OT - Wire Idents

I've been using a Brady TLS 2200 since 2008. It's still running to this day, on the original battery (rechargeable), but the software that came with it is XP only and it's about time for an upgrade.

I was doing some mods to a panel and found the idents as attached. Lucky for me, the original installer even left a few pre-printed 'spares' at the bottom.

I like the style of this type. Yes, I would need to buy different ident sizes for different wire sizes, but generally, 90% of my stuff if 0.75, about 8% 0.5, the other 2% 1.5 and 2.5 and anything else is someone else's problem (all sizes in Sq. MM CSA).

Does anyone know what brand these are, and the price of the printer?

Hi Patrick,

After a bit of Google-Fu, it looks like perhaps Cembre. Link is to their marking systems catalog(+ ue, since you're over the pond. ).

http://www.cembre.co.uk/catalogues/markingsystem

Hi Jordan, thanks for the link. Had a look at the site; http://www.cembre.co.uk/Category?top=931 ...the image shown here shows only push-in tags.

The ones I attached slide straight on to the wire. With Cembre, it looks similar to phoenix contact, whereby you have to first slide on a carrier and then slide the tag ident into the carrier. Useful if you're in work that requires re-labelling wires, but my projects are planned and I rarely do that. If I do it's out with the tools again and I lose about 2" off the end of the wire.

Additional info;
- I use ePlan so nice integration with whatever manufacturer from the ePlan default export options would be good. Currently with the Brady I have to export from ePlan to Excel, wrangle, and then import to Brady software

- Would be nice if the printer can also do terminal marking, etc. At present I buy a standard Terminal section standoff and attach a Brady label to it

In the 80's, the company I worked for used the telequick system, these were bootlace crimps with a tag, the markers were pushed onto the tag that had a non return blip on the end, these were pretty good as they could be made up before installation however, two major problems were labour intensive, not very good for PLC I/O cards as the card profiles got smaller and the tags could break off. We moved to a system (cannot remember what make but probably an earlier version of what you show). The clear plastic housing consisted of a "W" type base (just like the standard Critchley) and a top segment to hold the insert. The system used a modified Epson printer (larger head gap) to print the tags on a card. The software was pretty nifty, pre & post chars and auto number for quickly populating the template. it was quick to set up the template & print, however, due to the large footprint often the markers had to be placed on the I/O card cables outside of the terminal blocks and in many cases had to be staggered on smaller terminal blocks. I have used almost all the types of cable marking systems over the years but in my opinion, the push on coloured markers, although labour intensive seem to stand the test of time.

Thanks for the feedback Mr Parky, I detest push on now! Did it at the very beginning, was ok then. Even for a small panel now with 10 wires total I would still use the Brady. The only time I use push on is if it is the receiving company's standard, did two last year and reminded me that I should be very careful not to drop the Brady...

Panels I did back when I got the Brady are still running on the original tags, in a mix of industries. The issue with it is speed - mainly the heat-shrinking part. Hence I don't want to go Phoenix style, and slide a carrier and then insert a tag - that's just double handling in my opinion. Plus bubba on nightshift might disagree with my (correct) schematics and re-arrange the idents to match what he thinks it should be.

Lets face it if Bubba has been in the panel then they will re-arrange the numbers, remove all trunking lids and leave a crows nest of wiring hanging everywhere

Have you thought about shrink wrap labels? they will fit a couple different sizes so you can stock less and like Parky pointed out... its a little harder for "Bubba" to change and move them around

Mark, I've been thinking about them for over 10 years.

The Brady TLS I have been using has been 99% heat shrink.

They work out at £0.50 per label so 1 wire costs £1.

The one size I use most does 0.5-2.5mm. I use the next size up for e.g. 7cYY0.5

A larger size again for thicker diameter multicore.

They are too slow, it's the heat-shrinking action that is slow. First, you can't land the wire before it has cooled down. And just in general, especially with the larger diameter ones, the time to shrink it down is long as they are a 3:1 ratio.

It has served me well, and I like the end result but not the time it takes to get there.

All the labels in this were done with the TLS 2200, barr the warning ones, they are pre-printed

the_msp said:

Click to expand...

Patrick,

Very nice work!

Thanks Mark! For the zoomer-in'ers... note this wasn't the final pic just a quick phone pic nearing end of install day...

geniusintraining said:

Patrick,

Very nice work!

Click to expand...

The true sign of genius in building a panel is take that photo after 10 years of Bubba and see how neat and orderly it is.

Unfortunately not one panel builder has acquired this level yet. Either that or there are a lot of determined Bubba's out there.

OK so highlighted date is uploaded to FB date, not actual install...

however take my word for it this was a 2010 build and in 2020 it looks like the 2018 image, only, they added one more toggle button to the front. They didn't drill a hole, I always provide blanked off spares as standard.

Note between two dates shown, they completely moved the panel, actually extended the room, and remounted the whole thing.

One of the operators was vertically challenged shall we say... he asked why was the instrumentation so high in my panel design? I said, it wasn't 10 years ago, next time if some contractor moves the panel up the I-Beam, ask him to raise the floor too!

the_msp said:

They are too slow, it's the heat-shrinking action that is slow. First, you can't land the wire before it has cooled down. And just in general, especially with the larger diameter ones, the time to shrink it down is long as they are a 3:1 ratio.

Click to expand...

I've always done the heatshrinking after the panel is built and tested, so you don't have to wait to land the wires. That and you can shrink them all at once, which goes a lot faster.

Great looking panel btw!

We use Brady BMP21 printers with the vinyl self-laminating with the clear overlay.
Stays in place and the clear overlay protects the numbers from fade.
https://www.bradyid.com/en-us/family/cps-brus-11827

Hi seeing as the photo is provided, whats the current theory on fan ventilation, l would have thought the fan should be at the top sucking hot air out, or are you pressurizing it?