Conduits Gone Wild
December 1, 2014 1:01 PM Subscribe
Are you an admirer of pulchritudinous pipes, tubes, ducts, conduits and cables? Then head on over to reddit's Conduit Porn community, and its sister subreddit, Cable Porn (SFW)
Oooooo...I'm a lighting guy who runs miles of cable, and this is total porn for me.
Even better, tho, is cable that's run that's neat, easy to trace out and still really easy to rip out 3 hours after the show's over. If someone working for me did this for an install that would last two weeks I'd die.
This stuff looks amazing, but damn is it ever a pain in the ass when something fails or is added, which usually happens right after you clip the tail off the last zip tie.
posted by nevercalm at 1:19 PM on December 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
Even better, tho, is cable that's run that's neat, easy to trace out and still really easy to rip out 3 hours after the show's over. If someone working for me did this for an install that would last two weeks I'd die.
This stuff looks amazing, but damn is it ever a pain in the ass when something fails or is added, which usually happens right after you clip the tail off the last zip tie.
posted by nevercalm at 1:19 PM on December 1, 2014 [2 favorites]
oh my God. I've found my people.
posted by silence at 1:22 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by silence at 1:22 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
You can imagine where it goes from here.
posted by RobotHero at 1:48 PM on December 1, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by RobotHero at 1:48 PM on December 1, 2014 [11 favorites]
He fixes the cable?
posted by FJT at 2:14 PM on December 1, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by FJT at 2:14 PM on December 1, 2014 [11 favorites]
Don't be fatuous, FJT.
posted by RobotHero at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by RobotHero at 2:17 PM on December 1, 2014 [8 favorites]
As an amateur linguist I am goofily delighted by the way the word "porn" has changed its meaning so much that the original sense is now "NSFW" instead. What would one call beautifully depicted images of sex -- "NSFWporn"?
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:19 PM on December 1, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 2:19 PM on December 1, 2014 [4 favorites]
This is Relevant To My Life, and I aspire to such greatness. Cable management is not my strongest skill. As nevercalm notes above, though, I'm always happy about my more cavalier attitude towards cable ties when I have to change out parts. It only LOOKS like chaos, I assure you.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 2:39 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by jeweled accumulation at 2:39 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
It is embarrassing how thrilling this is.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 2:44 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 2:44 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
nevercalm: do you have any pointers (tutorials) for 'doing it right' when engaging with cabling? I feel like I'd be a better person if I cabled competently by default all the time.
posted by el io at 3:54 PM on December 1, 2014
posted by el io at 3:54 PM on December 1, 2014
I have now discovered a love for something that I never even gave a second thought before.
posted by Bugbread at 4:05 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Bugbread at 4:05 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
which usually happens right after you clip the tail off the last zip tie.
I have a coworker who builds panels like this, with wire ties around the cables bundles every 3 inches and every wire cut exactly to length with no excess at all, so that it is generally impossible to separate a wire from a connector to do a test. More than once I have cut off 50 or more wire ties to get slack in wires so I can fix something.
posted by localroger at 4:17 PM on December 1, 2014
I have a coworker who builds panels like this, with wire ties around the cables bundles every 3 inches and every wire cut exactly to length with no excess at all, so that it is generally impossible to separate a wire from a connector to do a test. More than once I have cut off 50 or more wire ties to get slack in wires so I can fix something.
posted by localroger at 4:17 PM on December 1, 2014
El io, read the book by Tom Limoncelli called "The Practice of System and Network Administration" for some good advice.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:27 PM on December 1, 2014
posted by wenestvedt at 4:27 PM on December 1, 2014
Velcro. Big huge rolls of Velcro. Zip ties are, IMHO, worse than a dull dental drill to the brain.
posted by disclaimer at 4:55 PM on December 1, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by disclaimer at 4:55 PM on December 1, 2014 [6 favorites]
May I interest you in the practice of cable lacing? Cable lacing was originally developed by telephone linemen. Modern systems administrators have adopted it as a technique that is less crimp-y than zip ties, and more permanent than velcro. I mean, look at this!
