🐿️Pinecone Attack

c/cable-installers

0

spencerw72•4h ago

Bought a $200 cable toner that saved my bacon on an apartment complex job

Picked up a Klein Tools VDV500-820 toner at Home Depot after fighting with a faulty one for months. Found a bad line in a 12 unit building in under 20 minutes. Would have spent hours crawling attics without it. Anyone else find a tool that just clicked for them?

8

seana14•6h ago

That job at the old Masonic lodge in Cleveland taught me to double check everything

Last month I had to run cable through this old Masonic lodge downtown Cleveland. Place hadn't been updated since the 70s. I figured I'd just fish the lines through the existing conduit like always. Big mistake. Halfway through pulling Cat6, I hit something solid and the whole pull stopped dead. Turns out someone had stuffed newspaper and old insulation in the conduit years ago. Had to rip out half the drop ceiling and run new surface mount boxes. Took me three extra days and the customer was not happy about the extra holes in their plaster walls. Now I always stick a camera down any conduit before I start pulling. Anyone else run into weird stuff in old building conduits?

20

evan_morgan81•14d ago

PSA: Hit 5000 feet of coax pulled in one week and my knees are still mad at me

Last month I had a big commercial job downtown that needed all new drops for a building remodel. I figured 5000 feet in five days was doable but man, crawling through attics and under raised floors that many times really adds up. By Thursday I was using a dolly to move spools because bending over hurt that bad. Anyone else track total footage and get surprised by how hard the physical side hits?

24

christopher_singh92•15d ago

An old timer told me to stop untwisting coax so much and he was right

I used to spend forever untwisting coax cables before terminating them, thinking I was making a cleaner connection. This older installer at my shop in Cleveland watched me do it for like 5 minutes, then said 'you're just giving yourself more work for no gain.' He showed me how a little twist actually helps the shield grip better and I saw less signal loss on my next test. Has anyone else gotten away with leaving a few twists in their coax?

5

riverf34•16d ago

Debate: crimped connectors vs push-on fittings for RG6

I'm up in Portland and had to decide between crimping all my ends by hand or using those push-on fittings that cost twice as much. I went with crimped because I like the control, but after 80 jobs last month I'm wondering if my hands can take it. Plus I've heard push-ons fail less in wet weather. Anyone else made the switch and regretted it?

30

cameron770•18d ago

I finally visited that fancy new apartment complex downtown and spotted a nightmare installation

So I got a call to check out some signal issues at The Grand in Austin last Tuesday. Place looks all modern and sleek, stainless steel everything. But when I popped open the comms closet on floor 8, I nearly choked. Someone had run the coax cables right next to the main electrical panel, like less than 2 inches away. You could see interference pattern on the signal readings. Plus they used these cheapo crimp connectors that were already starting to rust after only 6 months. The building manager said they hired the lowest bidder for the buildout. I spent 4 hours re-terminating and rerouting just that one floor. Has anyone else run into this kind of shoddy work in new builds around their area?

20

riverf34•18d ago

Rant: That conversation with the senior guy at the supply house about compression fittings.

I was picking up some RG6 last Tuesday at the Graybar in Nashville, and this old timer who's been installing since the 80s just stops me. He goes "you know why those compression fittings fail on you after a year? It's cause you ain't cleaning the dielectric off the copper right." I stood there and he showed me his method with a pocketknife. That simple thing never crossed my mind but it makes total sense. Any of you ran into a small tweak like that that saved you callbacks?

3

allen.amy•19d ago

Hot take: visited a job site in Seattle last week and saw 3 different crews using zip ties on outdoor fiber runs

Watched one of those zip ties snap in the rain after just 2 hours and had to wonder why nobody carries stainless steel straps for coastal weather, anyone else run into this on damp jobs?

6

the_amy•21d ago

Why does nobody ground their drops anymore?

I swear half the new guys I see out here are just running coax straight from the tap without bonding it to the ground block first. Did a service call yesterday in a house where the customer's modem kept frying during storms, and sure enough the drop was just sitting there ungrounded from 3 years ago. It takes like 5 extra minutes to run a ground wire to the rod or the meter pan. I know it's a pain when the ground rod is on the other side of the house, but it's code for a reason. Anyone else dealing with sloppy installs that skip the bonding?

3

pat360•21d ago

Tried fiber couplers on a 3 year old splice and the signal jumped

I had a customer in Raleigh who wanted us to re-terminate some old fusion splices from 2021. Instead of cutting them back, I tried using fiber couplers to bridge the existing ends to new pigtails. The loss was actually lower than I expected, around 0.3 dB on most runs. Now I'm wondering if I've been wasting time re-splicing old joints when couplers work fine. Has anyone else tested this on older outdoor plant?

6

richard_roberts80•23d ago

Changed my mind about fish tape after watching a guy at a supply house

Went to Platt in Denver last week and saw an old timer pull 200 feet of 12/2 through three 90s with a fiberglass fish tape like it was nothing. I've always been team glow rod, but that smooth motion convinced me to finally try a proper fish tape on my next big pull. Any of you guys made the switch later in your career?

28

noahward•23d ago

That moment when I realized I'd been stripping coax wrong for 5 years

I was out on a job last month over in Arlington and this old timer watched me struggle with a stubborn connector for a minute before he finally spoke up. He told me I was peeling too much jacket off and that's why my connections kept failing after 6 months. How long did it take you to figure out you were doing something basic the wrong way?

23

jake_kelly24•26d ago

That attic junction box I swore was fine ended up costing me 3 hours

I was finishing up a new install in a house off Pine Street in Springfield. The customer had this old attic with blown in insulation everywhere and I needed to run a new drop to the living room. I looked at the junction box up there and figured I could tie in fast, maybe 20 minutes. But once I opened it, I found nothing but tangled wires from three different old repairs, no labels, and a mess of brittle insulation. It took me over 3 hours to trace every circuit, replace the box, and get it clean. Anybody else run into attic rats nests like that?

