terminating your wires in the control couldn't be easier. Simply clip off the "identifier" and wrap it around the jacket, strip back what you need to complete the connection and you have a foolproof cable identification system. You can keep a copy of the wire chart in the control panel for servicing in the future or you can write it on the inside of the can lid. If you use pencil you can "edit" it later.