18/6 Shielded Riser Security Alarm Cable - CMR/CL3R Rated, 7 Strand Copper, 1000ft Gray

This is the six-conductor shielded riser cable for the busier devices on a security or access control system: six 18 AWG stranded bare copper conductors, each a different color, under an overall aluminum foil shield and a gray PVC jacket listed CL3R under NEC Article 725 for Class 3 power-limited circuits (and by the code's substitution rules for Class 2 as well) and CMR under Article 800 for communications. Six conductors means three circuits in one pull, and the shield is for the ones that carry data: a card reader with power, a Wiegand or RS-485 data pair, and an LED or tamper line; a keypad with power, a bus pair, and a tamper; an intercom station with power, audio, and a door-release pair. 18 AWG is heavy enough to carry the power leg a long way, and the 7-strand conductors bend around a wall cavity and land in a terminal block more easily than solid wire.

CL3R and CMR cover the vertical runs between floors of a multi-story building and every ordinary in-wall and in-ceiling run that isn't a return-air plenum. The cable is ETL Listed and RoHS compliant, and it comes on a 1000 ft wooden spool with sequential footage marks on the jacket.

Features

• Riser rated two ways. CL3R under NEC Article 725 and CMR under Article 800, so it's listed for riser shafts, vertical runs between floors, and general in-wall and in-ceiling use on security, control, and communications circuits, and the CL3R listing covers Class 2 circuits under the code's substitution rules.
• Six 18 AWG stranded bare copper conductors. Three circuits in one pull, with about half the loop resistance of 22 AWG, on 7-strand conductors that bend around a wall cavity and seat in a terminal block without fighting.
• Overall aluminum foil shield. 100% coverage against induced noise from lighting, motor, and power circuits sharing the riser or the wall, for the reader and keypad data conductors in the bundle.
• Six distinct colors. Black, red, white, green, brown, and blue, so every circuit is identifiable at both ends without a meter.
• PVC insulation and jacket. A 0.010 in insulation wall on each conductor and a 0.015 in jacket, flexible and easy to strip.
• Gray jacket. Reads as general-purpose low-voltage in a wall or a tray, and stays distinct from red fire alarm and blue data cable.
• 300 V, 75 °C. The ratings a Class 2 or Class 3 circuit calls for.
• 5.84 mm outer diameter. Sized to fit standard low-voltage fittings and connectors.
• ETL Listed, RoHS compliant.
• 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 card readers and keypads on access control doors that need power, a data pair, and an LED or tamper line, security keypads and touchscreens on a panel bus with a tamper loop, intercom and entry-phone stations with power, audio, and door release, motion detectors and glass-break sensors with power, alarm, and tamper, riser runs between a security panel and a floor's zone expander or reader controller, and any multi-circuit low-voltage run through the walls and risers of an apartment building, office, or store where the ceiling space isn't a return-air plenum and the route is electrically noisy.

Good to Know

Ground the shield's drain at the panel or controller end only and tape it back at the device end; a shield grounded at both ends becomes a loop that picks up the noise it was meant to reject. Check the reader or panel manufacturer's wiring guide before you pull, since Wiegand and RS-485 runs have maximum lengths at 18 AWG and some specify a twisted pair rather than the untwisted conductors in a multi-conductor cable. Run the voltage-drop calculation on the pair that carries power: an 18 AWG pair is about 13 ohms per 1000 ft round trip, so a 12 V reader drawing 200 mA at 300 ft loses about 0.8 V, and a 12 V strike drawing 0.5 A at 200 ft loses about 1.3 V; keep a strike or maglock off the same cable as a reader if you can, and if you can't, put the data pair farthest from the power pair. Keep the circuits in their classes: Class 2 and Class 3 circuits can use this cable, but a Class 1 circuit can't, and the NEC requires power-limited wiring to stay separated from power conductors in raceways and boxes. Stranded conductors want a ferrule or a proper fold-back before they go under a screw terminal; a stray strand is the short that takes a zone into trouble. CL3R and CMR cover risers and general use but not return-air plenums; a run through a plenum ceiling needs a CL3P cable. If the route is quiet, the unshielded riser cables do the same job for less and terminate faster. The jacket isn't UV stabilized or rated for wet locations or burial, so an outdoor reader or keypad should be fed through conduit or from a cable rated for it.

Specifications

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