With so many different types of cables to choose from, including data cables, instrumentation cables, multicore cables, coaxial cables, and much more, many customers will be able to find the ideal pre-built cable solution for their particular application. However, this isn’t always the case.
For harsh environments, awkward installations, and specialist applications, custom cables are often needed to better suit the parameters of the project. Custom cables can either be completely designed from scratch, allowing the client to choose the exact materials, lengths, specifications, components, and tolerances needed for their environment, or they can be made from an existing cable that has undergone modifications, such as the addition of cable armouring or a different cable sheathing material. This means customers can easily balance their need for customisation with practical considerations like cost and lead times.
Custom cables provide uniquely tailored solutions for a wide variety of industries, but where exactly can you find them? To give you a better understanding of custom cables and what they can be used for, let’s discuss the main benefits of custom cables and 10 of the most interesting custom cable applications that you may not be familiar with.
Advantages of custom cables
A common misconception is that custom cables are too costly and time-consuming to design and manufacture, making standard cables a better choice for most applications. In fact, the use of standard cables in some environments can lead to inefficiencies, performance issues, excess cabling, durability problems and more, especially if you expect your cables to withstand harsh environments or handle complex, demanding workloads. Over time, these inefficiencies caused by standard cables could prove more costly and time-consuming to solve than just designing a custom cable solution in the first place.
Still not convinced? Here are some of the key benefits you can expect from custom cables designed to fit your exact project specifications:
1. Enhanced performance
Since custom cables are designed with your exact project, environment, and application in mind, they can deliver enhanced performance compared to standard cables. Standard cables won’t be designed for your specific project, which means they may be more likely to suffer from issues such as signal interference, cable degradation, and general wear and tear. Your custom cables will be extensively tested for the exact uses and environment you have in mind before the final product is delivered, so you know that the cable’s performance has been properly verified. You won’t get this same assurance from a standard cable, which won’t have been tested in the exact environment you’ll be using it in.
2. Durability
Custom cables are designed to withstand the unique stressors and challenges of your environment, which means that they will be much more durable and longer-lasting than a standard cable. For example, if cables in your environment must be able to withstand exposure to excessive moisture, temperatures, or chemicals, you may need a specially designed cable to ensure it lasts a long time without sustaining damage.
3. Improved safety
Because custom cables can be designed to withstand much harsher environments than standard cables (e.g., with specialist cable sheathing or armouring), this makes them much less susceptible to damage and inherently safer. Plus, you can design custom cables with attributes like fire resistance and the absence of potentially toxic elements (like LSZH cables) if there are elevated safety considerations in the cable’s environment, such as if the cables must be installed in a residential area.
4. Space and weight efficiency
One of the biggest downsides of standard cables is that you can’t control their exact length and size. This can lead to excess cabling in your environment, increasing the risk of potential accidents or cable damage caused by people tripping over them. Plus, in some environments, ensuring that cables take up as little space and weight as possible is essential for performance and safety – this is common for automotive cables and aerospace cables. Therefore, custom cables may be needed to ensure that lengths and dimensions are exactly correct. This can also lead to easier installation in environments with limited space.
5. Flexibility
Another key consideration in areas with limited space is cable flexibility. Choosing the right cable sheathing and cable armouring materials (such as GWSB vs SWA cables) will allow you to create the right balance of attributes for your custom cable, including flexibility and mechanical strength. Greater flexibility will ensure easy installation for more challenging environments and reduce the risk of cable damage when cables are required to move frequently.
6. Material requirements
When you design a cable, you can choose what materials are used for all of the cable components, such as sheathing, insulation, and armouring. This means you can choose the most suitable materials for your particular environment and application, such as water-resistant materials for outdoor or marine cables, or fire-resistant materials for cables in residential areas or high-temperature environments.
7. Multiple functions
While you may need many standard cables to fulfil multiple functions for your project, you could instead design custom cables that cover multiple tasks simultaneously, allowing you to reduce the number of cables you use and make your environment less cluttered. For example, your custom cables could control both power transmission and signal transmission, helping you create a more streamlined and efficient setup.
8. Cost savings
Custom cables are initially more expensive than standard ones, but once you take their durability, longevity, performance and efficiency into account, they can actually help you save money in the long run. Custom cables that are specifically designed for their environment and applications will have optimal efficiency and be less susceptible to faults, which means you won’t have to repair or replace them as often as standard cables.
9. Quality assurance
Your custom cable manufacturer will test your cables according to the specific industry standards, environmental stressors and performance requirements of your project, ensuring that your cables are rigorously tested against relevant parameters and therefore much less likely to experience faults or performance issues. There’s no guarantee that standard cables will be tested in a similar environment or against similar requirements to your project, making them less likely to be up to scratch in terms of performance, durability and industry standards.
10. Branding
In addition to controlling the design and manufacture of essential cable components, you’ll also be able to control aesthetic details such as the colour, text and logos printed on the cable jacketing. This means you can customise your cables with your professional branding, or add specifications or colour coding to help you better identify, categorise and sort your cables.
