Splicing cables in HD upgrade install

[wideglide36]

Hi guys,

I had a HD upgrade awhile back and have always wondered why the installer did the installation the way he did. Probably should have asked him but I hate to seem like I'm questioning their methods.

Here goes: The new Slimline 5 HD dish was replacing an older 3 lnb SD dish.

The new dish was going to be installed in the exact spot as the old dish and there was plenty of cable going to the old dish. I expected the installer would simply remove the cable from the old dish and feed it up through the new HD dish.

He cut all four cables that were running to the old dish and had to splice four new cables with barrel connectors or something like that and then ran these four lines to the new HD dish and then had to attach ends to these cables.

I didn't think he would have had to make any of these new connections ( 8 total) since there was plenty of cable going to this dish in the first place.

Wouldn't you try to eliminate all unnecessary out door connections as possible?

Maybe the experts here can explain why he used this method?

Thanks

[boba]

A guess would be for future switch installations, and a connection point for his meter.

[djjolietjake]

5 LNB dishes put out a lot of signal. He was probably trying to attenuate the signal by using the barrels and adding more cable (cable & insertion loss). As long as he weatherproofed the connections, you should be good to go.

[paulman182]

I thought I read somewhere that the new dishes come with "pigtails" already connected to the LNB assembly?

If this is true, they would have to go to barrel connectors, then male connectors on the end of the cable going into the house.

I have the old style 5LNB dish and the installer spliced one of my lines so he could insert his satellite meter there when peaking the dish.

[wideglide36]

Wow! You guys are quick.

Thanks. Didn't realize any of that stuff.

The reason I guess I'm asking now is because I am now having problems getting a signal on 119.

The consensus from other forums was that it was probably either a dish alignment issue or a bad lnb or cable connection problems.

Since my signals on all other satellites were fine, it really comes down to a bad lnb or cable connections.

I have to call D but I am trying to wait until the weather breaks a bit.

Thanks again guys.

[veryoldschool]

Wow! You guys are quick.

Thanks. Didn't realize any of that stuff.
So far not too much of these have any merit.
A Slimline does come with a jumper to connect a meter and if all four outputs aren't used, it will get left in place.
The "idea" of the new dish having "so much output", that a few feet of cable with barrels will attenuate the signal, [sorry but] this makes zero sense.
Cutting the ends off would make some sense if they looked to be corroded. There may have still been enough cable to connect to the new dish [slightly bigger], or the installer may have been "on auto pilot", and simply did what he does on every installation.
If the cables are [still] long enough, then you could remove the jumpers and connect directly to the dish.
The fewer connections/barrels in the cables the better. :)

[wideglide36]

vos,

Thanks. I think you may be right about the installer being on auto pilot.

He seemed to jump right in and he seemed like he knew what he was doing.

I actually thought he was very good. I just didn't understand why he spliced all four cables when it looked as if he didn't have to.

There is not enough cable now since he spliced them that I could connect directly to the dish. That ship has sailed.

I could understand him cutting off the old ends if they looked corroded as you mentioned, i just couldn't understand the other four splices.

Again, thanks to all.

[BattleZone]

The reason I guess I'm asking now is because I am now having problems getting a signal on 119.

If you're getting signal on 103, then you don't have a cabling issue, because 110, 119, and 103 all come from the same two cables. 101 and 99 come on the other pair.

Most 119 issues are Line-of-Site issues, with bad LNBs being a distant second.

[Mertzen]

I thought I read somewhere that the new dishes come with "pigtails" already connected to the LNB assembly?

They sure have and they are all too short to make any sort of decent drip loops irregardless of the weather boots on them. I expect mass failure of these 'pigtails.


I just didn't understand why he spliced all four cables when it looked as if he didn't have to.

lazyness. with the pigtails he can align and connect the wires. without he has to take the LNB off to connect.

I refuse to use those pigtails. EVER.

[wideglide36]

IIP,
Thanks. Other people have also mentioned the line of site issue that you referred to. I have no obstacles anywhere near where the dish points.

I guess it might be a bad LNB then. I'll know for sure after I call D and get a tech out.

Mertzen,
Thanks. I thought having to do all those splices just created a lot more work for him. I would think that if he were lazy he would have avoided the splices at all cost. Seems like much less work to avoid splicing.

[netraa]

http://pimages.solidsignal.com/PVGBQHFAWS_zoom.gif

is this what the 'barrels' that he put inline looks like?

[bobnielsen]

I thought I read somewhere that the new dishes come with "pigtails" already connected to the LNB assembly?

If this is true, they would have to go to barrel connectors, then male connectors on the end of the cable going into the house.

I have the old style 5LNB dish and the installer spliced one of my lines so he could insert his satellite meter there when peaking the dish.

I don't know about the Slimlines, but my AT-9 came with one jumper which is intended to be used with the meter. The installer attached 3 cables directly to the LNB assembly and after alignment, connected the remaining cable to the jumper (he didn't have to remove the LNB that way). He also used barrels on two of the lines to connect to the cables from my original 18 in. dish. There will often be one or more barrel connectors, such as when a grounding block is used. Their use should be minimized, but it isn't super-critical.

If you're getting signal on 103, then you don't have a cabling issue, because 110, 119, and 103 all come from the same two cables. 101 and 99 come on the other pair.

Not necessarily. If you have the cables connected to an external multiswitch, that is the case but if they are connected directly to receivers any of the satellites could be connected depending on the channel selection.

[wideglide36]

netraa,
I will check on that tomorrow but I really don't think so.

[davring]

I looked in the back of a D* van the other day and he had a big box full LNB's all with 4 three foot pigtails attached, he said that is the way they were being shipped, the SWM LNB's had the same pigtails factory attached.

[TigersFanJJ]

The installer wasn't being lazy. The lnbs are being shipped that way now.

Here (http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-OF-5-HIGH-DEF-SLIMLINE-5-LNB_W0QQitemZ260356035713QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Def aultDomain_0?hash=item260356035713&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50) is a pic of one.