Electrical conductor that can carry a physical load?

[SamTakoy]

Hi,

I'm thinking about building a ceiling light out of wood. It will weigh about 10lb. Just wondering - is there any way the conductor could also carry the mass?

Thanks!

Pavel

[RBM]

That's pretty heavy for a cable to carry, why not use a steel cable clipped to an electrical cable

[SamTakoy]

Aesthetics. I imagine four supports: three steel cables and one conductor. So I guess 2.5lb on the conductor... Still a no go?

[RBM]

Aesthetics. I imagine four supports: three steel cables and one conductor. So I guess 2.5lb on the conductor... Still a no go?

They do make fixtures that dangle off of a three conductor plastic cord, typically only a couple of pounds. If you have multiple cables, they're a pia to adjust. What about chain or 1/8" threaded pipe

[JIMMIE]

I was in a restaraunt the other day where the lights hung from the ceiling by their power cord, Lamp shades were in the form of some pretty hefty looking copper pots. Think it was just zip cord.

Jimmie

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Chandelier can weigh quite a bit. Guess it can be done with some sort of decorative chain?

[trader4]

If you have 3 steel cables, why does the power cable need to support anything? Just keep the 3 tight and the power just barely snug.

I recently installed some European contemporary lights that weighed a couple of pounds. They used a stainless steel braided conduit, more like a braided 1/4" hose if you will. That supported the lights, the conductors went inside. Don't know where you'd find it but something like stainless hydraulic hose would be similar.

[RBM]

If you have 3 steel cables, why does the power cable need to support anything? Just keep the 3 tight and the power just barely snug.

I recently installed some European contemporary lights that weighed a couple of pounds. They used a stainless steel braided conduit, more like a braided 1/4" hose if you will. That supported the lights, the conductors went inside. Don't know where you'd find it but something like stainless hydraulic hose would be similar.

How do you adjust the height?

[aemeijers]

They sell power cable with a strain relief string built into it. Of course it is aimed at industrial use, so it is usually thick and black. IIRC, it also uses special crimped-on clip doohickeys on the ends. You have to fold the strain relief strands over, and put them under the clip.

Very similar to the cords they used to use on large power tools and floor-cleaning equipment.

A real lighting shop (not the big-box) can probably fix you right up.

-- aem sends...

[trader4]

..

You cut the braided conduit to the correct length at the ceiling end. I left about 6" extra coiled up inside the escutcheon on the ceiling.

[The Daring Dufas]

He could use ASCR cable and hang 500lbs if he uses the right size. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

Have you ever seen steel reinforced rubber covered mining cable like that used in underground mines to power excavating machines? :-)

TDD

[jw]

There are decorative chains made just for light fixtures. They come in many colors and styles. You use the lamp cord with clear insulation and weave it thru the chain links. I know that Ace Hardware carrys it. They also make the hooks that go on both ends of the chain and match the color and style.

[mm]

Somewhere I have a whole bunch of electic wire that seems to be made of steel and not copper. It's stranded but doesn't bend easily. The insulation is black and it's not rubber or vinyl. It looks a little like black cloth covered in something waterproof. Did I mention that I got it in 1967? It would hold 20 pounds I'm sure.

It was two pieces intertwined like a hair braid (except with only 2 "ropes", hair won't stay braided), so maybe it wouldnt' be pretty enough. But the point is it worked well for electricity but either it had steel in it or something that made it stronger than copper. Even one strand out of 10 or 20 from the stranded wire was hard to bend.

I made two long extension cords with it, well long from my perspective in 1968, when the longest I had seen was probably 15 feet. These were

30 or 50 feet, and one of them I used to run the 1 amp battery charger on my '50 Olds with a 6 volt battery. I ran the cord from the frat house pantry to the No Parking except Members sign in back and left it there for at least 3 months, in rain and under the snow, and never blew a fuse. The charger sat inside the hood and when I parked, the cord was easy to find via the grill, and I plugged it in unitl the next time I left. Charging the 6 volt battery on 6 volts didn't really work, so I set it to 12 volts and the glass circuit breaker, that looked like the small glass neon lights, or like the smallest of the Xmas tree lights, tripped every 11 seconds, and stayed off for 4 seconds, so 4 times a minute, 240 times an hour. 3360 times a day for 100 days is 336,000 times, but still works fine 43 years later. BTW, it was second hand when I got it from my 80-year old cousin.

What this wire is called or where to get it, I do not know. Mine came from a big spool used by some utility maybe, maybe the electric company.

[Pete C.]

Use low voltage lighting and use two of your stainless steel cables as the power carriers.

[dpb]

On 5/14/2011 5:49 PM, SamTakoy wrote: ...

The tensile strength of the wire wouldn't be the problem; the problem is ensuring that relieve any possible transfer of tension at all from to the connections.

One could use a small diameter rod instead of the cable and feed a very small physical wire down each (assuming this isn't going to be a lighthouse, 16 ga would likely be adequate).

NEC doesn't address fixtures so it isn't the normal Code that's the go-to here, but I'm sure UL would have a conniption fit over the idea...

--

[jw]

WOW w()W

WoW W O W wOw W O W wow VV ( ) VV

If that wire was from the 60's, the insulation contains LSD. Especially if it was near a frat house. It sounds to me like you have been removing that insulation with your teeth when you strip the ends. All that has to happen is for that insulation to touch your tongue and you go on a 6 month AcId tRiP. Sounds to me like you're at your climax right about now.

If you chew that insulation every hour of every day for a year, that would be 24 chews per day, 8760 chews per year, and if each chew sends you on an AcId tRiP for 6 months, you'll be TRiPPiN for 4,380 years, or 58.4 lifetimes. Knowing this, you should be StONeD until the year

6391 (give or take a few years).

Please describe your hallucinations, we all want to know what colors you are seeing, and I dont mean the common ones like red yellow green blue etc. Describe the colors that have no names so we can all see them..... And when you begin to see music, and smell the audio spectrum, please tell us what it's like.

Peace - Love

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P E A C E

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L O V E

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Flower Power

WOW..................WOW /\

*** Make Love Not War ***

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S M O K E P O T

[mm]

This probably accounts for all the abnormalities of my posts here and elsewhere, and everything that ever went wrong in my life.

No. I used a knife, but I would lick the knife afterwards. It gave me a special feeling.

But I don't know how to describe them. There are a lot of black letters that change to blue when I click on RPely. What does RPely mean, anyhow?

Cool man. This month is the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides. Non-violent protest in the face of violence. Cool man.

[mm]

Use bicycle brake or shift cables, without the housing. They are pretty, and I'm pretty sure they conduct electricity well.