Are cable harness Engineers electrical or mechanical Engineers?

[u/Notcooldudz]

[u/mckenzie_keith]

Nobody is really sure. Most of them commit suicide within the first few months of becoming cable harness engineers.

[u/cptawesome_13 → u/mckenzie_keith]

Cable documentation is a task that has often landed on my desk over the years. Can confirm!

[u/cable_harness_whore → u/mckenzie_keith]

I’ve been close a few time

[u/Notcooldudz → u/mckenzie_keith]

Yooooo what? So, am I contemplating suicide?

[u/gibson486]

Can be either.

[u/Notcooldudz → u/gibson486]

Both disciplines qualify you for this role, awesome!

[u/HoweHaTrick → u/Notcooldudz]

Yes they do.

Wiring is a very interesting field as electronics change and what that means for vehicle systems. It is a well rounded discipline that requires an understanding of mechanical and electrical.

[u/aacmckay]

Yes.

[u/Notcooldudz → u/aacmckay]

Nice

[u/Kingkept]

I work in a lab that does both CCA and cable assembly as well as CCA and cable testing.

Our lab hires both mechanical
and electrical. Some of the best engineers we have are mechanical, in both programming and design.

[u/Dytryn]

Which ever minion tolerates it long enough.

[u/PermanentLiminality]

Depends on where the harness in installed. In an environment like a fighter jet, the mechanical aspects can be very important.

[u/justabadmind]

I have the mechanical engineer make the mechanical drawings for my harnesses, because the mechanical engineer has solidworks skills. The electrical engineers decide pretty much everything about the harness and give mechanical an example in some cases.

[u/Feintmotion]

It’s Electrical. At least in my company we design the entire electrical system, evaluate power loads and signal degradation, writing and performing system acceptance tests, manage subcontractors, procurement. We do it all. Our Cable harness engineers are fully electrical while signing off mechanical aspects of the installation design. The drawing packages surrounding cables harnesses are pretty extensive if being installed on a commercial aircraft.

Been doing this for 20+ years… It can be frustrating at times when external folks don’t know what you do but depend on your deliverables.

[u/Hot_Egg5840]

Good engineers need to know a lot within their field and also a little bit of the related fields. It depends on what the harness/cable/conductor is used for in order to place it in the proper category.

[u/Lucky_Suggestion_183]

Not sure if the mechanical eng. is able to calculate cable dimensions, consider env. limitations, etc. Tend to EE for these.

[u/catdude142]

Depends upon the cable. If it's low frequency and signal integrity isn't an issue, a M.E can do it. If it involves signal integrity/impedance/crosstalk issues, then E.E.

[u/zarrathustraa]

We have EE do crosstalk calculations and spec and mechanical do the drawings.

[u/BoringBob84]

In aerospace, they are *both." Electrical engineers design the electrical aspects of the harness. Mechanical engineers design the physical aspects of the harness, including the installation. They must work closely together to meet all of the requirements for electromagnetic compatibility, separation, voltage drop, reliability, etc.

[u/bad_photog]

I’ve seen both, but mechanical more often. Sure as hell isn’t a job I’d want though.

[u/RedSurfer3]

The actual dude from Apple who designed the old magsafe cable that always broke job interviewed with us and we went "nope"

[u/cable_harness_whore]

The label my company loves to give me is “electromechanical” lol

[u/BusinessStrategist]

The electrical specs frame the choice of conductors.

The stress, strains, and environmental conditions frame the mechanical configurations.

Obviously, determining whether a conductor is suitable for the task is more of a simple lookup UNLESS you're talking "high frequency signals," interactions between the signals and the surrounding materials.

So it depends on the actually application.

Both can pick up enough additional knowledge to effectively to the job.

Engineering is "applied science." Both have some expertise in "physics and math" but the actual accreditation and/or school determines whether their knowledge is sufficiently deep for the task.

A cable harness traveling through a fusion reactor, connecting cockpit control signals from cockpit to engine, or keeping watch over a traveling spacecraft is more challenging than one to keep costs low in a washing machine.

So what's your question again?

[u/hooskworks]

Both for us. Electrical sdraw up the logical relationships in schematics and the mechanical designers turn those into 3D MCAD for the electrical types to flatten back to 2D manufacturing drawings.

[u/kingfishj8 → u/hooskworks]

Been there, made them manufacturing drawings.

And watch the mechanical guys. Things like "bend radius" or "service loop" are not part of their curriculum in school.