10 interesting custom cable applications
As you can imagine, the many benefits of custom cables make them a fantastic choice for a wide variety of industries, applications and projects. In fact, you may not yet be aware of just how many industries make use of custom cables. Here are 10 surprising uses for custom cables:
1. Medical industry
Complex equipment in medical environments, such as MRI scanners, have very precise requirements and must be as accurate and reliable as possible, which is why you’ll commonly find custom medical cables designed specifically for the medical industry. In addition, medical cables are designed to withstand the harsh conditions unique to this environment, including frequent exposure to high temperatures and chemicals during sterilisation processes. Standard cables would degrade far too quickly in these conditions, making them inaccurate and unsafe for medical equipment.
2. Military
Another industry that relies on highly accurate, reliable and durable cables is the military sector. Military cables are frequently used for surveillance and covert communications, and custom cables are needed in these scenarios to ensure signals are transmitted as precisely and reliably as possible in intelligence operations. In the field, custom cables are also necessary because standard cables typically won’t be strong enough to withstand the harsh outdoor conditions, mechanical stress, abrasion, and general wear and tear these cables are subjected to.
3. Automotive
In addition to being used in these highly specialised industries, custom cables can frequently be found in everyday items and machinery. For example, your car is likely full of custom cables designed specifically for that model, such as custom power cables, signal cables, and even custom coiled cables for articulated vehicles. And with the increasing manufacture of electric vehicles, even more custom cables need to be designed to ensure the safe and reliable operation of the whole vehicle, from essential engine components to dashboard displays and infotainment systems.
4. Aerospace
Just like the automotive industry, the aerospace industry makes frequent use of custom cables to ensure accurate power and signal transmission for a huge variety of aircraft and spacecraft. In both ground vehicles and aeroplanes, space and weight constraints mean that standard cables are often too long or bulky to provide the necessary levels of performance within the weight limits. Therefore, custom cables must be designed to provide adequate power or signal transmission whilst keeping the aircraft as lightweight and streamlined as possible.
5. Telecommunications
Custom fibre optic cables are needed in the telecommunications industry to ensure reliable signal integrity and mechanical strength, especially if direct burial is required for network cables. Custom cables can be fitted with additional cable armouring and cable shielding to protect the internal components and signal integrity, whereas standard cables often won’t be specialised in this way. Therefore, without custom cables, you wouldn’t have the same access to Wi-Fi, mobile data and other forms of communication.
6. Film and TV
Another industry that would be hugely impacted by the absence of custom cables is the film and TV industry. The advantage they have over standard power and audio/visual cables is that they can be designed to carry out multiple functions simultaneously. For example, custom multicore cables can carry multiple signals and power feeds at the same time to create a more comprehensive connection between two pieces of equipment. With so many different types of equipment on set, such as professional lighting, microphones, cameras and monitors, the use of multi-functional custom cables will make the set much neater and easier to manage.
In addition, custom audio cables, power cables and visual cables can be designed to be more inconspicuous on set, which can help remove the need to edit out obvious cables in post-production. For instance, custom cable jacketing can be applied to help cables blend in with their backgrounds, or custom cables can be designed with shorter lengths than their standard counterparts so that they can be hidden more easily.
7. Industrial
In industrial and manufacturing environments, highly durable signal and power cables are needed to connect equipment on the production line and ensure the accurate transmission of data for process control purposes. Custom industrial cables, power cables and signal cables can be designed for this, allowing you to achieve the accuracy and reliability needed. Plus, custom cables can be modified to withstand the harsh conditions in industrial environments, including fluctuating temperatures, abrasion, and chemical exposure, which means they can meet health and safety standards that typical cables often can’t.
8. Electronics
The same logic applies on a smaller scale. In addition to being used in large industrial machinery, custom cables are commonly used in household appliances and electronics thanks to their reliability, durability and adherence to strict health and safety standards. Custom cables are particularly useful for very small devices that can’t fit standard-size cables.
9. Energy
Energy and public utilities companies need custom cables to ensure that power is transmitted as consistently and reliably as possible – otherwise homes, hospitals, and other public buildings would suffer from disruptive and potentially dangerous power outages. These custom power cables can be strengthened and constructed to the exact dimensions necessary, no matter their environment or application.
10. Commercial and retail
Have you ever wondered what powers the scanners and sensors when you’re out shopping? Again, it’s custom cables! Small, compact and reliable signal and power transmission cables can be designed for point-of-sale scanners, automated kiosks, barcode scanners and more, making the shopping experience even more convenient.
Although we’ve managed to give you a brief overview of potential applications for custom cables, they can truly be designed for any project, industry or environment – even if we’ve not mentioned it here.
If you need a cable solution but don’t know the exact specifications you’re after, get in touch with us today to arrange your initial consultation. As leading custom cable manufacturers, we have the expertise and experience needed to help you design the perfect custom cable for your project.
