Drain wires on shielded FAS cables

[yorky]

I would like to hear from anyone who works on fire alarms. How are you isolating the drain wire in junction boxes and device boxes when installing an addressable fire alarm system. I have always put a green sleeve over the drain wires and then either tapped the sleeve on or used heat shrink tubing ( this is the best way ). I am constantly having arguments on the correct way to isolate this wire. I then isolate it at the last device and connect it at the main Fire alarm panel either to ground or the shield connection if one is provided. The code book does not address the question. [img]eek.gif[/img]

[bigrockk]

Although I don't have much experience with fire alarms I have wired alot of equipment that requires shielded cable. In my experience the drain wires are normally spliced together at the junction box but isolated from ground, usually by applying a piece of heat shrink or by using a terminal strip depending on the equipment. The shield should be continuous and only connected to ground at one end of a complete circuit.

[CRM]

Bigrockk is right, I took a course on fire alarms and the approved way to terminate the shield was to use a piece of heat shrink tubing.