How to Install a Low Voltage Cable

Low-voltage cables come in many different sizes, shapes and colors.

Low voltage cabling typically includes network (Cat5 & Cat6) cables, alarm cables, audio and video cables. This category also includes outdoor rated low-voltage cable for landscape lighting. Depending upon where you live you may be required to be licensed or obtain a permit to install low-voltage cable. Licensed or not, it is always a good policy to follow the NEC (National Electric Code) guidelines when placing low-voltage cable. Whether you are connecting computers in your home, placing outdoor speakers on your patio or using low-voltage lighting to enhance your landscape, there are some general installation guidelines that should always be followed.

Instructions

1. Use the proper low-voltage cable for your specific application. For example, low-voltage lighting cables are rated for indoor or outdoor use. The outdoor rated cable has been manufactured to be buried outside and to survive the elements. Another example is placing low-voltage cable in the plenum space above a drop ceiling. Any cables placed in this area must be plenum rated. This means that the cables have been manufactured to be fire resistant and smoke retardant.

2. Keep your low-voltage cables physically separated from the 110 VAC power cables. Even if there is room inside the same conduit, never mix low voltage cables with the electrical cables in your house or office. You may group different types of low voltage cables together, such as Cat5 sharing the same conduit as coaxial or two-conductor audio wire.

3. Protect the low voltage cables with the use of conduit, molding behind-the-wall placement. These low voltage cables do not carry enough power to present a safety hazard, but they should always be protected. Potential sources of damage are damage vacuum cleaners, pets chewing on them or being pinched in doorways. Lose cables lying on the floor are just waiting to trip somebody walking by.

4. Place the cables in conduits or molding or through holes in walls prior to placing connectors on the cables. It is much easier to run these cables without connectors.

Tips & Warnings

• Even though co-locating dissimilar low voltage cables in the same conduit or molding does not create a safety hazard, there a chance of interference from one cable to the next via radio frequency interference (RFI) or electromagnetic frequency interference (EFI). An example would be speaker wires picking up interference from an adjacent alarm cable which causes poor audio quality from the speaker itself.

References

• Outdoor Lighting: Installing Outdoor Low-Voltage Lighting Systems
• Easy2DIY: Installing Low-Voltage Lighting
• Crutchfield: In Wall Wiring Guide

Resources

• Mecklenburg: Electrical Permitting Requirements for Low-Voltage Wiring
• Server Fault: Is a Low-Voltage License Needed to Install Network Cable?
• Frost Electric: YouTube Video