cable length distribution in rental inventory?

[htroberts]

This must have been discussed, but I couldn’t find it.

For those of you who have general rental inventory, what’s your distribution of cable lengths that goes out/gets used most often?

Like, if you were going to put 10,000‘ of cable into inventory, how many of what lengths would you break it into? I’m thinking of single-circuit power or DMX, not multis.

It’s only a thought experiment, not something I’m actually planning.

 

[aeh20s]

Places I've worked generally have had 5', 10', 15', 25', 50', and 100' lengths. That's for power or DMX. I couldn't tell you how many of each, and it's too early for me to even think about doing the math, but that is what I've most commonly seen.

 

[derekleffew]

Like, if you were going to put 10,000‘ of cable into inventory, how many of what lengths would you break it into? I’m thinking of single-circuit power or DMX, not multis.

Ah, but one really must factor in six circuit multi if it's a possibility. A standard 11' break-out eliminates six cables of the <25' categories, and six cables of the >50' as well. But assuming we're not using any multi. Also assuming we're talking a conventional rig with conventional and dimmer racks, not LEDs where you power ten units from one circuit.

Places I've worked generally have had 5', 10', 15', 25', 50', and 100' lengths.

I'd cut 15' and add 75', so
5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100. Next I'd write an Excel spreadsheet showing how much of the 10K total raw cable. "Usage Factor" Total raw feet divided by length.
5 - 2000
10 - 1000
25 - 400
50 - 200
75 - 134
100 - 100
Play with those numbers awhile. My first thought is "Maybe 10K is too much gross cable." For power anyway--might be just right for LED units. Oh wait, we're not making all that cable, that's just the potential maximum of a specific length. But perhaps 10K raw cable is too much, and we'd be fine with 5K pieces? Half the mating pairs as well.

Other factors have to consider: The venues themselves (10k seat arenas or 50 seat AEA-waiver theatres?). As well as the designers: Do they like to distribute lights on long straight trusses, or put a smattering here, there, and everywhere?

It may be a pleasant thought experiment for a rainy day, but in the end I get frustrated at the lack of answers before I've even cut my first cable off the spool.

 

[Amiers]

There sadly isn’t a standard. But we do 5-15 25 50 100. This is across all our cable with the exception of Soca which has a 125’. Most of our cable cases come with a color chart to say what length is what color.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

lighting the @cbrandt signal for this one.

 

[soundlight]

Our inventory is heavily skewed since we're a touring concert shop, but we have 3', 5', 10', 15', 25', 50', 75', and 100' of DMX; all of that except 3' for Edison, 3/5/10/15/25 for Powercon and True1 jumps. We have probably well over 200 5' DMX whereas we probably only have a few dozen 50s. The longer the cable, the fewer of it we have, since we send out so many pre-rig cart and GT truss packages as well as deck packages where the fixtures just live super close together. I find both 15s and 75s are super useful lengths to have - if the lights are placed 10' apart, you need a 15' cable, and if it's only a bit longer than a 50 you don't want to have to reach for a 100 every time.

 

[cbrandt]

We use 5, 10, 15, 25, 50, and 100 as standard lengths. Depending on cable type, we will also carry 75s, 150, and 300.

Bias your count towards the small stuff. Most modern fixtures still daisy chain power and data. You won't be running long lengths from your breaks or distribution, because you only need to make it to the closest fixture.

If I was building a new inventory from scratch, the vast bulk of my cable would be true1 and 5-pin dmx, with a solid backbone of socapex, Ethernet, and camlok appropriate for my distribution. A bit of 5-15 (Edison) will always be necessary, but can largely be handled by adapters, breakout boxes, etc.

Don't neglect your twofers and adapters. They get you out of so much trouble.

I have so much legacy cable that is the result of being in business for nearly 50 years. I'd trade more than half of it for true1 and I'd sleep better at night.

All of the above is based on your premise of a portable rental inventory and that this is in the lighting forum. That all goes out the window for audio. Video is getting surprisingly close to lighting for needs, but even more extreme to shorties, and replace dmx with Ethernet.

 

[RonaldBeal]

Touring? or corporate/events/? or Television/streaming/broadcast?
Touring tends to have more short runs Television tends to have a larger proportion of long runs, and C&E somewhere in between.
My general rules of thumb are based on fixture qty:
per 1 light:
1x 1'-3' DMX & power (for LED pixel fixtures with passthroughs I.E. JDC-1, x4Bar20, PixelLines, ...)
1x 5' DMX & power
1x 10' DMX & power
0.5 x 15' DMX & power
0.25 x 25' DMX & power
0.1 x 50' DMX & power
0.05 x 100' DMX & power
0.25 x Socopex breakout (and corresponding rack output)
0.25x 100' Soco
0.12x 50' Soco
0.12 x 25' Soco
0.06 x 10' Soco
0.06 x 150' Soco
0.03 x 125' Soco
Data snakes same as soco.. if DMX home runs, then same qty as soco values.

These numbers are based primairly on touring.
For C&E I would up the15' - 50' range
For TV aI would also up the 50' and 100' range.
Breakout length also modifies this, My numbers are based on short soco breakouts. If you have staggered, or 11' breakouts, the number of 5'-15' power runs you need go down dramatically for tours.


Just one persons perspective.

 

[htroberts]

thanks for all the responses. food for thought.