In The Trenches Video Series
Label Your Cables - Why and How!
Whether you're a professional installer or you are a first time "DIY" client - it's important to know why and how to label your security camera cabling. Labeling cables will help prevent major headaches, reduce labor costs, and make your system much more serviceable in the future. In this episode we'll talk about how and why you should label your cables!
Cal Brewer:
Yeah, you could even go as far as putting something crazy like a unicorn sticker on your camera and a unicorn sticker on the corresponding end of the cable. That sounds fun as long as either end what it corresponds to. Sticker
Ben LaRue:
Packet. Let's
Micah:
Go.
Ben LaRue:
Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of the In the Trend Round Table. Today we're doing an install focused episode. We have our awesome panel of experts with us again today. Hello.
Micah Shearer:
Hi.
Ben LaRue:
Awesome. Heck yeah. Thanks for joining. Today we're going to be talking about a really fun one. Everyone drop on your socks. Hold on tight. We're going to be talking about labeling cables. Can't laugh Micah, during the intro. Come on. Sorry. I'm
Micah Shearer:
Sorry.
Cal Brewer:
I just tease wrap on your socks. Is that what we do?
Ben LaRue:
Okay, on drop on, right. Velcro socks. Nobody's ever heard of 'em. Come on, we're going to be What socks
Micah Shearer:
Are you wearing then?
Ben LaRue:
Well, I don't know, easy ones. I guess this one we're going to be talking about labeling cables and as boring or unfun as it might sound, we can't express how important it actually is to do when you're actually implementing installing a system, and we're going to rely on our experts to walk us through why that is. So can we start by first telling us why do you label cables in the first plain, and I guess really what does that even mean? Labeling cables?
Cal Brewer:
I mean, labeling cables is basically marking each cable so you know what device it goes to and what location that device is in. So each cable, you have a device on one end, and then you have wherever it's whatever piece of networking equipment, it's terminated at the other end and either an MDF or an IDF, whether it be a room or a cabinet enclosure, whatever you need to know at that enclosure or cabinet or MDF room, what all these cables go to and what devices they're connected to. So if you label 'em and then you have some sort of key about where all these devices are located, it just makes it easier for troubleshooting. You can look and see what cable you're working with, go out to the device location and start your troubleshooting process.
Micah Shearer:
I was just talking about what a key usually looks like for our teams. We typically do that in the form of some sort of floor plan or a site map that takes an outline or a Google image of the location and Marks cameras and marks what notation system we're going to use to identify each of those devices so that you've got that to kind of anchor what you're trying to do.
Cal Brewer:
Yeah, I mean, when we're talking in terms of our experience with security cameras, yeah, that's definitely going to be the best way to utilize some kind of site map. But when we start talking about low voltage data installs and you start dealing with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cables at different keystone jack locations or device locations, computer locations, printer locations, it gets really, really hectic to try to remember where they're all coming from. So any kind of visual image of the site paired with some kind of excel sheet, with what label corresponds to which location on the patch panel and then corresponds to which location or port on the network switch really, really help you out in the long run.
James Campbell:
I think
Micah Shearer:
Kyle, that's where sometimes different groups will use different color cable to make that even easier to identify if you've got multiple types of devices.
Cal Brewer:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've done large data jobs for people that specify which color cable to use based on the device. So say you have a huge office building and you have hundreds of printers of that office building that are all connected to the network. Well, each printer needs to use a specific color cable. So you can then identify at the head end MDF or IDF, which cable you're troubleshooting or which specific printer, especially when you start getting with multiple floors, that's when it gets really, really complicated.
James Campbell:
I think you also mentioned a key term there, which was in the long run. So I think when you have a camera system and you just installed it, you might have a very strong idea what twitch that those cameras are connected to or what cable is on that switch, where it goes to potentially and everything like that. But then over time, some of that knowledge is just lost. You don't use it. So a year or two later you have a camera down and it's connected to some POE switch and you've got to figure out where that P OE switch actually is, and that's where labeling it becomes so important, I think is not just the initial couple months after the install, but really you want this to be something that's easy to troubleshoot for years to come.
