14/4 Solid Copper Fire Alarm Cable - FPLP Plenum Rated, Red, Data, 1000ft

In an office, school, hospital, or store, the space above the drop ceiling is usually a return-air plenum, and any fire alarm cable that runs through it without conduit has to be plenum rated. This is the four-conductor fire alarm cable for those buildings in the heavier 14 AWG gauge: four solid bare copper conductors, insulated black, red, brown, and blue in low-smoke PVC, under a red low-smoke PVC jacket listed FPLP under NEC Article 760 for power-limited fire alarm circuits in plenums, drop ceilings, and raised floors. Four conductors means two circuits in one pull: the power pair and the alarm pair for four-wire smoke detectors, a notification circuit and an initiating circuit to the same device box, or a relay module's control and monitor pairs, each on a 14 AWG conductor with about 60% of the loop resistance of 16 AWG, so a long or heavily loaded notification circuit stays inside the panel's voltage-drop limit. It's a data-grade cable, with insulation built to the tighter electrical tolerances that addressable panels specify for their signaling line circuits, and it's unshielded, which is the standard construction for notification and initiating circuits on a quiet route.

FPLP is the top of the fire alarm cable hierarchy: it can go anywhere FPLR or FPL can, plus the air-handling spaces they can't. The red jacket is the fire alarm identification that inspectors and future technicians expect to see. The cable is UL Listed, RoHS compliant, and made in the USA, and it comes on a 1000 ft wooden spool with sequential footage marks on the jacket.

Features

• FPLP plenum rated. Listed under NEC Article 760 for power-limited fire alarm circuits in return-air plenums, drop ceilings, and raised floors without conduit, and for every riser and general-purpose run below that.
• Four 14 AWG solid bare copper conductors. Two circuits in one cable, each with about 60% of the loop resistance of 16 AWG, for four-wire detectors, combined notification and initiating runs, and control modules.
• Data grade. Insulation held to the electrical tolerances addressable panels call for on a signaling line circuit.
• Low-smoke PVC insulation, black, red, brown, and blue. Four distinct colors so each pair keeps its polarity and identity from the panel to the device, with a 0.012 in wall.
• Red low-smoke PVC jacket. Low smoke for the plenum listing, in the standard fire alarm color, so the cable is recognizable in a ceiling space or a junction box years after it's installed.
• Unshielded. The standard construction for notification appliance and initiating device circuits, and the easier one to terminate.
• 300 V, 75 °C. The ratings a power-limited fire alarm circuit calls for.
• 6.27 mm outer diameter. A 0.015 in jacket wall, sized to fit standard fire alarm fittings and connectors.
• UL Listed, RoHS compliant, made in the USA. Also carries the Canadian FT6 plenum flame rating.
• 1000 ft wooden spool. Sequential footage marks on the jacket; put it on a spool stand and it pays out cleanly.

Where It Fits

It suits four-wire smoke and heat detector circuits that need a separate power pair alongside the alarm pair, device runs that carry both a notification circuit and an initiating circuit to the same location, relay and control modules with a control pair and a monitor pair, duct detector and damper control wiring above a plenum ceiling, runs through the plenum ceiling of an office, hotel, hospital, school, or retail floor, long notification appliance circuits with a high count of horns and strobes, signaling line circuits where the panel manufacturer specifies data-grade unshielded cable, and any power-limited fire alarm run where two 14 AWG pairs in one pull save a second cable.

Good to Know

Don't put both legs of a Class A loop in the same cable. NFPA 72 requires the outgoing and return conductors of a Class A circuit to be routed separately so that one fault can't take out both, and a four-conductor cable running out and back defeats that; use it for two different circuits, or for the power and alarm pairs of a four-wire device. Run the voltage-drop calculation before you pick a gauge: a 14 AWG pair is about 5 ohms per 1000 ft round trip, so a notification circuit drawing 1.5 A at the far end of a 300 ft run loses about 2.3 V, and a 2 A load at 400 ft loses about 4 V; past that, step up to 12 AWG. A speaker circuit is figured on impedance and wattage rather than current, using the amplifier manufacturer's tables. Plenum-rated cable is for the air-handling space, not for inside the ductwork itself, which the NEC doesn't allow for any fire alarm cable. If the ceiling isn't a plenum, the riser-rated 14/4 does the same job for less. If the route shares a ceiling space with VFDs, large motors, or broadcast equipment, a shielded cable adds a foil shield and drain wire. The cable is listed for fire alarm circuits under Article 760, and the AHJ has the final say on using it for anything else, so if it's going on a security, intercom, or control circuit, check first. Keep fire alarm cable separate from power conductors in raceways and boxes, as the code requires for power-limited circuits. Plenum compounds are stiffer than ordinary PVC and four 14 AWG solids under one jacket stiffen it further, so give it a generous bend radius, use device terminals rated for it, and size the backboxes accordingly. The jacket isn't UV stabilized or rated for wet locations or burial, so an outdoor device should be fed through conduit or from a cable rated for it.

Specifications

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