120 Ohm Shielded CAN Bus Cable for Robotics – CE Certified Manufacturer
A single intermittent CAN bus fault can freeze an entire robotic cell mid-cycle. The root cause is rarely a failed controller. It is almost always impedance drift, a pinched shield, or electromagnetic interference overwhelming the cable. Our 120 Ohm shielded cable removes these variables. Designed specifically for the moving, flexing, and electrically noisy reality of robotics, it keeps error frames out of your log and keeps upstream production on schedule.
Cable Structure Engineered for Signal Integrity and Mechanical Life
Controlled Impedance at 120 Ω, Tested Every Meter
Characteristic impedance maintained within ±10 Ω across the entire length.
On a high-speed CAN line running at 1 Mbit/s, even a slight impedance mismatch generates reflections. These reflections corrupt bit sampling. A welding robot can miss a position command. Every cable reel we ship goes through swept-frequency impedance testing against ISO 11898-2 limits. You get a physical trace of that test with your batch.
→ Fewer late-frame errors, fewer fault resets, predictable cycle times.
Dual-Layer Shield for Shared Cable Trays
Aluminum-foil inner wrap plus tinned-copper braid with 85% minimum optical coverage.
Power cables, servo drives, and high-frequency inverters saturate the factory floor with EMI. A single-foil shield often fails when the foil tears after a few thousand flex cycles. The braid layer carries the structural load and maintains low transfer impedance long after the jacket grooves have appeared.
→ Reliable CAN communication even when the cable shares a tray with unshielded motor leads.
CE Marking That Backs Your Equipment’s Declaration
Fully compliant with EU EMC Directive 2014/30/EU and RoHS Recast 2011/65/EU.
Machine builders shipping into the European Economic Area cannot afford to rely on component-level “self-declarations” that crumble during a surveillance audit. Our cable’s CE conformity is backed by a Notified Body reviewed technical file, covering emission, immunity, and material restrictions.
→ One less documentation risk when your machine arrives at customs in Hamburg or Rotterdam.
Bend-Proof Geometry for Cable Carriers and Torsional Loads
Stranded bare copper conductors, short lay lengths, and a pressure-extruded PUR jacket.
Robots twist. Cable carriers accelerate to 5 m/s and stop hard. Standard industrial Ethernet cable delaminates its jacket or breaks conductors within weeks. We build this CAN bus cable with a torsion-optimized layer design that passes over 5 million flex cycles on our in-house chain testers.
→ Longer maintenance intervals, fewer overnight cable swaps, direct OPEX reduction.
Typical Technical Data for Our Standard Construction
The table below reflects parameters of our most frequently specified cable for 24 V powered CAN nodes. Data sheets for custom gauges, shielded twisted-quad variants, and LSZH jackets are available on request.
| Parameter | Value / Rating |
|---|---|
| Impedance (1 MHz) | 120 Ω ±10 % |
| Shielding | Al/PET foil + tinned copper braid (≥ 85 % cov.) |
| Outer jacket | Flame-retardant PUR, RAL 9005, matte |
| Core identification | CAN_H blue, CAN_L white (per CiA DR-303-1) |
| Conductor cross-section | 2 × 0.34 mm² (AWG 22) – power pair 2 × 0.50 mm² (AWG 20) optional |
| Conductor stranding | 19 × 0.15 mm bare copper (power pair 28 × 0.15 mm) |
| Outer diameter (approx.) | 6.5 mm (2×0.34 + 2×0.50 mm²) |
| Min. bend radius (fixed install) | 8 × cable Ø |
| Min. bend radius (continuous flex) | 15 × cable Ø |
| Max. torsion | ± 30° per 0.5 m length |
| Temperature range (static) | −40 °C to +80 °C |
| Temperature range (dynamic) | −20 °C to +70 °C |
| DC loop resistance | ≤ 56 Ω/km (0.34 mm² conductors) |
| Test voltage (conductor-conductor) | 1.5 kV AC / 5 min |
| Standards referenced | ISO 11898-2, EN 50306, EN 60332-1-2, UL AWM Style 20963 (optional) |
All figures are nominal. We supply a full certificate of conformance and a unique impedance trace file for each production batch.
Proven Use Cases in Automated Environments
- Six-axis articulated welding robots – The cable is routed inside the robot arm’s hollow wrist, taking constant twisting and proximity to high-current weld cables. Shield integrity prevents weld-spatter EMI from killing CAN frames.
- AGV and AMR internal bus networks – Space-constrained cable trays and continuous vibration demand tight bend radius capability and 100% continuity of the braid. Units in the field show zero communication degradation across 8,000 operating hours.
- CNC tool changers and precision lathes – Machine tool builders use this cable to link distributed I/O blocks on moving gantries. The impedance stability ensures the CANopen heartbeat stays locked at the set interval.
- Packaging and palletizing cells – High cycle counts and constant acceleration of vertical axes expose generic cable to rapid conductor fatigue. Our twisted-pair construction extends replacement cycles by a factor of three in multi-shift operations.
- Solar tracker field buses – On outdoor tracking arrays, UV, moisture, and wide temperature swings are daily reality. The PUR jacket meets UL 1581 sunlight resistance criteria and does not crack at -40 °C.
Regulatory Compliance & QA Documentation
Every shipment is accompanied by a traceable OQC report. Our in-house test laboratory, accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, performs the following verifications:
- ✅ ISO 11898-2 mandatory impedance and propagation delay verification
- ✅ CE Marking under EMC Directive 2014/30/EU and Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU
- ✅ RoHS 3 (2011/65/EU + amended 2015/863) – full substance disclosure on request
- ✅ REACH Regulation EC 1907/2006 – SVHC statement updated quarterly
- ✅ Flame retardance test per IEC 60332-1-2 (single, vertical wire)
- ✅ Oil resistance: IRM 902 and IRM 903 immersion tests per ISO 1817
- ✅ Flex and torsion endurance report with lifetime curves at varying bend radii
Frequently Asked Questions
We need to run 500 kbit/s CAN across a 9th-axis linear module. Can this cable handle the travel and speed?
Yes. At 500 kbit/s, the ISO 11898-2 bus length limit is approximately 100 meters, far above typical machine dimensions. The limiting factor is the cable chain rating. For horizontal travels above 40 meters, we recommend our enhanced drag-chain variant with PTFE slip coating on the jacket. We can supply tested acceleration curves up to 50 m/s².
Is the cable available with M12 or D-Sub connectors pre-assembled?
We supply the cable in three configurations: bulk cut-to-length spools, semi-finished with de-spooled ends and strip data, and fully overmolded assemblies. Common terminations include 5-pin M12 A-coded (per CANopen CiA 303-1 pinout), 9-pin D-Sub (with built-in termination resistor on request), and circular M8 pigtails for embedded robot wrists. Every assembly is 100% continuity and pinout-tested.
What information do you need to recommend the right cable variant for a collaborative robot joint?
Send the joint’s minimum inner diameter, the expected range of motion (torsion angle and cycles per shift), and the data rate. Our application engineers match those parameters against our fatigue database and specify the conductor strand count and lay length that give at least 20,000 hours of expected service life in that profile.
Request a Full Specification Book and Cut-Sample
We ship free-of-charge 1-meter samples with the production test report within 48 hours for qualified industrial accounts. Let us know the node count, cable carrier travel length, and whether you need standard PUR or low-smoke halogen-free jackets. Reach our technical desk at [email@manufacturer.com] or call at [number]. We also schedule video calls to walk through your specific robot harness layout.