Cal Brewer:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in a perfect world, you whoever's managing your network stay at that company for forever, but there's turnover. Different people are going to be managing different aspects of the network or the camera system or the printers or whatever it may be. So any information that you can log and then pass on is going to help your entity in the long run.
James Campbell:
And even on the fly changes, people sometimes have to go and do something really quickly and move things around on the switch or something like that. So if you're not labeling those cables, some of that knowledge is going to be lost just even if it's the same person. So
Ben LaRue:
Exactly. I was just going to say that, James, from your experience with support, how often was that the case that somebody just unplugged the wrong cable license
James Campbell:
Switch or
Ben LaRue:
Something?
James Campbell:
Yeah, exactly. This isn't just a do yourself. This isn't just like a professional install. Only professionals should go and label their cables. If you're a do yourself customer and you're installing this camera system yourself, it's almost just as important if not more important to label your cables because especially if you've got a wide large camera network, 20, 30 cameras, and you've got multiple POE switches, sometimes it's very difficult for people. They'll have one P OE switch go down, and then they're trying to track to see where that P OE switch get connected to or where is that camera actually connected, what P OE switches it on, where sometimes even that p OE switch is another topic sometimes. But yeah, I mean it definitely happens where we're sitting there and we're having to do a napkin drawing of setting up the network and everything where everything's connected, and if they had just labeled that or kind of kept some mortar for it, it would definitely be a lot easier.
Ben LaRue:
So labeling cable seems more of a mission critical task than it is really optional. The alternative, like Kyle, during an install, the alternative sounds like an absolute nightmare
Cal Brewer:
During an install. Absolutely. It's going to add time to your install if each technician is going to have to go back and tone and trace which cable connects to which camera it's going to make, the initial install lasts longer, and then in terms of service calls or troubleshooting, it's going to make that process way, way, way more time consuming. And most companies build their service calls hourly. So the longer that it takes them to find out which camera and which cable and where it's terminated, the more you're going to be billed for.
Ben LaRue:
So that's a really great point that I would love to stick on for a minute. What happens if you're in a situation where maybe you are a new IT director, maybe you're a new system admin person and you're coming in to a facility and the cables weren't labeled before. Is there things that you can do to start labeling the cables to avoid
Cal Brewer:
Like that? Yeah, definitely. I mean, so yeah, I just used the term tone and trace. That's going to be essential if you inherit some kind of system or network that's not labeled. I would suggest starting at the head end at your MDF toning and tracing each cable from that location to whichever device it is and start your labeling there, start with some kind of key, some kind of Excel sheet like we talked about. Give some kind of tag to each location. I mean, it's a time consuming process. Toning and tracing is depending on the size of the facility and how much walking there is between cable segments and devices. It's a very time consuming process, and it might involve a lot of just walking and sorting all that out, but it, it's invaluable in the end, especially if you have issues with your devices and they need to be replaced or troubleshot or whatever it may be.
James Campbell:
Another thing, the
Micah Shearer:
System is functioning. Yeah. Sorry James. No, go ahead. You and I just keep talking. I was saying the system is functioning. I mean, we have, sometimes you unplug it, you look and see which camera goes down, you make a note, you plug it back in, and you do that times all of your cameras. But to Cal's point, even in that situation where maybe you don't have to walk around the entire facility, you're still talking about 30 seconds of camera to unplug it, let it go down, plug it back in, keep track of it as you go. It's not super fun.
Cal Brewer:
Well, and if we're not talking about cameras specifically, if we're talking about
Micah Shearer:
There's no way to do that. Yeah.
Cal Brewer:
So you got an office building full of people, you're going to take their internet connection down at their desk for that amount of time that it takes to verify which cable is connecting it. Some pretty big stop sounds
Micah Shearer:
Miserable. Can you talk about tone and trace actually means, what is that?
