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4-20mA Current Signal and 24V DV Signal

08/06/2010 6:35 AM

In a plant environment I am using a 32 core signal cable for carrying 4-20mA current signal and 24V DV status signal together. Is that okay or I should separate them?

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#1

Re: 4-20mA Current Signal and 24V DV Signal

08/06/2010 8:06 AM

Do you mean 24V DC?

To answer your question, it depends on how fast your signals are changing and how fast you need the control system to react. If the 24V levels are changing state infrequently and you can afford to use a little time filtering the analog signals at the receiving end, you'll probably be OK.

The more frequently the DC levels change state and the faster the response to the analog signals must be, the more likelihood there is of errors due to pickup on the analog side.

Any problems there are will get worse in proportion to cable length.

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: 4-20mA Current Signal and 24V DV Signal

08/06/2010 10:23 AM

As John pointed out earlier, placing analog and digital signals in the same cable should only become a problem as the actual frequency of both type of signals increase. I would also presume that the excitation voltage for the 4-20mA sensor will be derived from the same 24VDC source. While I agree with John's analysis for a simple unshielded cable, if you've yet to purchase or install this cable you could just install a cable that will block interference from other signals in the bundle. If the possible interference sensitive signals (4-20 mA) are a carried in an individually shielded twisted pair, then you will not have any interference problems at all. Now custom cable with only one shielded twisted pair can be constructed, but the 24VDC I/O signals won't mind also being a twisted pair connection. So any of the individually shielded twisted pair cables that have enough conductors for all signals can likely give you the optimal noise immunity. That is only if you find that interference is a problem.

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#3

4-20mA Current Signal and 24V DV Signal

08/07/2010 5:52 AM

if you are using instrumentation cable there is no problem using same cable for both application

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#4
In reply to #3

Re: 4-20mA Current Signal and 24V DV Signal

08/08/2010 7:45 AM

....though it is best industrial practice to separate analog from digital signals, and not mix the two in the same cable.

  • Digital signals often go down multicore cables.
  • Analog signals often go down multipair cables.

The final decision is with the user. JohnDG has it right, above.

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