Walked through a 1980s office building in Tacoma and the old alarm panel was still there

I was doing a walkthrough for a retrofit job in this old brick building. In the main lobby, they still had the original metal box with a key switch and a single red light. The whole thing was wired with that thick, cloth-covered cable we never see anymore. It made me think about how we used to run miles of that stuff for just a few zones. Now everything is wireless or low voltage Cat6. Anyone else come across one of these old dinosaurs still in place?

3 comments

3 Comments

sandra_black16d agoTop Commenter

Craig.rose is right about that old cable being brittle. It looked tough but you could snap it like a dry twig. Guess they don't build things like they used to, and sometimes that's a good thing.

anthony61822d ago

My uncle used to install those systems! Said you could practically use that old cable as a tow rope.

craig.rose22d ago

That cloth cable was actually pretty fragile once the insulation dried out. The braiding made it look tough, but it cracked if you bent it too much. We found a bunch of it brittle and shorting in an old warehouse last year. Modern wire is way more flexible and lasts longer, even if it doesn't look as heavy duty.