Cable TV wiring question

[JMURiz]

Sorry, figured cable TV wiring would have more to do with electrical forum...please move if in the wrong section.

I am planing on re-wiring my cable TV lines from my house to my detached garage before going into the house.

I have an overhead cable wire going from the overhead pole to my house and would like to have it enter my garage first, then split off for a garage TV and enter the house through an underground conduit I installed.

What is the proper way to have the cable enter the garage? Diagrams/pictures would be very helpful. I know I'll need to ground the system and use a drip-loop, just not sure how to ensure it is correctly secured to the building.

Thanks!

 

[cobymedic]

I am not sure the proper way to run it underground, but my friend who use to be the Cable Guy told me it would not be a hard thing to do. He said they carried a special cable that was designed to be underground, so maybe if you contact your local provider they might be able to help you out.

My only concern would be if you went to your garage first with your cable then split it off to the house, your reception in the garage may be better then in the house. The longer the cable the weaker the signal. Might not be an issue for you if you spent more time in the garage, but the rest of the household might not like snowy TV, could be corrected with a signal booster tho.

 

[JMURiz]

My house is all of 30' from the overhead line, with the garage in between. I have **** reception currently as the cable line enters the house where the power does (I'm guessing that can't be too good for the signal). So I figured I'd run it away from the power lines and into the garage.

I already have a PVC pipe burried so the underground part is easy. Just didn't know the correct way to secure to the garage structure.

 

[cobymedic]

The cable my budy used, when we ran the drop from the pole had a smaller wire attached to it which he used to secure the cable to the house. If I remember right he just used a hook of some kind. This is the same wire that is used to ground your cable. Things might be done differntly in different areas however.

Have you mentioned the poor reception to your provider, they may fix the issue free of charge. Thats what happened in my case, when I moved it the previous owner told me there was poor receptions so when I had the cable activated I mentioned this and they sent someone out to fix it. (which just happened to be my buddy)

 

[rinny_tin_tin]

Sorry, figured cable TV wiring would have more to do with electrical forum...please move if in the wrong section.

I am planing on re-wiring my cable TV lines from my house to my detached garage before going into the house.

I have an overhead cable wire going from the overhead pole to my house and would like to have it enter my garage first, then split off for a garage TV and enter the house through an underground conduit I installed.

What is the proper way to have the cable enter the garage? Diagrams/pictures would be very helpful. I know I'll need to ground the system and use a drip-loop, just not sure how to ensure it is correctly secured to the building.

Thanks!

Its pretty simple - penetrate the garage through a hole. Install your drip loop and some form of strain relief - perhaps a nylon clamp. Caulk the hole. Install a new cable termination and a splitter with the line to your conduit. You shouldn't have any serious denigration of signal as most cable feeds are several db more than needed. I have several "splices," splitters, and long branches and surprisingly, it all works fine.

 

[Stuart in MN]

The existing TV cable from the pole to your house is most likely the property and the responsibility of the cable company, so if that's the part you want to relocate you should probably talk to them about it.

 

[79firebird]

For underground just run it in a conduit pipe best way to do it. i see people just berry the cable in the ground wich is a pain if you end up diging and hit it. then this way later on you can run a phone and internet cable out there to no prob. call the cable co to se if they can run it to your garage. my boss just got the cable re ran to his house old one had a lot of static and they put rg11 going to the cable bog from the pole no loss now.

 

[kenfath]

Our cable company maintains their cables. The last time they were here the tech said they would install cabling in the garage and to just give them a call when I was ready. My suggestion is ask your cable company about making the changes you want or at least get a price from them. You may be pleasantly surprised!

We had some signal issues and the cable provider concluded the cable between the junction by the curb and the house was deficient. The cable company had a contractor replace the direct buried cable with a new cable which was placed inside a flexible conduit. They also installed a grounding device and used the water pipe for the ground. The water pipe was a gray PVC riser for a hose bib. We had the tech come back and he finally had to scrape the pipe before he agreed it was a stupid connection.

 

[Torque1st]

If you end up messing up the signal for your neighbors the cable company may get real upset with you. The drop is their property and responsibility until it hits the demark block on the house. The rest of the cable is yours but you may have a service contract. Call the cable company and have them do the alterations on the line. The poor signal you now have is probably from a bad connection somewhere. They can also identify that problem and fix it.

 

[mhm993]

Absolutely call the cable company. They are responsible for a good, low noise connection to your house. Better, they may even provide you with the coax cable free. Ours gave us the cable before we trenched for services to our detached, which is about 100 from the house.

 

[Tech Guy]

Something to keep in mind. Most cable companies use RG59u cable which is not rated for broadcast tv but for CCTV (camera systems) Then they amplify the hell out of it to bring it up to a decent signal. The proper cable rated for bandwitdh on broadcast tv is RG6U (satellite cable). Its a little more expensive than 59u so thats why the cable companies us the 59U. I would suggest feeding your house with the RG6u in the conduit from the garage. Just make sure you have properly terminated ends as bad connections equal bad signal. Also make sure your cable has a 95% copper braid and not aluminum as the copper braid is superior. Hope that helps.

