Allied Encyclopedia: Festoon Cable

What is Festoon Cable?

Simply put, festoon cable is a flat portable cord. Although, if you dissect the name itself, you’ll find there’s a lot more to this seemingly simple cable.

Let’s start with the name — ‘festoon’ is a word that often refers to something suspended in a curve between two points.

This may help in remembering common applications for festoon cables; they are typically used in cranes, hoists, and other suspension applications.

What is the construction of festoon cable?

Festoon cable is made of finely stranded bare copper conductors at its very core. The size of this cable ranges from 4/0 AWG to 16 AWG, and features either PVC insulation and jacket or neoprene insulation and jacket. The PVC version of this cable comes in black or yellow, while the neoprene is only available in black.

The neoprene version is more flexible than PVC because its conductors can have a higher strand count, meaning it can be used in continuous flexing applications.

Even though these versions vary slightly, they’re still similar. They both have small bending radii, contributing to each cable’s flexibility, and these cables still have many of the same applications.

Festoon Cable with 12 conductors, sized 14 AWG

What are the applications?

The unique, flat construction of festoon cable allows it to be stacked when space is at a minimum. The flat construction also helps with anti-coiling in all applications. This cable is commonly used as trailing cable for crane installations, elevator control cables, conveyor systems, and shelf control units.

PVC and neoprene festoon cables are flame retardant and resistant to oil, fat, acid, and lye.  While both can be used in dry or damp environments, neoprene offers more weather resistance over PVC.

To see full festoon cable specs, visit our Festoon Cable page.