Detailed Description
What Is Combination Hoist & Control Cable?
A combination hoist and control cable integrates the electric hoist's motor power conductors and the multi-core control circuits in a single flexible composite cable — one cable that carries the three-phase power to the lifting motor and all the control signals from the pushbutton pendant or radio receiver to the hoist's contactors, limit switches, and safety devices. It replaces the two (or more) separate cables that would otherwise run from the hoist control panel, through the cable management system, to the hoist body.
The combination cable simplifies the hoist's cable management: instead of managing separate power and control cables that can twist around each other, snag on the cable trolley, and tangle in the festoon loop, a single composite cable tracks cleanly through the system. The power and control conductors are in a known, fixed orientation relative to each other — the installer terminates the power cores at the motor contactor and the numbered control cores at the terminal strip, and the hoist is wired.
Cable Construction Notes
- Custom configuration — to the hoist OEM's electrical specification: The power conductor count and cross-section (for the lifting motor and optionally the trolley motor) and the control core count are manufactured to match the specific hoist model. The cable is not a standard catalogue product — it is designed and manufactured for your hoist's wiring diagram
- PUR or CR jacket — select for the installation environment: PUR for standard indoor and light industrial hoists (flexibility, abrasion resistance, oil resistance). CR for heavy industrial, foundry, steel mill, and outdoor hoists where the cable is exposed to higher temperatures, oil, weather, and flame risk
- Numbered control cores — wired correctly the first time: The control cores are numbered per VDE 0293. The installer matches the core number to the terminal number on the hoist's wiring diagram — no tracing, no continuity testing, no wiring errors. The numbering is permanent and legible at the stripped conductor end
- Single composite cable — simpler cable management: One cable in the festoon loop or on the cable trolley instead of two or three. The single cable reduces the cable management system's weight, simplifies the installation, and eliminates the tangling and twisting of separate cables
Power and Control Core Configuration
The power section is built from bare copper to IEC 60228 Class 5, in cross-sections from 1.5 to 16 mm². A hoist motor is served by three power phases plus protective earth (4 cores), or by five or seven cores when the trolley motor power is combined with the hoist motor power in the same cable. The control section uses 4 to 24 cores of 0.5 to 2.5 mm², numbered per VDE 0293 so the installer matches each core to the terminal on the hoist wiring diagram.
Power-core insulation is either PVC rated at 70 °C or cross-linked polyethylene rated at 90 °C, the choice following the hoist operating temperature. Control cores use thin-wall PVC in numbered black conductors, which keeps the overall cable outside diameter compact. The single composite jacket then carries the three-phase motor power, the trolley motor power if present, and every control circuit (up or down pushbuttons, emergency stop, upper and lower limit switches, and overload protection) in one assembly.
Jacket, Temperature, and Bend Performance
The outer jacket is PUR or CR. PUR, rated Shore A 85 to 90 in black or yellow, is the standard for indoor and light industrial hoists needing flexibility, abrasion resistance, and oil and coolant resistance, and is rated -40 °C to +80 °C while flexing. CR, rated Shore A 60 to 70 in black, is used for heavy industrial, foundry, and outdoor hoists where higher temperature, oil, weather, and flame exposure demand it, and is rated -25 °C to +60 °C while flexing. Both jackets are installed in the overhead crane and hoist environment where a cable fire would be catastrophic, and both are flame retardant to IEC 60332-1-2.
The minimum bend radius is 8 times the cable outside diameter, the radius encountered at the festoon loop or the cable trolley as the hoist and trolley move. Insulation resistance at 20 °C is 20 megaohm-kilometre or greater, a measure of the integrity of the core insulation over the cable length.
Electrical Testing and Compliance
Each cable is verified against its ratings before dispatch. The power cores are tested at 3 500 V AC for 5 minutes and the control cores at 2 000 V AC for 5 minutes, confirming dielectric strength of the insulation. The maximum DC conductor resistance at 20 °C follows IEC 60228 Class 5, confirming the conductor cross-section and stranding. The cable is CE and RoHS compliant, and is manufactured under ISO 9001.