 

[Kevin54]

Absolutely call the cable company. They are responsible for a good, low noise connection to your house. Better, they may even provide you with the coax cable free. Ours gave us the cable before we trenched for services to our detached, which is about 100 from the house.

I ran a bunch of cable a few years ago. Today, that same cable (from the box stores)is not as good as what they (the cable companies) now have. The cable guy told me that it will pull down reception on your main set. So a while back I disconnected it and removed some splitters that were in there. The cable guy told me to call him anytime and they will upgrade the cable for free to whatever room we wanted. It made a huge difference. Even the connectors the cable companies carry make a difference over what you get out of WallyWorld in the TV department.

 

[Torque1st]

I run all the cable in my house. I use RG6Q and decent connectors using a decent crimper. I also use silicone dielectric on all connections in the basement or exposed to moisture. It seems to be as good as anything the cable company uses.

 

[2LTim]

One thing to keep in mind, Cable signal strength varies widely from town to town, even house to house. Each time you put your signal through a splitter, you will loose 3db of signal. If you only have, say 7db to start with, and split it two times, guess why your picture on the last TV looks like ****. For best reception at all locations, do all of your splitting with just one splitter. If you must split again, use a signal booster/splitter to pick up the signal you have lost, or put up with bad reception.

 

[helgrind]

I don't know where you guys live but around here we've been using RG-6 for at least 10 years. All the 59 is from the early 90's and before I would imagine. We always had to re run lines if they were active and using 59.

Hang the drop on the garage via. "P" hook. clamp down the length of the siding/whatever. INSTALL A GROUNDBLOCK! When I did cable I usually put the entrance penetration about knee height or the same as the other services (telco, etc). Put service loops on the drop and the inline to your splitter, some people call it a "drip loop". If you have high speed internet service I recommend you have that on the first split due to it needing a good return path. Make sure you use a good quality F connector (compression preferable). Try to keep the number of splitters to a minimum. The cable company is responsible for the drop but may charge you to relocate it to the garage.

 

[Bigeze69]

Most cable companies use RG59u cable which is not rated for broadcast tv but for CCTV (camera systems)

I'm sorry, but we are always trying to get rid of that old crappy copper 59 wiring in customer's houses. That old 59 is the reason for about 30% of our service calls. I have been in CATV for 13 years and we have never installed 59. Only RG-6. That stuff is for Wal-mart and Rat Shack to sell.

We are required to run our main service drop and follow power if at all possible. Our main plant is built with power and we are required to follow and bond with power nearest the power meter before entry into the home. That being said, we don't usually run the drop to an outbound structure first and then to the main residence for this exact reason. We like to have all cables in the house "home run" style to one location. Either in a utility closet, basement, or even the attic depending on the house. This will evenly distribute the signal throughout the house evenly depending on what cable services you have on which outlet. Since your garage is very close to the house I wouldn't think you would have much signal loss on the cable. If I had your call I would just give you whatever cable you needed and let you run it and then we would come back and put all the proper connectors on it and verify all signals.

Since the drop is bonded/grounded to power at the meter base there is no reason to bond/ground at the garage. If your conduit is on the outside of the wall just get some 1/2" grey conduit and a 90 elbow and just go directly into the garage much like power enters a structure.

 

[Junkman]

What I suggest it that you install a PVC conduit up the side of the garage, and at the top, install a weather head. Bring this cable inside the building where you want it. Also install a PVC Conduit on the house, and do the same with the weather head. Then call the cable company and they will install a separate wire from the pole to each building. The weather head will protect the conduit from water getting into it, and make it easier for the cable guy to run his wire. If you have access to a way to trench, then instead of the overhead drop at the house, bury a conduit that you can run the cable from the garage to the house. Give the installer a few bucks and he will set it up for you properly.
One thing that I have learned, is that if you are going to have multiple outlets in the house, then you should home run each of them back to the main cable where it enters the home. This is the best way to get a strong signal to each of the sets. If the signal is weak at the pole, they can install a booster to improve the signal. Good cable and good connections make all the difference in reception. Don't cheat on the quality of the wire to save money. In the end, you will pay with poorer quality reception. When I wired my home, I bought the best wire that I could.. today, that wire is considered junk, compared to the quality of wire that is presently available. Time to rewire the house..

 

[Bigeze69]

Then call the cable company and they will install a separate wire from the pole to each building.

They might or might not. I know in our cable system our main plant is built to only feed one house per port. There are only so many ports on each pole to hook up to. If all the ports are full already then they would just put a 2way and split your signal there. If this is the case, then it defeats the purpose of running a separate line to the garage from the pole, even if they would do it.

It all really depends on which tech comes out and how much he wants to work on this for you...

 

[mrb]

a couple things worth mentioning:

-if you have a cable modem, consider having a 2 way splitter where the service comes in. One side of it goes right to the modem, the other side feeds another splitter for the televisions. This will minimize loss and return path issues for your cable modem. Or use one of the lower loss ports on a 5way. The larger splitters are just a series of 2 ways put together inside the housing anyway.

