Making a snake; shield question

[dmoes]

I need to make a snake about 90 ft long and 16 channels.

I came across come cable that has 16 pairs. each pair foil shielded
this is high quality stuff and seems perfect for the use. Here is my question. the entire bundle has an outer braided shield that is insulated from everything else.
my question is regarding the outer shield. should it be left to float, grounded at one end or wired to the ground of each connector or grounded to the building ground. keep in mind that each pair already has its own foil shield that is to be connected to the connector ground. I guess this shield is akin to running the snake though metal conduit and how it should be grounded.

 

[DuckJordan]

I would think that it should be connected to the stage box and left free at the fan end. Is your source online as it would be much easier to find out if it would work if we could see what your are talking about.

 

[Chris15]

What level of abuse do you expect this to withstand? Foil shields are really designed more for installs than for the abuse a core gets being rolled out each night or in use on stage...

Unless you are in a hostile RF environment, I would leave the outer shield floating. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT gang all the grounds together and connect with the outer. Common grounding is just poor form to reduce the number if pins you need in a multi and renders your cable hostile to AES and liable to other audio badness.

 

[WooferHound]

Do not leave it floating.
Ground one end to any electrical or building ground.
Do not ground both ends as this can cause ground loops.

 

[dmoes]

Thanks for all your advice.

the cable is very similar to Belden 1821R 010500 except addition to the outer shield foil it has a outer braid and an extra layer polyester tape between the outer foil shield and the bundled pairs. the twist per foot and guage of the pairs are the same as far as I can measure and tinned copper conductors.

the installation is to be permanent and will not be moved around. so the foil/polester shield should be fine.

I guess I will ground one end to the electrical ground and give that a try. we do have RF problems here we are close to a local AM and FM transmitter site and Ive listened to many hockey games over the ClearCom. Go Leafs! and God bless Fer-rites.