22/6 AWG Plenum Security Alarm Cable - CMP/CL3P Rated, Shielded, 1000ft White

In an office, school, hospital, or store, the space above the drop ceiling is usually a return-air plenum, and any low-voltage cable that runs through it without conduit has to be plenum rated. This is the six-conductor shielded plenum cable for the sensors, keypads, and readers of a security system in those buildings when the ceiling is electrically noisy: six 22 AWG stranded bare copper conductors, each a different color, under an overall aluminum foil shield with a drain wire and a white low-smoke PVC jacket listed CL3P under NEC Article 725 for Class 3 power-limited circuits (and by the code's substitution rules for Class 2 as well) and CMP under Article 800 for communications. Six conductors means three circuits in one pull: a card reader with power, a data pair, and an LED or tamper line; a keypad on a four-wire bus with a tamper pair; a motion detector with power, alarm, and tamper. The shield is for the data and audio conductors in that bundle: a reader pair or a keypad bus that has to share a ceiling space with lighting ballasts, VFDs, and HVAC motors picks up less noise under foil than it would bare. 22 AWG is the gauge most sensor and keypad wiring is specified at, and the 7-strand conductors bend around a ceiling and land in a terminal block more easily than solid wire.

CL3P and CMP cover return-air plenums, drop ceilings, and raised floors, and every riser and general-purpose run below that. The cable is ETL 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

• Plenum rated two ways. CL3P under NEC Article 725 and CMP under Article 800, so it's listed for return-air plenums, drop ceilings, and raised floors on security, control, and communications circuits, and for every riser and general-purpose run below that; the CL3P listing covers Class 2 circuits under the code's substitution rules.
• Six 22 AWG stranded bare copper conductors. Three circuits in one pull, at the gauge most sensor, keypad, and reader wiring is specified at, on 7-strand conductors that bend around a ceiling and seat in a terminal block without fighting.
• Overall aluminum foil shield with drain wire. 100% coverage against induced noise from ballasts, VFDs, and HVAC equipment sharing the ceiling space, for the reader and keypad data conductors in the bundle, with a drain wire to land at the panel.
• Six distinct colors. Black, red, white, green, brown, and blue, so every circuit is identifiable at both ends without a meter.
• Low-smoke PVC insulation and jacket. The low-smoke compounds a plenum listing requires, with a 0.015 in jacket wall over the shield.
• White jacket. Reads as general-purpose low-voltage in a ceiling 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.
• 4.52 mm outer diameter. Slim enough to bundle by the dozen and fish through a tight ceiling.
• ETL 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 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, motion detectors and glass-break sensors with power, alarm, and tamper routed through a ceiling full of ballasts and HVAC equipment, intercom and entry-phone stations with power, audio, and a door-release pair, RS-485 and panel bus runs where the manufacturer accepts a shielded untwisted pair, and any multi-circuit low-voltage run through a plenum ceiling in an office, school, hospital, hotel, or store where 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, RS-485, and some keypad buses have maximum lengths at 22 AWG or specify a twisted pair, and a foil shield adds capacitance that can shorten the rated run on a high-speed bus. Keep the current light: a 22 AWG pair is about 32 ohms per 1000 ft round trip, so a 12 V reader drawing 200 mA at 300 ft loses about 1.9 V, which is already close to what some readers tolerate; feed strikes, sirens, and anything else that draws real current on an 18 AWG pair and keep this cable for the reader and its data. Keep the circuits in their classes: Class 2 and Class 3 circuits can share this cable, but a Class 1 circuit can't, it isn't a fire alarm cable, 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. Plenum-rated cable is for the air-handling space, not for inside the ductwork itself. If the ceiling isn't a plenum, the shielded 22/6 riser does the same job for less, and if the ceiling space is quiet, the unshielded 22/6 plenum terminates faster. Plenum compounds are stiffer than ordinary PVC, so give it a generous bend radius even though the cable is small. 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