Coiling up Coaxial Cable

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I got an extra 6 feet of Comcast cable coming through the wall. How tight can I coil the cable up without damaging it? Right now it wants to be coiled up at a relaxed 16 inch diameter, but I'm wondering if I can coil it up tighter without breaking it. The cable is super stiff compared to Ethernet cable.
 
I have several pieces around the house that are coiled to about 6 inches. The stuff is shielded and that bulks it up and makes it stiffer
 
Linctex - that can't be done because the hole where the cable comes through the wall is filled in with silicone sealant.

Bioburner - 6 inches would be plenty tight enough. Even 10 inches would look better than it is now.
 
Don't coil it too much tighter than the 16 in dia. You can get screwy results by snapping that center conductor. EG kinda sorta still working intermittently.

The fix is to cut the wire off where you want it and splice a new F connector on. You might even be able to flirt with comcast into doing it for you.
 
Eljefino - that would probably be the best way if I could make up my mind where I want the modem to sit.
 
I put my modem in my basement and use Cat-5 to get it to my 2nd wifi hot spot as well as my blu-ray player so it doesn't overload the wifi. Clean.
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Im going to guess it is rg6 coax which has a min bend radius somewhere around 10x the cable diameter.. or like 3 inches. If the jacket is wrinkling you are going to small
 
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When you coil Coax, you break the integrity of the shield if it's copper alone (no additional mylar shield) and knowing how the average Cable Co operates, they are almost certainly using the cheapest bulk cable they can find, which means probably copper braid only.

Most Coax cable, if you can find the spec, will have a minimum bend radius limitation. Again, the chances of you finding the spec for what your Cable Co uses is slim to none, but 6" is a pretty common number.

Also note that when you coil any cable you create an inductive element, and inductance can lead to instability in some cases. Coiling a power cable can trip breakers, for example, where if you instead lay the cable out in a straight line to take up the slack it may run your power tool all day.

In the end, it's best to cut it to the desired length and add a connector.

You don't have to do that yourself ... it's the installer's fault and it's the installer's problem to fix. Create a ticket. If they give you grief about the reason, hang up, and make something up and call again. The installer will fix it in five minutes when he gets to you.

On the other hand, maybe you do want to do it yourself ...
 
I'm guessing what you have is RG-6 (maybe QS) with a solid center conductor. It is indeed much stiffer than Ethernet.

The more relaxed, the better. Coiling also induces inductance but with such a large dia., it won't matter much.
 
Drip loops are allowed to be 3" in diameter or larger, so it can be coiled pretty tight without damage.

p_SCW_240_02.jpg
 
They do that so if you re-arrange the room you have plenty of cord to do so. It's standard operating procedure.
 
I got it coiled up in an 8-inch loop now. I'm not going any smaller than that.

I also noticed they used 16 gage coaxial instead of the 18 gage homeowner grade.
 
Your fine. Coaxial cable is more rugged than you think.
 
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Originally Posted By: eljefino
.... You might even be able to flirt with comcast into doing it for you.


Some local cable "techs" told me that most of their ingress / egress leaks were down to user installed connectors and pirate connections. They were sniffing around for leaks when I saw them out in the street, suspiciously eyeballing the four band yagi on my roof tower.

The cable should have an identification type and from that you can get a spec for how much it can be bent. If it is typical TV cable stuff, three or four inches is probably OK, I would err on the side of caution.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Drip loops are allowed to be 3" in diameter or larger, so it can be coiled pretty tight without damage.

p_SCW_240_02.jpg



Hate the random screws through the siding, but I don't think I've ever seen an installer do nice drip loops like that.. ever. Can't afford to with money they rake in apparently. LOL.
 
Around here, installers put a small utility box on the house so nothing is seen or exposed to the elements.In that picture, the ends should be connected to a block not a plain barrel so that the ground side can be tied to a ground rod.
 
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Originally Posted By: CKN
They do that so if you re-arrange the room you have plenty of cord to do so. It's standard operating procedure.


They are lower than entry point so that any water that drips down onto the wire is more likely to go to the bottom of the loop and not go into the property.
 
What is pictured above is actually a SERVICE loop. They are duel purpose.

A) to act as "drip" loops.
B) to leave extra coax for replacing the connectors.

If your doing you service call by the book for Comcast you have to replace all the outdoor connectors with the PPC snap and seal "aqua" style connectors. . At the tap, ground block, and any outdoor splitters. Barrels are not allowed on aerial drops. So if the last guy didn't leave you a service loop your running a new drop.

You can have strait drip loops too.
 
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