Lifespan of SO cable?

[BobHealey]

I've been going through a giant pile of SO (no additional letters) neoprene 12/3 stage pin cord of various lengths, and have been finding that although the outer jacket is fine, the insulation on the inner conductors is crumbly, cracking, and disintegrating nears the ends.

About how long should one expect this cable to last? No idea on the purchase date, but its new enough to be grounded, but old enough that its all done with the old square stage pin connectors that need the ring terminals to assemble.

 

[Wood4321]

I think it will vary per the initial quality of the cable, how it was handled, and the conditions it was kept in..
I have some multi cable now that is just over 15 years old, that the outer jackets are starting to fail. But My cable is used in a touring environment, so I would expect my cables to not last as long as in a theatre.
Just as a guess I would say around 15-20 years sounds about right? (But with no actual information, just speculation)

 

[Jay Ashworth]

What would be interesting to know is this colon if you could a foot off of the end of one of these cables where the conductor insulation is crumbling, what's the condition of it back that far?

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[Jay Ashworth]

"Is this: if you"

Damn tapatalk...

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[gafftapegreenia]

The inner jackets degrade faster in the presence of oxygen, hence they get brittle at the cut, open ends. If you ever find badly terminated cable with lots of exposed inner conductor, it's amazing how fast it degrades. So your cable might be ok, but to be in the safe side, I'd scrap it if given the choice and budget allowed. Usually cutting back a foot works but I'll never forget the time I cut back foot after foot till nothing was left. If cables are really old, not only may the inner insulation be breaking down, but usage also slowly breaks the small strands of copper in each conductor.

Cable life varies. I've seen ancient two conductor rubber jacket S cable doing great and new SOOW in sad shape.

And for the sake of semantics, you can get new style 2P&G that use ring terminals as well. (Although I'm slowly being won over by ferrule). The old square bodies use FLAG ring terminals.


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[LavaASU]

I would cut back the cable until you get good inner insulation. If there isn't any scrap it. If you find good stuff I'd use it.

 

[BobHealey]

I'm looking at probably at least 1000 feet of the stuff - the pile which has been stored in a shed for last 3 years since a facilities move was probably a 3ft high pile. Saving some of that would be good, if time permits (deadline to get shed cleared before bulldozers come and clear it).

 

[LavaASU]

I'm looking at probably at least 1000 feet of the stuff - the pile which has been stored in a shed for last 3 years since a facilities move was probably a 3ft high pile. Saving some of that would be good, if time permits (deadline to get shed cleared before bulldozers come and clear it).

Move it and worry about checking it later?

 

[JD]

As posted above, air is the cause. Pop open the connectors, is the insulation on the conductors brittle? Cut the cable about 6 inches back from the connector. Remove the outer jacket. What is the insulation like there? Generally, the jacket on SO does not air rot, but whatever they use to treat it, they don't use it on the conductor insulation. I've got a couple of lengths of 6/4 SO that date from 1979. Yet to see any degradation of the jacket. When I used to make them I would always put heat-shrink around the conductors in the connector. Cut them back about 10 years ago, but even then there was no real sign of insulation problems. Just thought it was time.

 

[RickR]

Of course you could just recycle the pile and save the money for buying what you really need. That much copper probably amounts a significant sum.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Of course you could just recycle the pile and save the money for buying what you really need. That much copper probably amounts a significant sum.

A much smaller sum being dirty copper. A bigger sum if all stripped.


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[ship]

A good indicator I have found for dry rotted, or over age cable is looking at the outer jacket itself. By code, if the markings especially if printed on the cable are no longer able to be seen - it’s bad in no longer being able to read what it is. But more onto the dry rotted cable, if it starts to get shiny in appearance instead of dull in outer rubber like jacket, most likely it isn’t serviceable any longer. This I think is what you are seeing especially at the ends but most likely all thru the cable developing. Once bad it isn’t worth saving sections of it.
Ibid above and agree with if a SJ cable with hard usage can average 7 years, a SO cable 15 though there is lots of examples dependant upon usage of longer life. Certainly by 20 years I would look to replace and think what is recommended to the determent of most end user fundings. Seems like you date your cable... great idea., though the above to look for will be quicker in inspection than having to take apart and cut to inspect.

 

[BillESC]

I'm still using cables I made in the mid to late 70's for the Pendergrass tour.

 

[BobHealey]

On a random selection of a pair of 50's, cutting the insulation at various points up to 15 feet in from the end showed the neutral insulation degraded to point of crumbs, so off to the recycler it goes. Probably well over 1000 feet too , but I don't think it can be safely used. On the other hand, I know know what 5 gallons of old school stage pin connectors looks like. Found some nice gems in the pile like a 2 conductor cable with an ungrounded male and a grounded female connector, a cable where both ends were missing the cover plate and instead just gaff covering the terminals, and 1 where the hole for the hot socket was charred, and the socket was missing. The other two sockets were blackened on the wiring side. Also found a lot of cables with H/N reverses.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

On a random selection of a pair of 50's, cutting the insulation at various points up to 15 feet in from the end showed the neutral insulation degraded to point of crumbs, so off to the recycler it goes. Probably well over 1000 feet too , but I don't think it can be safely used. On the other hand, I know know what 5 gallons of old school stage pin connectors looks like. Found some nice gems in the pile like a 2 conductor cable with an ungrounded male and a grounded female connector, a cable where both ends were missing the cover plate and instead just gaff covering the terminals, and 1 where the hole for the hot socket was charred, and the socket was missing. The other two sockets were blackened on the wiring side. Also found a lot of cables with H/N reverses.

Oh man, I have BEEN THERE. Many times.

Hope you saved some of the older/more unique Stagepin connectors for posterity.

 

[BobHealey]

Oh man, I have BEEN THERE. Many times.

Hope you saved some of the older/more unique Stagepin connectors for posterity.

I've got 5 gallons of salvaged stage pin from the old cable to go on new cable. Just put them in a 5 gallon bucket as I removed them from the old cable.

 

[ship]

I'm still using cables I made in the mid to late 70's for the Pendergrass tour.

My figures for average service life of a cable was based on average stock cable with hard show usage for replacement estiments in lifespan. This includes "qualified tech people" removing it from looms by way of slitting the jacket, perhaps the cable getting a bit too much water or heat etc. in all kinds of usage factors. Heck... you and I don't store our cable in the catacombs of a theater with lime from the brick work coming down on them and humidity having a factor. Lots of factors in cable life.

I totally agree that cable can last longer, I have lots of it about... but I would check up on your own if that old. No joke, just a service call might be recommended. At very least, your and my style or standards of wiring have changed over the years, and the plugs installed might need an upgrade. That or with expansion and contraction, and or use and cord grip type stuff, it might be time to at least cut back and re-terminate.

Like what I do these days for standards, I'm sure that from the 70's could stand a look at if not opened up since also.