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Recent Install - Quality Workmanship?

6K views 90 replies 16 participants last post by  peds48 
#1 ·
I had an upgrade this week. During the install, I added a box upstairs, so the tech had to run a line from outside and up into my attic. As part of this, he also had to add a module (splitter maybe?) on the outside lines. He shoved all of this into my Bellsouth telephone box. Since it wouldn't close (as it previously did), he threw a zip tie on it and he left it in the state shown in the pictures

My concerns are the fact that water can now get into the box and cause corrosion (to the phone block terminals and the DTV equipment) and the fact that some of coax in the bottom of the box is bent pretty severely

Should I be concerned?
 

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#52 ·
TorinTPG said:
So a new tech came out today and here are the results

Amazing what 5 minutes can do! I'm happy with it overall and might through a few additional zip ties just because I'm super picky about wires
The only thing I would add are plastic tags to the 3 leads entering your home. That can save a lot of time later on.
 
#54 ·
The Merg said:
And I probably would have had drip loops on the cables coming out of the splitter...

- Merg
Are the drip loops solely for collecting water and condensation and "dripping" it away from the splitter?

Also, there is not a lot of slack on the coax there. What can be done if a drip loop is needed?

The tech said something today that he left a drip loop coming off the bottom left where the 3 coax are. Guess this is a rigged drip loop?
 
#55 ·
I think is worse than before! That splitter should be sideways so water do not get in to the cable feeding the splitter. also the ground block has a cable coming in with no drip loop and a perfect angle for water to run in. this should be taken care ASAP or sing up for the PP to get those fittings change frequently!


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#56 ·
peds48 said:
I think is worse than before! That splitter should be sideways so water do not get in to the cable feeding the splitter. also the ground block has a cable coming in with no drip loop and a perfect angle for water to run in. this should be taken care ASAP or sing up for the PP to get those fittings change frequently!

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Ugh

I can rotate the splitter, but I don't think there is enough slack to make a proper drip loop
 
#57 ·
This is what a drip loop should look like...



Basically, when water runs down a cable, it will follow the cable even if the cable bends and it can actually go upwards somewhat as well. The drip loops make it so that the water is forced to drip off of the cable and cannot follow the cable to its connection point.

- Merg
 
#58 ·
TorinTPG said:
All that is on there is a plastic cap. If I do not have a 75 ohm terminating cap, what issues will arise?
Signal reflections from the un-terminated ports can cause issues with degradation of the network signal at the receivers.

The thing is since the MoCA 1.1 standard was designed for robustness in the face of wide varying degrees of multipath and signal reflections typical on a customer's coax plant, you likely will not even notice it.

But it is still good practice to properly terminate all unused signal ports anyhow, through admittedly there's no major urgency to get it capped.
 
#59 ·
Ugh

I can rotate the splitter, but I don't think there is enough slack to make a proper drip loop
You can raise the spitter and turn it sideways and that will fix that. my question is, why is that ground block there, it is obviously not being used as such but rather being used as a mountable barrel connector. how many receivers do you have? can that cable be connected to the splitter?


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#60 ·
This is what a drip loop should look like...



Basically, when water runs down a cable, it will follow the cable even if the cable bends and it can actually go upwards somewhat as well. The drip loops make it so that the water is forced to drip off of the cable and cannot follow the cable to its connection point.

- Merg
this is a bad example (loop on the left) as the cable coming down passes just by the connecting points and water will "jump" to those connectors . Loop on the right is to straight and with the nail clips will not let water run away

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#61 ·
peds48 said:
You can raise the spitter and turn it sideways and that will fix that. my question is, why is that ground block there, it is obviously not being used as such but rather being used as a mountable barrel connector. how many receivers do you have? can that cable be connected to the splitter?

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Are you referring to this cable? If so, this is the coax for my cable modem and not part of the DTV system. There is no drip loop on that either (been like that for years), but the grounding wire was re-connected by me after taking the picture.
 