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:06 PM on December 1, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:06 PM on December 1, 2014 [4 favorites]
I second the Velcro recommendation...cable lacing might be nice, but nothing like reels of Velcro when you've gotta quickly reroute cables. Velcro and a Brother PTouch 1650 label maker. Or whatever replaced it.
posted by foonly at 6:35 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by foonly at 6:35 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
For many years all I could afford were old and unloved trucks and motorcycles. The one thing they all had in common was previous owners who all rewired large sections of the vehicle with wire that was not just the wrong gauge but also all the same color. Add in strange routing decisions (out of the engine compartment, through the dash, back into the engine...) and it becomes almost impossible to figure out a problem.
They almost always used green wire from the farm and ranch store.
I would like to sentence each of them to a thousand years of hard labor organizing wires just like these photos.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:15 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
They almost always used green wire from the farm and ranch store.
I would like to sentence each of them to a thousand years of hard labor organizing wires just like these photos.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:15 PM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]
el io:
The proper term for traditional NSFW porn is of course simply:
"PornPorn(NSFW)"No, that term just describes an infinite feedback loop of meta-porn inclusive of all imaginable subject matters.
The proper term for traditional NSFW porn is of course simply:
SexPornposted by Hairy Lobster at 7:43 PM on December 1, 2014
Also, I like conduit. Which I was reminded of while digging up my front yard recently.
It was supposed to be just a turf removal/conversion to drought tolerant plants project but as I dug a ditch for a new brick walkway past the house I came across the water main that the previous owner replaced after the old steel main ruptured. Except he hired his gardener for a couple of bucks to replace it with a PVC run.
So I hired plumbers to rip that out and replace it with a copper main. The ditch they dug revealed multiple archaeological layers of irrigation piping which I then decided to dig up entirely and rip it all out along with the old steel water main which was also still in the ground along with an even older steel water main right below it.
Long story short during my digging I came across the conduit run delivering power to the yard lamp. Except it wasn't conduit. It was a run of interior wall Romex cable buried without conduit six inches below grade, just within reach of my spade.
So I dug that up all the way back to the house where I found the spot where it connected to wires coming out of the house. No conduit or boxes here either. Just wires stripped and joined with wire nuts buried 2 inches below grade right below a leaky old faucet that was dripping on it continuously.
WHO DOES THIS????
Lessons learned:
1) never buy a house and then start digging... it'll just lead to finding ancient and evil secrets meant to stay buried forever.
2) conduit is a clever way to prevent people from killing themselves by doing crazy stuff like, say, digging holes in their yard or, even more outlandish, watering plants.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 7:54 PM on December 1, 2014 [3 favorites]
It was supposed to be just a turf removal/conversion to drought tolerant plants project but as I dug a ditch for a new brick walkway past the house I came across the water main that the previous owner replaced after the old steel main ruptured. Except he hired his gardener for a couple of bucks to replace it with a PVC run.
So I hired plumbers to rip that out and replace it with a copper main. The ditch they dug revealed multiple archaeological layers of irrigation piping which I then decided to dig up entirely and rip it all out along with the old steel water main which was also still in the ground along with an even older steel water main right below it.
Long story short during my digging I came across the conduit run delivering power to the yard lamp. Except it wasn't conduit. It was a run of interior wall Romex cable buried without conduit six inches below grade, just within reach of my spade.
So I dug that up all the way back to the house where I found the spot where it connected to wires coming out of the house. No conduit or boxes here either. Just wires stripped and joined with wire nuts buried 2 inches below grade right below a leaky old faucet that was dripping on it continuously.
WHO DOES THIS????
Lessons learned:
1) never buy a house and then start digging... it'll just lead to finding ancient and evil secrets meant to stay buried forever.
