sjoow for truss mounted luminaires

[tbone461]

Hello.

Thanks for allowing me to join your forum. I found your site by surfing the web looking for insight from stage lighting pros regarding the use of sjoow cable for wiring to truss mounted luminaires.
I'm an electrical contractor, so most of the installations I've done used permanent wiring methods.
I'm also a musician, so I've seen all kinds of different lighting and portable wiring...some kosher and some I wouldn't go near.
After finding your site I began reading other subjects and it looks like you folks are pretty sharp.

My quandry is that I don't see where NEC article 520 specifically calls out a wiring method for luminaires mounted to a truss that is suspended from the ceiling. I've seen SJOOW used directly from the PDU, up to the rafters and across to the truss and it didn't appear to be subject to physical damage, but it seems like the default wiring method would be to use extra hard service cable instead of the junior hard service cable.
As a contractor, I'm the kind of guy who is more concerned about a correct and compliant installation, not just what I can get away with, so that's the type of insight I'm looking for.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[DuckJordan]

the correct cable would be SOO or SOOW, i'm not sure of the NEC article but it applies to temporary staging.

 

[MNicolai]

the correct cable would be SOO or SOOW, i'm not sure of the NEC article but it applies to temporary staging.

In my NEC2k8 copy, it's section 520.68(1) that states:

Flexible conductors, including cable extensions, used to supply portable stage equipment shall be listed extra-hard usage cords or cables.

Table 400.4 shows the following cable types to be "Extra-Hard Usage":

+ SO/SOW/SOO/SOOW
+ ST/STW/STO/STOW/STOO/STOOW

 

[DaveySimps]

Welcome to CB! I moved your thread to the proper forum so it is posted in the right place.

~Dave