Jiangsu Dongfang Cable Material Co., Ltd.

What is the difference between shielded cable and unshielded cable?

Release time:

2022-02-27

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The above is the difference between shielded cables and unshielded cables. I hope you have a simple understanding of these two types of cables. In practical applications, it is necessary to select a suitable cable according to the actual situation, so as to avoid the cable signal being disturbed and unable to operate normally during signal transmission.

In the modern high-tech world, cables are not just four pairs of wires that connect electronic objects to each other in a housing. In fact, most connections today rely on shielded and unshielded cables. So, what is the difference between shielded cables and unshielded cables? Now, let's talk about it with you.

The difference between shielded and unshielded cables

1. The difference in appearance: The visual difference between shielded cables and unshielded cables is that shielded cables have metal meshes and films; unshielded cables do not.

Each pair of shielded twisted pair (STP) wires is foil-wrapped to reduce radiation, and then wrapped again for double protection;

Unshielded twisted pair cable (UTP) twists each pair of wires together, consisting of multiple cores and a plastic sheath, and wraps the wires in a conduit without any additional protection.

2. The combination of shielded cables and shielded crystal heads can effectively prevent electromagnetic radiation interference from other high-power electrical appliances and strong power supplies around, and greatly reduce the bit error rate of signal transmission.

For unshielded cables, due to the different materials used for their jackets and different conductor structures, the interference of unshielded cables is strong or weak.

3. The ease of installation is different: shielded cables can reduce interference, but its installation requires special connectors that support shielding functions and corresponding installation techniques. Therefore, the installation of shielded cables is more difficult than unshielded cables. .

4. Different applications

(1) The shielded cable works only when the entire cable has a shielding device and both ends are properly grounded. Therefore, the laying of shielded cables requires that the entire system is all shielded devices, including cables, sockets, crystal heads and patch panels, etc. At the same time, the building needs to have a good grounding system.

Because shielded cable is useful in any environment where there is a high potential for electrical interference, it can be used in radio station cable assemblies and airport cable assemblies.

STP cables are also used in stabilizing systems to protect them from power frequency and radio frequency interference, and in box buildings with many different components in close proximity.

(2) Unshielded cables (UTP) do not use shielding to reduce interference, and because they are lightweight, flexible, easy to install, and cheap, unshielded cables are suitable for office LANS and similar network wiring systems.

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