2) conduit is a clever way to prevent people from killing themselves by doing crazy stuff like, say, digging holes in their yard or, even more outlandish, watering plants.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 7:54 PM on December 1, 2014 [3 favorites]
Several crossposts from r/oddlysatisfying, which I think sums this up perfectly.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:00 AM on December 2, 2014
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:00 AM on December 2, 2014
Hairy Lobster: " conduit is a clever way to prevent people from killing themselves by doing crazy stuff like, say, digging holes in their yard or, even more outlandish, watering plants."
It'd be hard to kill yourself doing this, I think. Any breach would just go straight to ground, literally, and 110 volts (assuming you're in the US) isn't much.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:01 AM on December 2, 2014
It'd be hard to kill yourself doing this, I think. Any breach would just go straight to ground, literally, and 110 volts (assuming you're in the US) isn't much.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:01 AM on December 2, 2014
"Show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream" she said
"The one that makes me laugh" she said
And threw her arms around my neck
"Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise that
I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you"
posted by ZipRibbons at 1:56 PM on December 2, 2014
The one that makes me scream" she said
"The one that makes me laugh" she said
And threw her arms around my neck
"Show me how you do it
And I promise you I promise that
I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you"
posted by ZipRibbons at 1:56 PM on December 2, 2014
It's a terrible idea nonetheless. Suppose the insulation around the hot wire becomes degraded. Now the point in the ground where the copper touches the soil is at ~ 120 V relative to neutral, that is to say 120 V relative to the grounding rod. Most of the resistance is going to be concentrated in the area around the insulation defect, with most of the rest being around the grounding rod. So you now have a piece of soil that's at a ~60-100 V potential relative to the soil a few feet away.
If you're walking in rubber-soled shoes, you won't notice at all. But your dog or toddler, running or crawling on the wet ground in the morning dew, or you with your wet hands handling some soil in the garden?
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 2:42 PM on December 2, 2014
If you're walking in rubber-soled shoes, you won't notice at all. But your dog or toddler, running or crawling on the wet ground in the morning dew, or you with your wet hands handling some soil in the garden?
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 2:42 PM on December 2, 2014
Someone at work posted to the internal home maintenance mailing list asking for help with a garden faucet that gave people a weird electrical buzz sometimes.
The faucet was at about 15v. to ground. The issue was traced to a buried PG&E gas line that was hot.
While waiting for PG&E the OP had some fun with his multimeter and found a 60v potential between two corners of the garden, measured just below the surface.
A post appeared a few days later in the DIY/Hacking list, asking how one could harvest a 60v potential between two corners of a garden for some fun electronics project.
Usually a situation like this would not be so dangerous, but if things line up just right, it can be deadly. I know someone who's heart went crazy and and stopped for a few seconds, while working with 12 Volts and less than 20 mili amps. He touched that case of the instrument and an internal screw with cut and bloody fingers. He had cut his fingers while removing the case, and somehow the electricity traveled up his blood into his bloodstream and through the heart.
What I am trying to say here is that once again porn can save lives.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 3:04 PM on December 2, 2014
The faucet was at about 15v. to ground. The issue was traced to a buried PG&E gas line that was hot.
While waiting for PG&E the OP had some fun with his multimeter and found a 60v potential between two corners of the garden, measured just below the surface.
A post appeared a few days later in the DIY/Hacking list, asking how one could harvest a 60v potential between two corners of a garden for some fun electronics project.
Usually a situation like this would not be so dangerous, but if things line up just right, it can be deadly. I know someone who's heart went crazy and and stopped for a few seconds, while working with 12 Volts and less than 20 mili amps. He touched that case of the instrument and an internal screw with cut and bloody fingers. He had cut his fingers while removing the case, and somehow the electricity traveled up his blood into his bloodstream and through the heart.
What I am trying to say here is that once again porn can save lives.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 3:04 PM on December 2, 2014
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posted by lalochezia at 1:07 PM on December 1, 2014 [5 favorites]