Local custom or standard practice?

JChenault

Well-Known Member
I recently did my first over-hire job as an electrician in DC. There were a few things that were different from my standard practice. I am curious if they are local custom or standard practice.
( To moderators - this might make a good long term question / thread)

1 - The theatre was using socapex receptacles mounted in a raceway for power distribution. You grabbed the socapex connector with pin plugs attached, and plugged it into the connector. My question - what do you call the assembly with the male soca, and the six female pin plugs. The on site crew called in a 'Squid' Is this a standard term?

2 - The ME wanted each externsion cable labeled with the dimmer number on each end of the cable. Again is this standard, or local custom.

Thoughts and experiences?
 
Neither of those things are out of the ordinary. In a different venue the multicable might run directly to a dimmer rack rather than a raceway.

Usually a male multicable to 6 receptacles would be called a "break-out." A female multicable to 6 plugs is called a "break-in."

Labeling each end of a cable is standard practice. In case a connection comes undone, you want to be able to know where it needs to be plugged back in; it may also help with troubleshooting (tracing and replacing a specific cable, or checking that cables are plugged in correctly.) There's really no reason not to do it. Some do it with gaff tape and sharpies, some with a P-Touch printer, or other means. And some will label it with just the dimmer number, while others might include other information (unit number, channel number, or DMX address being likely culprits.) Often the multicable will be labeled with the entire range, e.g., "Multi A - Dim 1 - 6."

Congrats on your first overhire gig!
 
I recently did my first over-hire job as an electrician in DC. There were a few things that were different from my standard practice. I am curious if they are local custom or standard practice.
( To moderators - this might make a good long term question / thread)

1 - The theatre was using socapex receptacles mounted in a raceway for power distribution. You grabbed the socapex connector with pin plugs attached, and plugged it into the connector. My question - what do you call the assembly with the male soca, and the six female pin plugs. The on site crew called in a 'Squid' Is this a standard term?

2 - The ME wanted each externsion cable labeled with the dimmer number on each end of the cable. Again is this standard, or local custom.

Thoughts and experiences?
A - At your age? And on the opposite side of the country?

1 - Squid is neither a common nor proper vernacular jargon. The term is break-in. (In Audioeze, fan-in.)
But I do give props to the local hands (see what I did there?); IT really does look like a squid. Then you get into the male/female squids (aren't all squids asexual?). Does male refer to the Socapex connector or the stage pins? I'm guessing you were only dealing with break-in s, so not an issue that day.

2 - It's a matter of taste, but I'd prefer to use the channel # (in parenthesis of course, thanks forever LightWright!) for all a circuit's cable's end labels.

B - Thoughts and experiences? Sounds like it was okay for you. Do you think you'll stick with this lighting thing for a while?
One of the rewards of a long career is to walk into a strange new venue, turn off one's brain, and remember to DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD. Of course, all the while judging them because "If I were in charge, we'd be done by now."
 
1. Break out, Fan Out are the most common terms I hear, "squid" and "spider" much less common, but have heard both in use as well. (and "6-way" I hear some in Europe and Australia)

2. Standard to label both ends (or more precisely, EVERY connector, including intermediate ones.)
 
1. Break out, Fan Out are the most common terms I hear, "squid" and "spider" much less common, but have heard both in use as well. (and "6-way" I hear some in Europe and Australia)

2. Standard to label both ends (or more precisely, EVERY connector, including especially intermediate ones.)

v1.1 for emphasis. 🎬
 
We call ours Fan outs and Fan in’s. And yeah some people like to label some dont. It depends on the person calling the shots.
 
We call ours Fan outs and Fan in’s. And yeah some people like to label some dont. It depends on the person calling the shots.
Do you stock all Fan Ins = length and Fan Outs = or increments of 18 to 24 inches?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
I recently did my first over-hire job as an electrician in DC. There were a few things that were different from my standard practice. I am curious if they are local custom or standard practice.
( To moderators - this might make a good long term question / thread)

1 - The theatre was using socapex receptacles mounted in a raceway for power distribution. You grabbed the socapex connector with pin plugs attached, and plugged it into the connector. My question - what do you call the assembly with the male soca, and the six female pin plugs. The on site crew called in a 'Squid' Is this a standard term?

2 - The ME wanted each externsion cable labeled with the dimmer number on each end of the cable. Again is this standard, or local custom.

Thoughts and experiences?
The device has an official name and definition in the NEC:

Breakout Assembly.
An adapter used to connect a multipole connector containing two or more branch circuits to multiple individual branch-circuit connectors.

and a section about its allowable construction and use:

520.68(A)(6) Breakouts.

Listed, hard usage (junior hard service) cords shall be permitted in breakout assemblies where all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The cords are utilized to connect between a single multipole connector containing two or more branch circuits and multiple 2-pole, 3-wire connectors.
(2) The longest cord in the breakout assembly does not exceed 6.0 m (20 ft).
(3) The breakout assembly is protected from physical damage by attachment over its entire length to a pipe, truss, tower, scaffold, or other substantial support structure.
(4) All branch circuits feeding the breakout assembly are protected by overcurrent devices rated at not over 20 amperes.

ST
 
The device has an official name and definition in the NEC: ...
No love in the NEC for break-in ?

Woo hoo, zipcord and two-pin plugs it is!
or:
2x60A-Soca.jpg
 
I recently did my first over-hire job as an electrician in DC. There were a few things that were different from my standard practice. I am curious if they are local custom or standard practice.
( To moderators - this might make a good long term question / thread)

1 - The theatre was using socapex receptacles mounted in a raceway for power distribution. You grabbed the socapex connector with pin plugs attached, and plugged it into the connector. My question - what do you call the assembly with the male soca, and the six female pin plugs. The on site crew called in a 'Squid' Is this a standard term?

2 - The ME wanted each externsion cable labeled with the dimmer number on each end of the cable. Again is this standard, or local custom.

Thoughts and experiences?
As someone from the DC area, calling them squids isn't even that common. Unless it is something that has sprung up in circles that I don't run in. That could just be a specific thing that they use in that space.
 
I believe the term squid is something the film/tv folks use often for breakouts.
Must not be that often, as the term doesn't appear in Harry C. Box's Set Lighting Technician's Handbook. The book does discuss break-out s and break-in s.

Annnd,
I learned a new term, squeezer.

Show of hands, who can define that WITHOUT consulting the wiki?

... are gender agnostic on purpose.
Purposefully ambiguous and vague, perhaps.

@derekleffew Is your photo the single phase 208 or 240 volt version??
220, 221; whatever it takes.
 
Knew a guy that labeled the multi's with each half of a Steven Segall movie. When the titles were correct, so was the wiring! ("Go check number 4 on 'Under Siege'!")
 
Knew a guy that labeled the multi's with each half of a Steven Segall movie. When the titles were correct, so was the wiring! ("Go check number 4 on 'Under Siege'!")

That issue of breakout and trunk cable marking is going to become even more important in 2023, when the NEC adds a new section in section 520.68: Special-Purpose Multi-Circuit Cable Systems. There will be seven requirements for these systems, among them:

"All multi-pole, multi-circuit connectors shall be clearly marked with the voltage of the branch circuits serviced by the connector."

ST
 

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