Protective cover on TV cables

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

The [relatively new to me] abode has both a TV aerial and a satellite dish … neither of which is currently in use.

Where the cables penetrate the wall, there is a moulded cover to provide some weather-protection:

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Unfortunately for me … the cables appear to have been routed via the cavity-wall, which has then been insulated, and I have no sight of them appearing internally from that point.

So … Can anyone identify that cover, please, and tell me what I should to expect to find behind it. … Will it be covering connectors, or just a hole through the wall?

The unpredictable weather leaves me reluctant to go exploring !

Thanks

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Usually just a hole

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi MichaelG, I've recently replaced my satellite dish with a new one for use with my new Freesat box, the dish kit came with a similar moulded piece of plastic, which they call a brick damage cover. Someone may have just put a connection box under yours, but I think they would have had to cut a hole big enough for one into the brickwork. In the instructions with mine, the cover is just glued on with a suitable adhesive. I haven't put mine on, as the drilled hole didn't make any real damage.

Regards Nick.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks, both

MichaelG.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

A hole, usually straight through because it's hard to route a cable inside a finished cavity wall.

Straight through doesn't mean it will be easy to trace though. Might be hidden on the inside behind skirting or whatever.

The so and so who installed the TV coax drop cable from my loft to living room socket 40 years ago looped it round a batten mid-way. The git turned a simple cable replacement job into a major works project because the cable can't be pulled through and is deep inside the wall.

Dave

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

One other reason for the cover is that it should encourage the fitter to run the cable down from aerial or dish to below the hole and then turn it up and into the hole so it enters the bottom of the cover. Without a cover there is a temptation to come down the wall and in with the risk of rain running down the cable and into the house, having the cable loop back up means water drips off the bottom of the loop. Though I have seen them put on upside down.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, as JasonB has said, another thing that people don't do is making sure the drilled hole is sloping slightly downwards to the outside, which will help prevent rain on the wall running into the hole and into the house.

Regards Nick.

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Usually just a hole which should have a slight up angle from the outside wall to the inside. Again as Jason has stated, if correctly fitted, stops the ingress of water into the property. Red brick coloured ones look a pig on stone properties.

Shouldn't be a 'coupler' under it.

Regards Ian.

Nick just beat me with angle whilst typing. other one to note is a rubber flanged plug  on outside, again with the 'drop loop' and a flexible sealant.

Edited By Circlip on 07/08/2023 11:03:08

Edited By Circlip on 07/08/2023 11:03:35

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I got zapped by a sat cable once, only a small zap but it was there

Apparently the old cables were live, don't know about nowadays

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks again, everyone … I get the general ‘good practice’ stuff [although at this property there is not very much of that in evidence] … I was a little worried because this particular cover has digital moulded into it [which probably just dates it to the installation of the satellite dish and/or the upgraded aerial] and I had not seen that before.

Lots of stuff to do before I start tearing things like this off the walls … but it will need to happen sometime.

MichaelG.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Embarrassing revelation

I have just moved the corner-cabinet on which my computer monitor sits [one of the first items that I installed], and have re-discovered that the two co-ax cables do enter the room through the wall, and presumably therefore are not routed via the cavity.

… That should make things much simpler !

MichaelG.

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

Posted by Ady1 on 07/08/2023 11:08:34:

I got zapped by a sat cable once, only a small zap but it was there

Apparently the old cables were live, don't know about nowadays

The power to the LNB goes through the cable and may be at one of two voltages (13 or 18v), the supplied voltage selecting the polarization of the LNB. That is why you cannot just split the signal from a single LNB to two receivers as one may be tuned to a channel with horizontal polarization and the other vertical.

Brian G

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Ady1 on 07/08/2023 11:08:34:

I got zapped by a sat cable once, only a small zap but it was there

Apparently the old cables were live, don't know about nowadays

Hi Ady1, when I hooked up my satellite finder on my new dish, the freesat box was in standby mode, and when I disconnected one of the leads from the LNB, I kept getting a very uncomfortable tingling in my figures when the other hand was holding onto my aluminium ladder. It soon dawned on me that I had to go back indoors and turn the box off completely, then go back and connect the finder, and go back and turn the box on again, and once it was all set up, I had to do the turning off and back on in reverse. So yes they are juiced up nowadays.

Regards Nick.

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