-only use quality 1ghz or higher splitters like the type the cable co uses. DONT use the splitters from wal mart, radio shack, etc.

-eliminate any crimp on or twist on connectors in your house. ONLY use compression style fittings such as Snap N Seal, PPC, etc. Dont use the ideal ones from HD or Lowes.

-eliminate any RG59 jumpers or anything with a molded connector on the end. Replace with RG6 jumpers with compression fittings.

 

[dipper]

I did exactly as the OP indicated cause the wife wasn't happy about the phone and cable lines running down the back side of the house. "Okay, I'll put them on the back side of the garage and feed the house underground from there".
Before I started my build, I knew that the phone and cable lines drooping over the driveway would be too low, so I called and had them come out and raise them up as high as possible. They ended up charging me like $50 for that so when it came time to finally remove the cables from the house and attach them to the garage; I vowed to just do it myself.
I was able to get some new slide hanger type thing that the companies use for drops from a friend that works for Frontier. I re-used the screw in hook that came out of the house. The phone line went into the box that I took off the house, then drilled two holes below that the phone and cable enter into the garage through those standard plugs with a little clear caulk.
Inside the garage directly in front of where the cables come in is a 2-gang box for the connections. From there I go to a structured wiring panel where there is a 2 way splitter for the cable and the phone line is connected to the lines going underground to
the house. I bought the cheap ideal compression crimper from lowes ($20) and have been collecting the compression fittings from my local time warner guys evertime I see them. They are usually more than happy to give you a couple. They work in the crimper fine and per the datasheet are compatible. I've had the time warner guys out to the house and everytime I have to go over how it's connected, but most are usually in awe of the attention to detail I used in designing my structured wiring panels. I don't envy there jobs having to go into people's houses everyday and try to figure out how things are hooked up and jerry rigged.

The power/phone/cable lines run right behind my garage, so I just came off the pole about 5 feet and zip tied to the other wires there and then loop over about 5 feet to the garage.

Outside pic of wiring -

Crappy pic of junction panel -

 

[Tech Guy]

I'm sorry, but we are always trying to get rid of that old crappy copper 59 wiring in customer's houses. That old 59 is the reason for about 30% of our service calls. I have been in CATV for 13 years and we have never installed 59. Only RG-6. That stuff is for Wal-mart and Rat Shack to sell.


You and helgrind are correct. I still have 59u in my neighbourhood due to its age. Every year we have new 59u strung thru the trees until they start digging the broken ones up which they replace with RG6. They have started running fiber down one side of the street so far.

 

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

See if you can get your cabhle company to use RG7 from the pole to the house. Then use RG6 for the rest of your run. I have almost 275' from the ploe to my house. Had **** signal until the cable company replaced the RG6 with RG7. Great signal now. Also squirrls may be chewing on your cable at the pole.

 

[Scotto]

a couple things worth mentioning:

-if you have a cable modem, consider having a 2 way splitter where the service comes in. One side of it goes right to the modem, the other side feeds another splitter for the televisions. This will minimize loss and return path issues for your cable modem. Or use one of the lower loss ports on a 5way. The larger splitters are just a series of 2 ways put together inside the housing anyway.

-only use quality 1ghz or higher splitters like the type the cable co uses. DONT use the splitters from wal mart, radio shack, etc.

-eliminate any crimp on or twist on connectors in your house. ONLY use compression style fittings such as Snap N Seal, PPC, etc. Dont use the ideal ones from HD or Lowes.

-eliminate any RG59 jumpers or anything with a molded connector on the end. Replace with RG6 jumpers with compression fittings.

This is good info, thanks a lot

 

[mrb]

See if you can get your cabhle company to use RG7 from the pole to the house. Then use RG6 for the rest of your run. I have almost 275' from the ploe to my house. Had **** signal until the cable company replaced the RG6 with RG7. Great signal now. Also squirrls may be chewing on your cable at the pole.

are you sure you dont mean RG11? I dont think there is an RG7, but RG11 is commonly used for long drops.

 

[helgrind]

are you sure you dont mean RG11? I dont think there is an RG7, but RG11 is commonly used for long drops.

supposively there is a such thing as rg7 but i've never seen/used it. we always ran 320 or if i could get away with it, 11. running 320 on a ladder is the ****.

 

[sammerdog]

I'm sorry, but we are always trying to get rid of that old crappy copper 59 wiring in customer's houses. That old 59 is the reason for about 30% of our service calls. I have been in CATV for 13 years and we have never installed 59. Only RG-6. That stuff is for Wal-mart and Rat Shack to sell.

A big Thank You to Bigeze69 - I think you may have saved me a dose of idiot tax.

I grabbed a roll of RG59U the other week to make a run from the splitter in basement out to attached garage, with one box in a guest room along the way. Approx 75 foot total. I'm not real picky about the reception in my garage (old hand me down 19" tv), but will adding 75' of RG59U cause the rest of my TV's to get worse reception? Or will it only impact the TV's on that run?

It looks like the cable company ran 59 into the house, and no real concerns so far.