12

barbaragarcia•27d ago

Watch out for buried gas lines near Flagstaff

I was digging a pole anchor on a new install last month and barely missed a 2 inch gas line that wasn't marked on the utility map. My coworker's shovel nicked one near a house the week before and the whole street got evacuated. Has anyone else dealt with unmarked lines in their area?

21

eva_lewis•27d ago

Had a weird issue with RG6 cable this morning that stumped me for an hour

I was running a new line for a customer in a finished basement, and my signal kept dropping randomly. I checked every connector, swapped out splitters, even tested the ground block. After 45 minutes I finally found the problem - a tiny staple from a previous install had pinched the cable just enough to cause intermittent shorts. Never thought a single little staple could mess up a whole install like that. Have any of you ever run into something tiny like this that took forever to find?

7

anthony989•28d ago

Had a chat with an old electrician that changed how I pull cable

I was on a job in a warehouse downtown last Thursday and this electrician in his 60s walked over while I was fighting with a stuck run through conduit. He just said 'you're pulling against friction, not the bend' and showed me how to use a fish tape with a slight twist to reduce drag. Honestly it hit different because I've been doing this for 5 years and never thought about the physics of it that way. Has anyone else had an old timer drop some simple knowledge that made you feel like a rookie?

13

eric_carr•29d ago

Old foreman Bob back in 2009 told me I was stripping coax too fast and leaving nicks in the dielectric, so I slowed down and started using a compression tool instead of my side cutters.

That one piece of advice cut my callbacks for signal loss by about half, has anyone else had a simple tip from an old timer that actually stuck with you?

17

anthony989•1mo ago

My drill battery died mid-pull and I had to hand-crank 200 feet of coax through a drop ceiling

Last Tuesday I was swapping out a whole building in Cleveland. Old RG59, new RG6 runs. Got about halfway through a 200 foot pull through a drop ceiling when my 18v Makita just quit. Dead battery, no spare. Instead of driving 20 minutes back to the van, I grabbed a hand crank from my bag and finished the pull manually. Took forever but honestly the control was better and I made fewer snags on ceiling grid corners. Anyone else ever ditch power tools mid job and finish old school?

29

sethk43•1mo ago

Dropped $180 on a Milwaukee cable stripper and it paid for itself in two days

I was out on a job last week in an old building downtown, pulling coax through drop ceilings full of rat droppings and rusted supports. My old Klein strippers kept slipping on the jacket and I was wasting time re-stripping every damn cable. So I grabbed a Milwaukee cable stripper from the supply house on my lunch break, cost me around $180 with tax. That thing cuts through the jacket clean on the first try every time, no nicks on the inner conductor. I knocked out 22 drops in one afternoon without a single do-over. The boss even noticed and said I was moving faster than usual. Has anyone else shelled out for a high end stripper and felt like it was worth the money? Or did you find a cheaper trick that works just as good?

19

nora_barnes•1mo ago

The before and after on fiber fusion splicers surprised me

I used the same cheap splicer for 3 years and my splice loss averaged around 0.08 dB every time. Last month I borrowed a Fujikura 70S from a buddy and my first 10 splices all hit 0.02 dB or less. Is it really worth dropping $8k on a premium machine when the budget ones get the job done for most residential work?

5

charles_green•1mo ago

My boss in Phoenix mentioned we ran over 200 miles of coax in a single new build last quarter.

I was looking at the project paperwork this morning and saw the actual number, 217 miles, which is way more than I guessed. That's like pulling cable from here to the Grand Canyon and back. Has anyone else been surprised by the scale of a job after seeing the final numbers?

4

rosek73•1mo ago

The weirdest trick that got a signal through a concrete wall

I was at a job in this old apartment building in Tacoma last month, trying to get a line through a solid concrete wall to a new unit. The usual drill bits were just not cutting it, and the building manager was breathing down my neck. Out of pure frustration, I grabbed a can of compressed air from my truck, the kind you use for cleaning keyboards, and sprayed it into the tiny hole I'd started. I mean, I figured it might clear some dust, but it actually cooled the bit down so much that I was able to drill the full 8 inches in one go without it overheating. It saved me like an hour of fighting with that wall. Has anyone else ever tried something totally random that actually worked?

23

anthony_lane55•1mo ago

Vent: A customer in Dayton had their pet parrot 'help' me run a drop line last Tuesday.

The bird kept yelling 'RED WIRE!' every time I touched the coax, which was honestly more helpful than some helpers I've had. Anyone else had a job where the local wildlife got involved?

3

kellymurphy•1mo ago

PSA: My old way of pulling cable through finished walls almost cost me a job

For years I would just drill a hole and hope for the best, maybe using a glow rod. About 8 months ago on a job in a big old house in Portland, I hit a hidden gas line. The homeowner saw the scratch and freaked out, saying 'You could have blown us up.' Now I ALWAYS use a stud finder with a deep scan mode and a flexible inspection camera, the kind that costs about $150, before I drill into any wall I can't see inside. It adds maybe 10 minutes per drop but it's saved my butt three times since. What other tools do you guys use to avoid hidden surprises?

7

jason_fisher4•1mo ago

Bought a $150 cable toner that ended up being a huge help

I was on a job in an old apartment building with a total rat's nest of unlabeled cables in the basement. My old toner was acting up, so I grabbed a new one from the supply house. It found the right line in under a minute, saved me probably two hours of tracing and testing. Anyone have a favorite brand for these that holds up?