Cal Brewer:
Yeah, so toning, right? Basically what you would do at the head end. So a toner has two pieces. So you connect the head end of your device cable to one end of the toner. It sends out a frequency across the cable that you can then use the toner, end of the toner to actually identify that frequency. So it really emits a sound. It's a very distinct sound, and if you know what I'm talking about here, that sound will never leave your mind, but it's almost TV static and a large kind of hum. But you really got to recreate the sound for mecal. Definitely not. Yeah,
Micah Shearer:
We need to hear it.
Cal Brewer:
Definitely not doing that. So you're
Micah Shearer:
Basically plugging that device into one side, and you would literally be walking from camera to camera, pulling the camera down, putting the matching device in the other and beginning, yep, that's it, or, Nope, that isn't. And doing that again and again and again,
Cal Brewer:
It doesn't have to be, you can do it on the cable, like the actual cable itself. Right?
Micah Shearer:
Ah, okay. You can own the actual
Cal Brewer:
Line, so it doesn't necessarily have to be at the end of each device,
Micah Shearer:
And you may not have to pull the camera down then.
Cal Brewer:
Right,
Micah Shearer:
Right. Okay.
Cal Brewer:
But you still have to trace which cable is going to which location.
James Campbell:
Yeah. The other thing that technique wise, that definitely can help there would be having managed switches and stuff like that. I know that's sometimes the number one reason why people would get 'em is just to know like, oh yeah, port 29 is this device or something like that. And most of the time, managed switches will tell you which IP address is connected to which port. But that's another layer of networking that some people don't do, especially not necessarily for camera systems. They're typically unmanaged switches that don't have that capability. So I think even for cameras, especially if you've got that wider multiple P OE switch set up, you definitely need to label them physically too.
Ben LaRue:
Wow. So we've talked about what labeling is and some things that you could do if maybe you haven't labeled them before to get there, but how do you actually label the cable though?
Cal Brewer:
Varies but
Micah Shearer:
It
Cal Brewer:
Be, yeah.
Ben LaRue:
Wait, you just, yeah. Yeah,
Cal Brewer:
Definitely not
Ben LaRue:
Crayon,
Cal Brewer:
But yeah, no, so initially when you're doing the install, say it's a new construction project, yeah, Sharpie's fine. You assign either a number based on your site map or your key or whatever. And yeah, you can mark that on the cable itself just so you as the installer can keep everything in order. But once everything is plugged into the patch panel and then patched into the switch, especially in an MDF or IDF, it's very, very important that you use some sort of cable tag or even a label maker to make printed labels so you're not relying on someone's messy handwriting or is this AB or a nine or what is this? Because that's just going to add time too. So if you can make the initial investment and the label maker and some cable tags and do it printed initially, it's really, really going to save you time in the long run too.
James Campbell:
And a lot of the markers and stuff can also wipe off over time too. So even Sharpies and stuff, they could start to fade or get smudge or something like that. So I think the label makers definitely are the actual printed labels are the way to go.
Ben LaRue:
Are there any pips or tricks, maybe techniques that we would want to convey for those out there maybe in need of labeling cables or interested in getting the cables labeled during their initial install? Is there anything that we could teach or convey?
Micah Shearer:
Do it?
