22/8 AWG Plenum Security Alarm Cable - CMP/CL3P Rated, Unshielded, 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 eight-conductor plenum cable for the busiest sensors, keypads, and readers of a security system in those buildings, and for the panel home runs that feed them: eight 22 AWG stranded bare copper conductors, each a different color, under a white low-smoke PVC jacket that carries the plenum listings. It's rated CL3P under NEC Article 725 for Class 3 power-limited circuits (and by the code's substitution rules for Class 2 as well), CMP under Article 800 for communications, and FPLP under Article 760 for power-limited fire alarm circuits. Eight conductors means four circuits in one pull: a door with a reader's data pair, a door contact, a request-to-exit, and a spare; a keypad on a four-wire bus with a tamper pair and a spare; a motion detector and a glass-break sensor, each with power, alarm, and tamper, sharing one cable back to the panel; four zones home-run from one location. 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.

It's unshielded, which is the right construction for contacts, sensor loops, and the low-speed buses most panels use, and it keeps the cable slim and the price down. 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 in a 1000 ft pull box with sequential footage marks on the jacket.

Features

• Plenum rated three ways. CL3P under NEC Article 725, CMP under Article 800, and FPLP under Article 760, so it's listed for return-air plenums, drop ceilings, and raised floors on security, control, communications, and fire alarm circuits alike, and for every riser and general-purpose run below that; the CL3P listing covers Class 2 circuits under the code's substitution rules.
• Eight 22 AWG stranded bare copper conductors. Four circuits in one pull, at the gauge most sensor, keypad, and contact wiring is specified at, on 7-strand conductors that bend around a ceiling and seat in a terminal block without fighting.
• Eight distinct colors. Black, red, white, green, brown, blue, orange, and yellow, so every circuit is identifiable at both ends without a meter.
• Unshielded. The right construction for contacts, sensor loops, and low-speed panel buses, and the easier one to terminate with eight conductors to land.
• Low-smoke PVC insulation and jacket. The low-smoke compounds a plenum listing requires, with a 0.015 in jacket wall.
• 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, Class 3, or power-limited fire alarm circuit calls for.
• 4.34 mm outer diameter. Slim for an eight-conductor cable, easy to bundle and fish through a tight ceiling.
• ETL Listed, RoHS compliant, made in the USA.
• 1000 ft pull box. Sequential footage marks on the jacket; pays out from the box without a spool stand, and the box stacks in a van.

Where It Fits

It suits access control doors that need a reader data pair, a door contact, and a request-to-exit in one pull, security keypads and touchscreens on a four-wire panel bus with a tamper pair, motion detectors and glass-break sensors sharing one home run back to the panel, security panel home runs carrying several zones from a zone expander, intercom and entry-phone stations with power, audio, door release, and a call pair, thermostat and building controls with several inputs above a plenum ceiling, power-limited fire alarm circuits that call for a stranded multi-conductor cable, and any multi-circuit low-voltage run through a plenum ceiling in an office, school, hospital, hotel, or store where one cable can replace four.

Good to Know

Keep the current light. A 22 AWG pair is about 32 ohms per 1000 ft round trip, so a 12 V motion detector drawing 50 mA at 500 ft loses about 0.8 V, which is fine, but a 12 V strike drawing 0.5 A at 200 ft loses about 3.2 V, which isn't; feed strikes, sirens, and anything else that draws real current on an 18 AWG pair and keep this cable for the sensors, the keypads, and the readers. 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 or shielded pair; if the ceiling space is electrically noisy, a shielded plenum cable protects the data conductors. Keep the circuits in their classes: Class 2 and Class 3 circuits can share this cable, but a Class 1 circuit can't, a fire alarm circuit can't share a cable with a security circuit, 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, a riser cable does the same job for less. Plenum compounds are stiffer than ordinary PVC, so give it a generous bend radius and plan the backbox before you pull. The jacket isn't UV stabilized or rated for wet locations or burial, so an outdoor sensor or keypad should be fed through conduit or from a cable rated for it.

Specifications

Usually ships in 1 - 2 business days.