# Number or not number cables before pull?



## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Label both ends with a sharpie, its not difficult.


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## EBFD6 (Aug 17, 2008)

I can't see how not labeling would be a time saver.

If you just pull, terminate, and then label you are wasting a ton of time during testing. You are now going to plug one end of the tester into the jack, and at the patch panel you'll have to hunt for that location. If you have, in your example 70+ cables, this could take way longer than if you had just labeled the cables to begin with.

There is no way I would ever pull 70 cables without labeling.


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## drumnut08 (Sep 23, 2012)

EBFD6 said:


> I can't see how not labeling would be a time saver. If you just pull, terminate, and then label you are wasting a ton of time during testing. You are now going to plug one end of the tester into the jack, and at the patch panel you'll have to hunt for that location. If you have, in your example 70+ cables, this could take way longer than if you had just labeled the cables to begin with. There is no way I would ever pull 70 cables without labeling.


. Absolutely ! Not to mention that where they get punched down on a patch panel will be all over the place as far as rooms and location ! This would be a nightmare !


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## drumnut08 (Sep 23, 2012)

TLinSTL said:


> How does everyone do it? Do you number your lines, pull, and renumber or do you just pull all of your lines, terminate, then label at the plates afterwords? I've always labeled before hand because that's how I was taught, but after a few 70+ data pulls the last few weeks, I'm really thinking numbering at the end could save a ton of time, headache, and keep the IT room install even cleaner.


. Whether it's data cabling , or branch circuit line voltage , not labeling up front is not a time saver . You still need to do it in the end , so where is the time savings ? Keep it simple . Number them 1 -70 and have a key as to what the actual cable number is . Simple number for pulling purposes , real number at punch down location .


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## FrunkSlammer (Aug 31, 2013)

I always label.. because I've wasted so much time when I didn't label.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

My first job I arrived to at my current company was about 600 odd data outlets from 4 different cabinets and not a single one labelled because the other data guy said the electrical apprentices couldnt label them properlly, guess what, they couldnt tone properlly either took us a week to tone out everything at the panel ends then I fitted off and had to change about 10 jacks around in every cabinet. 

These young 'tardo apprentice twinks and 6th and 7th year spazs got given a sharpie not long after I got there "deeeerp I lost my sharpie so I just didnt label them" 

There are some seriously slow kids coming up.


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## gnuuser (Jan 13, 2013)

chewy said:


> My first job I arrived to at my current company was about 600 odd data outlets from 4 different cabinets and not a single one labelled because the other data guy said the electrical apprentices couldnt label them properlly, guess what, they couldnt tone properlly either took us a week to tone out everything at the panel ends then I fitted off and had to change about 10 jacks around in every cabinet.
> 
> These young 'tardo apprentice twinks and 6th and 7th year spazs got given a sharpie not long after I got there "deeeerp I lost my sharpie so I just didnt label them"
> 
> There are some seriously slow kids coming up.


i know what you mean


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## Wired4Life10 (Jul 9, 2011)

Always label. The only times I don't label are for single cable jobs.


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## mikeylikesit5805 (Apr 3, 2012)

Yes, I always label the box, then write on the cable before you pull and after you pull. Then I do a quick wrap with electrical tape in the rack that way I know I have 1A, 1B and so on.


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## ElectricJoeNJ (Feb 24, 2011)

Did a big cabling job recently. 3 patch locations. I numbered wires as I pulled them and wrote on my plans what numbers were at each location. When I got to the drop location I didn't bother relabeling the end unless there was more than one data line there. At each patch panel I numbered the panel and put each wire through the hole and cut them shorter, pulled them back through, punched down and installed the jack. Obviously this method would only work with this style patch panel. Total number of drops was 94.


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## FlyingSparks (Dec 10, 2012)

ElectricJoeNJ said:


> Did a big cabling job recently. 3 patch locations. I numbered wires as I pulled them and wrote on my plans what numbers were at each location. When I got to the drop location I didn't bother relabeling the end unless there was more than one data line there. At each patch panel I numbered the panel and put each wire through the hole and cut them shorter, pulled them back through, punched down and installed the jack. Obviously this method would only work with this style patch panel. Total number of drops was 94.


Tripp Lite wall mount cabinet?


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## ElectricJoeNJ (Feb 24, 2011)

FlyingSparks said:


> Tripp Lite wall mount cabinet?


Yup. 3 of them with ups and fans. We didn't provide any of the punch down material. The companies it guys bought all that stuff. This was taken before I ran the fiber and installed the switches.


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## jeffmoss26 (Dec 8, 2011)

Looks good!


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## mikeylikesit5805 (Apr 3, 2012)

that does look very good!


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## drumnut08 (Sep 23, 2012)

No offense joe , but I've seen a lot cleaner data installs . I've seen worse too , but when you've done multiple hundred cable jobs , you really need to have a plan when it comes to dressing and punching down .


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## bill39 (Sep 4, 2009)

It's amazing that this even needs to be discussed and the poll results show that about 95% of the people number before the pulls. That's my preference too.

I could never understand how anyone could believe it was better to pull everything in unmarked and sit back later and ring them all out.


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## ElectricJoeNJ (Feb 24, 2011)

drumnut08 said:


> No offense joe , but I've seen a lot cleaner data installs . I've seen worse too , but when you've done multiple hundred cable jobs , you really need to have a plan when it comes to dressing and punching down .


None taken. I'm not a data guy I just play one on TV. Just curious as to how you've determined that it doesn't look clean. Ill tell ya what though my wiring in the ceiling looks a hell of alot better than most data guys I've seen.


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## ttech (Jun 1, 2010)

Where's cables 25-32 and label it with a p-touch with strong adhesive tape. Marker look hackish. 

Probably a good idea to leave space between the patch panels for wire management.


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## ElectricJoeNJ (Feb 24, 2011)

ttech said:


> Where's cables 25-32 and label it with a p-touch with strong adhesive tape. Marker look hackish.
> 
> Probably a good idea to leave space between the patch panels for wire management.


I agree about the sharpie. That's not the end product. In going to make ptouch labels to relabel the panels. Those wires are in a diff patch location.


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## ttech (Jun 1, 2010)

I usually use the Strong Adhesive 3/8" tape black on white. Brother does not make a strong adhesive white on black otherwise I would use them. The standard tapes will eventually fall off of patch panels.


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

ElectricJoeNJ said:


> None taken. I'm not a data guy I just play one on TV.


 
But he did stay in a Holiday Inn last night.

Re: labeling, I label the wire three times with a sharpie about 3 ft. apart from each label. That way, if one gets scuffed you always have two more to help decipher your writing. 

I also learned another thing about labeling. I was by myself pulling about 40 cables in a big retail store. I over estimated the lengths by about 40 ft. 
Yeah, stupid me grabbed the whole bundle and cut off about 35 ft. without relabeling. 

Another tip. I always plastic bag my wires on a prewire. When you come back after a few months to finish the install, they aren't painted or spackled.


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## Error (Feb 12, 2014)

Yah bro you got to label them. Your four port cover plate will be like 4d 34d 150d couldn't find this one D. I trick of mine is to use as many cable boxes as you can and keep that bundle separate from your next one with electrical tape. Makes it easy to find your run number at the cabinet end . And on the field end say you got two drops per location . Tape the pairs together and have the next pair two inches under and repeat .your first drop should be at the bottom keeping the rest of the bundle together for the next drop. The runs need to planned though.


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## Ty Wrapp (Aug 24, 2011)

I've done it both ways, just depends on the job.

My last wiring job was my home network (1100 sq ft house), I pulled the cable then toned it all out.


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