Marking wires

[Ed]

Hello Everyone,

As I will soon be starting on my overhead and there will be a plethora of wiring I'm wondering what everyone is using to identify their wires . I plan on bundling my wiring and therefore would like to identify each end of each wire in case there is a need for troubleshooting. These will be all 22 and 24 gauge, so quite small. Any ideas welcome.

[jackpilot]

First of all, wires color
You will need a few of them
I used FDS color coding (yellow red purple blue and black)
As far as I remember:
black for ground/neg
yellow for 12v
red for 5V
purple for inputs (switches)
white for outputs (annunciators)
Sysboard software identifies which contact on the card does what, so no need to identify physically each wire.
I also use small plastic tags for power connections from the PSUs.



And again if you use FDS stuff with the latest connectors, they sell a wiring harness which allows simple plugging of everything.
Mine is the previous generation and is a rats nest. 

Last thing always insert 2 or 3 spare wires of odd color (green or pink) in each bundle. Can be handy later.

[Trevor Hale]

I find it's more fun when you don't mark anything.  Causes a lot of entertainment when your trying to fix something.  Can even result in a complete rewire for those times when you get really angry and take the side cutters to everything.


Lol on the lighter side colour coding is a must. Better than labels that will most assuredly fall off when you don't want them to.


Trev

[Ed]

Jack, Trevor,

Thanks for your inputs. I definitely will be using color coded wiring. Most of the cards I will be using are Pokeys Ethernet as want to steer away from USB. I guess I can keep track of which port does what.  I do have a pretty good spreadsheet from Ron in the Prosim Forum that can document each port used. Trevor..   lol..  I've been there before Re:  sidecutters

Great picture Jack. That one's going in my overhead archive. Nice and neat. I have one of those coming in the mail. What size fuses are you using?

[Flying_Fox]

I partly followed the same color scheme (yellow/red/black/purple/white), however since I use Pokeys cards and DB25 cables I found that it is easier to use ready made flat colored wire sets to connect switches/annunciators to DB25 connectors.

Like this:










Nick

[jackpilot]

I have two of these "buses" in the OVH besides the relay card, one 12v one 5V.
Fuses are 1/2/5 watts depending



Nick: Very neat way to do it.

[Flying_Fox]

Thanks Jack!

It looked scary in test mode:



but just like this when ready:   

[Atomic_Sheep]

Good info guys, appreciate it.

[Ed]

Excellent information. Thanks everyone.

[navymustang]

Another technique that I use at work is heat shrink labels using a Dymo label writer. Makes it so easy to identify cables. But it can be time consuming.


https://buyheatshrink.com/dymo-label-writer/

[bernard S]

there ya go 

[jackpilot]

Neat!   

[ifeliciano]

I have a Rhino 6000 label maker and they make a heat shrink tubing label cartridge for it. Worked well on my CNC controller.

[Sam Llorca]

This is a nice tool for labeling wires.

[Trevor Hale]

Sam, yes that's a very nice label maker..  Those are the kinds that you can get the heat shrink for.. 

[blueskydriver]

Do you put in the actual heat shrink and print directly on that and is it one piece at a time or is it a roll, sort of like the label roll?

Where did you buy this Sam?

John

[bernard S]

before you all get excited   this is a very very expensive option .. my suggestion get wire printing machine

[Ed]

before you all get excited   this is a very very expensive option .. my suggestion get wire printing machine

Yep. My 600 bucks is going into sim parts

[navymustang]

How about $123 USD plus the tubing.

And it can be used for labeling everything else in the sim also.

[Garys]

Yep, I use the Dymo Rhino 4200. Super cheap and works great with the heatshrink tube cartridges.

Gary

[Ed]

Ahh.. I was looking at the 6000. I'll take a look at the 4200.

[jackpilot]

Yep, I use the Dymo Rhino 4200. Super cheap and works great with the heatshrink tube cartridges.

Gary

Where did you get it Gary
US or CAN

[Garys]

CAN, I got mine from a local electronics store but amazon.ca should have them under $100.

[Ed]

CAN, I got mine from a local electronics store but amazon.ca should have them under $100.

Hi Gary,

The 4200 does look affordable. A lot of my wiring is 22 and 24 gauge. I'm wondering if the shrink tube for this unit would work on small gauge wiring.

[navymustang]

You can buy different size tubing. I have used down to 22 gauge with no problems.