Ben LaRue:
Yeah, the importance of it, for sure. Yeah,
Micah Shearer:
I heard Kyle say a couple of things, like sitting there with a label maker while you're trying to get everything plugged in and set up right off the bat sounds like it could feel distracting or this extra thing. So it sounds like a good work around there is like go ahead and mark it with a Sharpie real fast, put some painters tape on it, get everything set up how you want it. Then go back through with the label maker and the label maker doesn't have to be terribly fancier, complex, just to same label maker I've got in my house
James Campbell:
Going into something that's more maybe specifically for cameras and maybe for somebody who's installing a camera system for the first time even, what would that even look like? I know we talked about keys and stuff like that, but let's just say we have, would it be as simple as maybe putting a label on the actual camera saying this is camera 19, and then on the other end of the cable you're putting at your switch or wherever it gets connected, you're going to put 19 on that cable so you know exactly that. Oh, and then you have maybe the floor plan or potentially just even a document that says where cable 19 is and where camera 19 is and a picture of it or whatever. But does that as simple as possible, I guess that's going to save them a lot of time in the future. Am I right or
Cal Brewer:
A hundred percent sometimes, and I challenge the viewers to start looking up when you see security cameras and businesses, and sometimes you'll see from a label maker, a sticker on the camera that says something like a number and a location, and you can bet that at the other end of that cable segment, you'll see a corresponding label on the cable tag and then on the patch panel or switch or wherever it's plugged into. That's just another step you can take to label both ends. But as long as you have the key and you understand where the locations are of the devices, then really the head end or the networking equipment end of your cable segments the most important to label. But if you want to take that extra step and do the devices as well, it can only help you save time in the long run.
James Campbell:
Yeah. Yeah. Just to kind of make the point that if, I'm sure they'll see pictures, if you look up cabling labeling cables, and you'll see the keys and everything like that for somebody who's doing it themselves, that might seem kind of complicated. I just want to mention, it could be as simple as even putting a label on the actual cable to say, this is outdoor one or front door, front entrance one or whatever can help a ton there too. Just whatever you can do to help understand with the understanding that this is something that you might have to deal with years ahead of time, then can definitely pay off in the future.
Cal Brewer:
You could even go as far as putting something crazy like a unicorn sticker on your camera and a unicorn sticker on the corresponding end of the cable. I mean, that sounds fun as long as either end, what it corresponds to sticker packets.
Micah Shearer:
Let's go anything sticker CW logo sticker packets for a camera labeling.
Cal Brewer:
Oh my God. That's the next thing right there.
James Campbell:
That needs to be an April Fool product or something. For sure. There's something to that. We could
Cal Brewer:
Actually use Slack
Micah Shearer:
Emojis. Use ones. Yeah. It's all different Slack emojis.
Cal Brewer:
Yeah.
Micah Shearer:
This one's the puking face. This one's this sideways smiley face. Exactly. I love it. I love it. The praying
Cal Brewer:
Hands. Yeah, all that stuff.
Micah Shearer:
Oh my goodness. It's multilingual. It crosses all cultural backgrounds. We could sell 'em internationally. This is great.
Cal Brewer:
Yep. Yeah, so Klein tools, they make a really, really popular, it's in a book format, right? So it's like little stickers with letters and numbers, so you can basically tag your cables based on whatever scheme you choose. So in the future, look for an SCW one without letters and numbers and just slack emojis so you can slack emojis tables properly.
Ben LaRue:
Definitely. Definitely. No, I think that's really helpful information around labeling tables though, how important it is. It really being a mission critical type of task more than something that you should do, right? It's, it needs to be done. That'll help with troubleshooting. It'll help in the long term of just total cost of ownership of the system, less time troubleshooting, less time spending money on service calls, all of that jazz. So any final thoughts from the experts on labeling cables?
Cal Brewer:
Do it a hundred percent of the time.
Ben LaRue:
Do it right. It's never too late to start, right? You're getting a new camera put up right now if you're getting APOS system added to your network, if you're getting a new printer, no better time to start labeling the now. So thanks so much for our experts for tuning into this one and helping us out about labeling cables. Thank you all for tuning in. If you've made it to this point in the video, truly appreciate it. Leave some comments below on things that you'd like to Fair emoji. That's right. Fair emoji. Comment in the comments below if there's anything that you'd like us to focus on in terms of installation services specifically, but appreciate it experts. Make sure to tune in next week to our In the Trenches episode and we'll see you next time.