ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Cords above ceilings

This picture - please forgive the poor quality - shows new construction. The customer has added a receptacle above the dropped ceiling 'just in case' he later wants to add something above the ceiling.

In other words, he's deliberately planning to violate 400.8 (5), which bans flexible cords above dropped ceilings.



With the things we place above ceilings ... HVAC equipment, heat trace tape, alarm panels ... as well as the stuff that gets hung from the ceilings ... lights, projectors, etc .... is it time to reconsider this ban?

Write a proposal and see what they say. I would think they will want it fairly limited in scope.
It is interesting that receptacles are not specifically banned so they must know ...

The prohibition against it was just added a few Code cycles ago.
I don't think that it's ready to be repealed just yet.

I was told that the reason that receptacles are permitted is to accomodate the temporary use of cords while servicing or maintaining equipment. Not so that something could be plugged in and left there.

In the supermarkets, they do put receptacles above the lift out ceiling to plug in transformers (oversize wall warts) for alarm and other LV ckts. They (transformers) have no cords so inspector said its legal. What stops someone from using it for a cord later is in question. Robert

Don't you use service poles (pac poles) with cords in offices? I thought they were common in the cubicle world.

All the power poles that I am familiar with use conduit (sometimes flex) to feed them above the ceiling.

In Canada we are allowed to use power poles that are cord ended. Wiremold for example has this as an option for Canada only in their cut-sheet.

I saw a lot more of them in the 80's when computer terminals were first going on desks.

They were used to bring both power and coax to everybody's IBM 3270 crt.

Now that most people are in a cube farm everything is hardwired as part of the furniture package.

I admit to not knowing the first thing about security systems, but I would guess there are a fair-sized number of receptacles above ceilings in department stores and other commercial buildings for the purpose of powering security cameras, pan/tilt mountings, etc.

Mike (mamills)

The security sytem we have has no power requirements at the devices. It all located in one room with power to the cameras being supplied by the same cables that bring the video. The power is not located at the camera.
Same with the security system. All master controllers located in one location with magnet power etc all at that location.

I haven't seen power requirements for an individual camera or security device in years. The power for all of the equipment is DC either routed on the coax or along separate wires in the camera cables. That DC is derived from the head-end equipment back at the Security Desk. Any 120V power that needs to be obtained locally (like pan/tilt/zoom) are wired in an armored flex.

I think the security world took a hard look at the cop shows in the 70's where the bad guys would just unplug the camera while they robbed the place.