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#62 ·
Alright...does this look any closer to what I need? I don't want any more holes in my vinyl siding, so I've not screwed anything down yet. I'm working with the amount of slack I have available at the time

I've got to work on the ground and get it angled downwards, but any other issues you see?
 

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#63 ·
Don't want to be burdensome on you;

As I realize you're likely to the point of exasperation on this issue, but I have to say rotating the splitter that way now makes the bend radius of the coaxes coming out of the splitter really too sharp now. Particularly the lowest cable in the photo.

Can you give some slack to the cables coming out of the splitter?

The minimum bend radius along any section of an RG6 coax run should really not go below around 3 in.
 
#64 ·
Not burdensome at all! I'm just trying to make it correct since the techs cannot seem to do it for me

Here is my latest attempt...please let me know how it looks! Be easy on me...been a long day dinking with this :grin:

The single cable on the right is for my cable modem and is not for DTV. The ground coming from DTV is simply running through (insulated wire) this bracket and passes through the other side and down to the grounding rod - not attached. I tried to straighten out all of the bad kinks that the install left me, but I didn't want to push my luck since some of the coax could already be damaged

It was raining earlier and most of the equipment seemed to keep pretty dry due to the overhang and the gutters
 

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#65 ·
Ahhhhhh, much better now. Now if you can get the cable company to fix their ground, you will be golden!
 
#67 ·
TorinTPG said:
I'll see what slack is available

Other than the terminator I need to get for the spare output, anything else?
you quoted me when I was responding to your earlier post. then you posted with the new pictures and I changed my post. confusing....
 
#68 ·
TorinTPG said:
I'll see what slack is available

Other than the terminator I need to get for the spare output, anything else?
This is how it should have been done from the get go. perhaps you can now apply for a job at DirecTV since you know more then the techs
 
#69 ·
peds48 said:
This is how it should have been done from the get go. perhaps you can now apply for a job at DirecTV since you know more then the techs
Aye yi yi...what an ordeal!

I was able to loosen up another wire as well. You can see how bad the tech had kinked the middle coax. This is one he had almost do a 90 degree inside the phone box. I've checked the reception and connection on the receiver and I'm at 99% signal strength on both tuners, so no longer term damage appears to have taken place
 

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#70 ·
Got it!

Much, much better;

I can see how the first installer kinked the middle cable a bit, but no real damage done.

Just get the terminating cap for the spare output and your all finished.

Sorry about the need for more holes in your vinyl siding though to re-position the splitter that way which the second installer should have done originally.
 
#71 ·
HoTat2 said:
Got it!

Much, much better;

I can see how the first installer kinked the middle cable a bit, but no real damage done.

Just get the terminating cap for the spare output and your all finished.

Sorry about the need for more holes in your vinyl siding though to re-position the splitter that way which the second installer should have done originally.
I can always caulk the holes...just happy to be done

Any suggestions where to pick up the terminator cap? I can get them online, but I think I have to order in bulk
 
#73 ·
TorinTPG said:
... Any suggestions where to pick up the terminator cap? I can get them online, but I think I have to order in bulk
Got mine from Home Depot for about $8.95 for a package of 10 when the installers left several outlets on the two 8-way SWiM splitters on my SWiM-16 open when I first upgraded to SWiM and WH service back in '10.

Price may have changed slightly by now though.
 
#74 ·
Got mine from Home Depot for about $8.95 for a package of 10 when the installers left several outlets on the two 8-way SWiM splitters on my SWiM-16 open when I first upgraded to SWiM and WH service back in '10.

Price may have changed slightly by now though.


Great - thanks!

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#75 ·
this is a bad example (loop on the left) as the cable coming down passes just by the connecting points and water will "jump" to those connectors . Loop on the right is to straight and with the nail clips will not let water run awaySent from my iPad using DBSTalk


True. I couldn't find a good photo. I was mostly showing it for the point of what a drip loop looks like, although using that photo was probably not the best one to use.


- Merg

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