That moment I realized I was stripping way too much jacket off every drop

I was out on a job last Tuesday wiring up a new build in a townhouse complex over near Oakwood. Been doing this for about 4 years now and I always just eyeballed how much jacket to strip off the coax before crimping the connector. Never really thought twice about it. Well the lead tech on the site walked over and asked me why my connectors had a half inch of exposed braid showing. I told him that's just how I always did it. He showed me his and there was maybe an eighth of an inch of bare braid max. He said all that exposed stuff is just asking for signal loss and corrosion down the line. I felt pretty dumb honestly. Any of you other installers ever find out you've been doing a basic step wrong for years? What tipped you off?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenw2324d ago

Read a forum post saying the same thing about corrosion issues.

simon_wood7224d ago

Corrosion is a real problem with those older models, I've seen it pop up a lot on the forums. The issue seems to be with the aluminum housing reacting to moisture getting trapped under the seals. Replacing those seals every couple years might help, but it's a pain to do. Some guys have had success just drilling a tiny drain hole at the bottom to let any water out before it sits too long.