Simon Lewis Posted June 2, 2010 Share Posted June 2, 2010 100V speaker lines are power delivery You must have some seriously beefy 100V line power amps then! Here's a quote from when the Lodestar control on a 3 pin 110V plug was a hot issue... The HSE has noted that although both EN 60204-1 & EN 60204-32 preclude the use of EN 60309-2 CEE-form plug & socket connectors in control applications (as they are mains connectors), there may be justifiable reasons for using such connectors providing that the earth pin is not used for any purpose other than as a protective conductor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Do 100V line systems require double insulated cable to meet any standard or is it just good practise? I might be upgrading an install that currently has some old figure of 8 speaker cable at ground level. My instinct is to replace it, probably with 2 core mains flex at 1.5mm so if they do decide to upgrade to low impedance in future, the cable's already sorted (about a 20m run in a church) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I haven't got my regs at hand, but I believe that above 50V is the deciding factor.Given that you may use it for low Z purposes later, it seems sensible to do this. If 2 core mains works mechanically, then fine, but Canford do a useful reduced diameter 1.5mm^2 speaker cable that is handy for installation work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Having thought of it like that, anything over 50V ac is not SELV and so needs greater precautions; which may even extend to putting 100V speaker cable in separate trunking to line cables. Another part of the install was done using Cat 3 phone cable for 100v speakers; it is a bit smaller than twin flex but it really doesn't seem right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 ....which may even extend to putting 100V speaker cable in separate trunking to line cables. ...or putting it in a separate compartment in the same trunking. Some circuit categories should be separated by a given distance. I had a lengthy, erm, debate with an installer who was going to run mic, loop and mains in one piece of trunking. My advice to the Diocese Advisory Committee was that it didn't represent good practice. The installer told all and sundry he'd been doing it this way for 25 years with no problems, and I was clueless (or something slightly more Anglo Saxon).In the end, the church architect quoted BS7671 and the installer had to shell out for a second run of trunking. Seems quite petty now, but it was quite heated at the time ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 We took a decision to go down Simon's Speakon route simply because we could identify at a glance ours from kit used by others on mixed sites. Very useful when asking a PA guy to remove his sticky mitts from our top condition horns and take his own rather less salubrious equipment away with him. In Anglo-Saxon obviously! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundspider Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Don't know how he didn't run into problems - I was taught that for runs greater than 3m you need at least 1m separation of mic and loop cables (not that I stick to that religiously I have to say), never mind mains. 2 core mains flex works great for 100V by the way and last I checked was much cheaper than speaker cable (and it works for low impedence too) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 However .... isn't one of the great advantages of 100V systems that the cable can be very low cross section, and hence, cheap. 100V systems tend to be designed for distance, so using big chunky speaker cabling is a major cost. Drums of cheap speaker cable of the hi-fi type is almost disposable. Vivian Capel's book tended to use the twisted type of cable - often used in ceiling pendants - and I remember when I was 16 running yards of this stuff around a holiday centre to distribute the "Good morning campers" stuff. We used his safety pin trick, plus some tape - and it worked fine. The boss reusing much of it with a blob of the soldering iron to seal the holes when the pin was removed. 100V temporary systems just need simplicity and speed. I can't really see the need for much expense in connectors - because you string the cable up, and chop it off to length. Hiding a spare 10m of decent cable at the top of a pole seems a bit messy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I've always used standard mains flex for 100V line systems. I also install it as if it's mains, since you can get a significant electric shock from a 100V line system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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