I am a theatrical lighting and sound engineer/designer with over 10 years of experience, and I can say that THIS is the most useful skill I teach all of my interns. Scott you da man :) keep it up
Learning to wrap cord up this way will save you many headaches, also if you ever get a chance to work with a professional crew and they see you know how to do this they will treat you as a professional. It happens to me all the time when I work as a grip for the TV production team at my college sporting games.
Thats exactly hows its done on every FILM set Ive ever worked on. It allows you to throw it down, grab one end, and just walk with it. That becomes really important when youre dealing with 50+ft of heavy duty cable (as in diameters of more than half an inch). Things are obviously going to be different in theatre.
Not only does this method of coiling keeps cables from getting tangled up it can dramatically extend the life of the cable. Wrapping a cable around an arm like a lot of people tend to do causes the wires inside to twist, causing them to prematurely wear and can cause short circuits inside the cable if the wires start to break. It also causes the cables to kink, which makes it harder to lay it down straight and wrap back up easily. This method keeps the wires straight and the cable in good shape.
Great episode. 1 caveat though- Not all extension cords are stingers. A stinger must minimally be... -a 12/3 (12 gauge) wire -a grounded plug UL rated for at least 15 amps at ~120 volts It's a standard so you know whether the cord can handle a 2k or a 10k.* But for anyone not using more than 1000w on a single cord is pretty much in the clear. *I have personally watched a 5k go out because the plug melted at the outlet. Yay for insurance! :D
I want to add two tiny additional bits of information to the cord reel: 1. It has a fuse built in. This means that if you plug too much heavy duty lighting into it, instead of blowing your whole house's fuse, you will only lose power on those four outlets. 2. The reason why you should always completely unroll it is that if the cable is still coiled up and you run a lot of current through it, it acts like an inductor. The magnetic field will build itself up and you will blow the fuse earlier.
When coiling cables, if it's a long one, I coil it the "usual way", as in the second case but with no reverse, with long loops (about 1,5 meters). If it's shorter, I use my left arm, from hand to elbow, as a a reference to coil around. In this case I may sometimes coil it in an 8 shape, similar effect to second case. But in any case, instead of a final coil, I use the last bit of the cable itself to wrap around the rest and make kind of a knot, this way it won't tangle itself :D
Every cord has a specific way it wants to coil. Just let the cord go where it wants, if you don't it will start to warp. The reason you coil with this technique, especially on longer cables, is so you don't have to uncoil the entire cable. Simply set the cable with the final coil up then you can just leave the coil there take the end and walk away with it, if done right, the cable should never snag and will be just the right length. This is great for 2nd AC's running BNC from Video Village.
Yes, it becomes kind of an extra resistence, but also, when combined with relatively high voltages, it makes a stronger electromagnetic field, so it actually wastes energy.
can't quite understand how to do it. Can someone do this tutorial on a two-angle split-screen that's synced so you can see from a front/side or a front/top
I am a theatrical lighting and sound engineer/designer with over 10 years of experience, and I can say that THIS is the most useful skill I teach all of my interns. Scott you da man :) keep it up
I needed this video. I never have been able to coil a cable right. Thanks!
Yes! I do grunt work for NCAA games and the over under cord wrap you demonstrated is heavenly!
Learning to wrap cord up this way will save you many headaches, also if you ever get a chance to work with a professional crew and they see you know how to do this they will treat you as a professional. It happens to me all the time when I work as a grip for the TV production team at my college sporting games.
Professionalism, a key to better results overall.
Thats exactly hows its done on every FILM set Ive ever worked on. It allows you to throw it down, grab one end, and just walk with it. That becomes really important when youre dealing with 50+ft of heavy duty cable (as in diameters of more than half an inch). Things are obviously going to be different in theatre.
I can't believe I forgot those! Thanks, the links are fixed now.
Not only does this method of coiling keeps cables from getting tangled up it can dramatically extend the life of the cable. Wrapping a cable around an arm like a lot of people tend to do causes the wires inside to twist, causing them to prematurely wear and can cause short circuits inside the cable if the wires start to break. It also causes the cables to kink, which makes it harder to lay it down straight and wrap back up easily. This method keeps the wires straight and the cable in good shape.
Great episode.
1 caveat though-
Not all extension cords are stingers. A stinger must minimally be...
-a 12/3 (12 gauge) wire
-a grounded plug UL rated for at least 15 amps at ~120 volts
It's a standard so you know whether the cord can handle a 2k or a 10k.*
But for anyone not using more than 1000w on a single cord is pretty much in the clear.
*I have personally watched a 5k go out because the plug melted at the outlet. Yay for insurance! :D
I want to add two tiny additional bits of information to the cord reel:
1. It has a fuse built in. This means that if you plug too much heavy duty lighting into it, instead of blowing your whole house's fuse, you will only lose power on those four outlets.
2. The reason why you should always completely unroll it is that if the cable is still coiled up and you run a lot of current through it, it acts like an inductor. The magnetic field will build itself up and you will blow the fuse earlier.
When coiling cables, if it's a long one, I coil it the "usual way", as in the second case but with no reverse, with long loops (about 1,5 meters). If it's shorter, I use my left arm, from hand to elbow, as a a reference to coil around. In this case I may sometimes coil it in an 8 shape, similar effect to second case.
But in any case, instead of a final coil, I use the last bit of the cable itself to wrap around the rest and make kind of a knot, this way it won't tangle itself :D
Every cord has a specific way it wants to coil. Just let the cord go where it wants, if you don't it will start to warp. The reason you coil with this technique, especially on longer cables, is so you don't have to uncoil the entire cable. Simply set the cable with the final coil up then you can just leave the coil there take the end and walk away with it, if done right, the cable should never snag and will be just the right length. This is great for 2nd AC's running BNC from Video Village.
Thanks!
Fixed! Thanks!
Yes, it becomes kind of an extra resistence, but also, when combined with relatively high voltages, it makes a stronger electromagnetic field, so it actually wastes energy.
Great vid and informative. Thanks.
Thanks Scott
This just cool! Thanks!
Great tip
Good job!
i rollevery cable like that
I am going to send you the "Snake Method" of coiling an extension cord. It will totally change the way you do it, trust me.
Thanks for coiling metod
everyone laughs at me when i do that. lol it works well with water hoses and vacuum cords and crap. lmao
can't quite understand how to do it. Can someone do this tutorial on a two-angle split-screen that's synced so you can see from a front/side or a front/top
How do you make the larger coil tube?
thankyou I hate it when I try to roll it up and the whole cord unravles
Woo! Left handed! me too!
nice tip
portable lighting would be helpful :)
the dimmer switch link dose not work.............
You need a catchphrase. How about "Oh so frugal"?
I did not watch this video, lol