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CERN Engineers Have To Identify and Disconnect 9,000 Obsolete Cables (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: CERN, home to the Large Hadron Collider, has grand plans to update the world's largest particle accelerator complex in the next few years. But engineers have identified a barrier to the upgrade: there's no space for new cables in the injectors that accelerate particles before they enter the LHC. In the past, when parts of the accelerators have been upgraded or added to, engineers would often additionally replace the cables that connected them. In the process, they would leave in place the old cables that were no longer in use. Now, a heap of obsolete cables are blocking the way to install new ones needed for the accelerator’s next big upgrade. To make space, CERN engineers have set out to identify and remove the old, unused cables. All 9,000 of them.
i use patchsee cables. a bit more expensive but you'll NEVER disconnect the wrong cable again. you get a specially shaped torch which you shine at 1 end of the cable and the other end lights up. the torch has 2 modes - stable light and flashing.
there are other brands (e.g. evo6, belden) doing similar things but they tend to be overpriced and overly complicated (cable with its own buttons and batteries in jack boot).