Multichannel Cable

[Fig]

I am looking to use the cables as shown in a schematic. I created this as a device but it is now doubling cabling and connectors. What is the best way to represent a cable like this or any sort of multichannel cabling?

 

[Conrad Preen]

Hi @Fig

 

For the years we've basically either used a device or cabling to represent this kind of thing. A device has the advantage that it has a make and model, and appears in the device list so it is more likely not to be forgotten. But as you say you end up with extra circuits. Modelling this as a set of circuits is OK if it isn't a special order item and gets made on-site from general installation materials. In short this question has always been there. I've tended to err on the side of keeping ConnectCAD as a whole simple.

 

I have a new object on my roadmap that will represent these adaptors / breakout cables. So this will be resolved in a coming version. I can't tell you exactly when because that isn't my call.

 

Best

 

Conrad

[mcschaefer]

@Fig A workaround I've used to represent adapters is to create a device, as @Conrad Preen mentioned, and label the cable type for the little cable that is part of the adapter as "BUILT-IN". My staff knows that BUILT-IN means it's part of the adapter, and when I do counts and reports I just ignore those "cables". See screenshot below for an example using thunderbolt 3 to HDMI adapters to connect computer displays to a Mac Pro:

 

In your example you'd have four "built in" cables  on your device. 

 

Sometimes, you find yourself connecting the XLR connectors on these breakout cables directly to other cables. For that my workaround is to use a special custom jumper "device" that I created for that purpose. Jumpers can have one or many channels, and can be named so that they are more understandable at a glance:

 

 

Lastly, the way I like to depict multichannel snakes is to group them like the below example where possible, and identify which circuits (or cables) are part of that snake through the use of a numbering system. In the below example, "A0150" is the base circuit number. The "-1", "-2", etc represent which channels of the snake each circuit belongs to. If channels from that same snake exist elsewhere on the diagram, as long as they have that same base number I know they are part of the same snake. By the way, by using Spotlight Numbering, it's easy to generate these labels very quickly. 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's just how I do it, but I hope that helps! As a recording studio designer snakes are a daily part of life and I've had to get a little bit creative in how to represent them.