[mtm]

I posted a few days ago about adding a couple coax lines to my bedroom. The extra two lines that are in my attic and run down to my dedicated box in the basement were long enough to fish down the wall, so I didn't have to add or run any new wires.

Now that I have the wires in the walls I have a few questions:

1. What type of connectors do I need on the end of the wires?
2. Where do I get those? Home Dept, Best Buy etc?
3. How are they connected to the coax and is it easy to do?
4. I assume you can buy the tool you need at any hardware store?

 

[gulfwarvet]

I posted a few days ago about adding a couple coax lines to my bedroom. The extra two lines that are in my attic and run down to my dedicated box in the basement were long enough to fish down the wall, so I didn't have to add or run any new wires.

Now that I have the wires in the walls I have a few questions:

1. What type of connectors do I need on the end of the wires?
2. Where do I get those? Home Dept, Best Buy etc?
3. How are they connected to the coax and is it easy to do?
4. I assume you can buy the tool you need at any hardware store?

1) compression is the recommended choice (helps keep water out)
2) Home Depot or Lowes is a better choice than Best Buy. the reason why i say you can buy more in bulk at a cheaper price.
3) Instructions is easy read able on the stripping and compression tool with pictures.
4) yes, Lowes' or Home depot sells these separately or as a kit.

 

[Thaedron]

Hey there fellow Twin Cities resident.

I agree compression connectors are far better than the traditional crimp style. If you can find an inexpensive tool, that's the way to go. But if you only have a couple connectors to put on, I'd suggest asking a friend or neighbor to borrow a tool. I bought one of these compression tools at Home Depot. They also sell compression connectors, but they aren't listed on their website. Good luck.

 

[bobnielsen]

The DataShark compression tool is much less expensive than most of the others and works great. It's not on their website, but I bought one at my local Home Depot for $15.99.

 

[presant]

I posted a few days ago about adding a couple coax lines to my bedroom. The extra two lines that are in my attic and run down to my dedicated box in the basement were long enough to fish down the wall, so I didn't have to add or run any new wires.

Now that I have the wires in the walls I have a few questions:

1. What type of connectors do I need on the end of the wires?
2. Where do I get those? Home Dept, Best Buy etc?
3. How are they connected to the coax and is it easy to do?
4. I assume you can buy the tool you need at any hardware store?

Home depot also has a kit that has the compression tool, the stripper, and and some connectors all in a little tool kit. I think I paid somewhere around $35 for it when I bought it. Also has instructions that are fairly easy. Whenever I use the RG6 quad core cable, even after I fold back both sets of shields, sometimes I have problems slipping the compression fitting down over the conductor. When I'm tired I cheat by warming up the end of the coax with a cigarette lighter then the fitting just slides down and I'm done.

It gets better with practice.

 

[rudeney]

The absolute #1 rule when putting connectors on coax cable is to make sure that the grounded shielding does not come in contact with the center conductor. The fine wire mesh of the shielding can sometimes unravel a bit and a stray wire might get caught in the connector and make contact with the center conductor. That will cause all sorts of signaling problems that can be intermittent in nature making them hard to track down.

I use the crimp style connectors and haven’t really had a problem, but all of mine are inside. The installer did the outside with waterproof compression connectors.

 

[boba]

Are you moving a DVR or adding one? If adding have the installer put thr fittings on.

 

[BattleZone]

Compression connector installation primer:

http://www.hometech.com/learn/coaxterm.html

 

[captain_video]

Here's a nice little inexpensive package I saw on ebay that should fit the bill quite nicely. I use Thomas & Betts compression connectors all the time and they're quite good. I also use the exact same compression tool as the one in the ebay listing and it works great.

 

[bakers12]

Your should use compression fittings whether they are indoors or out. I bought a compression tool, stripper and a 50-pack of connectors as a kit here, then replaced every crimp fitting in the house.

 

[mtm]

Thanks for the ideas and advice. I went and purchased the kit at Lowe's yesterday and practiced on some extra wire I had. It was a bit tricky at first but after a couple tries I think I got it down. I plan on putting them on the actual wires tonight.

To answer an earlier question, I am adding a non-HD DVR to my room that I already have. I recently purchased a HR22 to replace the non HD DVR and am going to put the old one in my bedroom, so there won't be any installer coming out.

 

[harsh]

Not to be mean, but it is best not to buy accessories from BB or CC if you are concerned with value and the chance of after the sale support. The documentation that comes with consumer grade tools is almost as bad as the documentation that comes with the professional tools.

I'm personally not a big fan of compression/swage connectors (I'm old fashioned that way), but I do agree with bobnielsen that the DataShark setup with appropriate connectors works just fine.

 

[n3ntj]

I posted a few days ago about adding a couple coax lines to my bedroom. The extra two lines that are in my attic and run down to my dedicated box in the basement were long enough to fish down the wall, so I didn't have to add or run any new wires.

Now that I have the wires in the walls I have a few questions:

1. What type of connectors do I need on the end of the wires?
2. Where do I get those? Home Dept, Best Buy etc?
3. How are they connected to the coax and is it easy to do?
4. I assume you can buy the tool you need at any hardware store?

Compression style F-connectors are the way to go with all satellite coax lines.

 

[houskamp]

Compression style F-connectors are the way to go with all satellite coax lines.

Compression is the only Directv approved conector type..

 

[rudeney]

Compression is the only Directv approved conector type..

In my setup, the installers have never replaced any of my existing crimp connectors with compressions connectors, but when they added new cables (such as installing splitters to parallel two WB68's), they did use compression fittings.

I have had one or two problems with loose crimp connectors, so I'm probably going to replace all mine with compression. I need to do some clean-up anyhow. I added some cables for OTA and I didn't bother to tack them down. Also, I'd like to mount my WB68's and splitters on something solid (they are just sitting on the floor) and remove some of the excess cable slack. But all this is in the attic and it will be November before I can stand to be up there for more than 10 minutes at a time!

 

[n3ntj]

Compression is the only Directv approved conector type..

Excellent choice.

 

[BattleZone]

In my setup, the installers have never replaced any of my existing crimp connectors with compressions connectors

Then they violated DirecTV and HSP policy and if your install had been QC'd, it would have instantly failed.

Using an RF meter and antenna, you can easily see the difference in signal loss between crimp-on and compression connectors. A slightly different test reveals the amount of stray RF engress onto your sat cable when using crimp-ons.

The difference is easy to dismiss until you see the measurements with your own eyes.

Replacing those connectors is a good idea.

 

[SAlBO]

Many years ago before I bought my own compression tool I used screw on and crimp connectors with pretty good success but when an installer came out and put in a new dish he cut every one of my connectors off and replaced them with compression fittings. He did it without asking and I was thankful he did. I have all compression fittings these days and wouldnt go back to a crimper for several reasons.....

 

[harsh]

Using an RF meter and antenna, you can easily see the difference in signal loss between crimp-on and compression connectors. A slightly different test reveals the amount of stray RF engress onto your sat cable when using crimp-ons.

Link or lie.

 

[rudeney]

I have to agree with Harsh in this one. The connector type has zero effect on the center conductor. The only contact point is with the outer shielding or ground and that physical part of the two styles of connectors is identical. The only difference is the way they are secured. They both rely on friction, but the compression connector uses a better method and can create water resistant seal. Honestly, I cannot believe there is any overall statistical difference in signal quality between the two. Of course there may be plenty of anecdotal evidence that could just as easily be explained by improper installation of the connectors or even bad stripping of the cable.