Problem With One Sky Box

[harveymt]

My parent's are having trouble with one of their Sky boxes. I originally thought it was the dish but on closer inspection I think it is the cable from the LNB to the box.

The Sky+ box works fine. The other basic Sky box's picture and sound crackle and flicker. I moved the Sky+ cables into different connectors on the LNB and they still worked so it's not that. The basic Sky box was the first box in the house and has been there for over 10 years. I noticed today that the cable out from the house looks like it's been cut too short and the engineer has added a small length to it. This was done by adding a connector like the one used to connect to the Sky box. This goes into an adaptor. A small length of cable is then connected to this with another connector and then into the dish. The whole thing was wrapped in tape, I guess to protect from the elements. I think maybe water has got in here somewhere and this may be the cuase of the problem. Am I on the right lines? Only way I can think of fixing it is to cut lengths off each cable to hopefully remove any water and redo it the way the engineer has originally.

Sound about right?

 

[daveh75]

harveymt:
My parent's are having trouble with one of their Sky boxes. I originally thought it was the dish but on closer inspection I think it is the cable from the LNB to the box.

The Sky+ box works fine. The other basic Sky box's picture and sound crackle and flicker. I moved the Sky+ cables into different connectors on the LNB and they still worked so it's not that. The basic Sky box was the first box in the house and has been there for over 10 years. I noticed today that the cable out from the house looks like it's been cut too short and the engineer has added a small length to it. This was done by adding a connector like the one used to connect to the Sky box. This goes into an adaptor.A small length of cable is then connected to this with another connector and then into the dish.You mean an F to F adaptor(barrel) like below

With an F connector on the cable ends like below

harveymt:The whole thing was wrapped in tape, I guess to protect from the elements.Correct,it would of been wrapped with amalgamating tape to waterproof it,though this is poor practice and considered a bodge.The cable should have been replaced completely with a continuous run from LNB to STB. harveymt: I think maybe water has got in here somewhere and this may be the cuase of the problem. Am I on the right lines?Most likely this is the cause yes!harveymt: Only way I can think of fixing it is to cut lengths off each cable to hopefully remove any water and redo it the way the engineer has originally.Sound about right? No,dont do that that's worse than the engineers original bodge!!!

Just cutting the cable end's and remaking the connections isn't good enough.If water has been getting in,it can and does travel the length of the cable along the cables foam/plastic dialectric(centre core insulation) through capillary action.Check that water hasn't travelled along the cable to the STB aswell.

Also,if the cable has been there as long as the original Sky STB (10years) it's well past it's life expectency anyway.This type of cable is only rated as lasting about 5years when used outside,before the pvc insulation starts to break down/crack due to prolonged exposure to UV,Infra red,wind,rain and pollution and becomes susceptible to water ingress.

Completely replace the cable from LNB to STB so there's no joins in the cable. Use the proper cable for the job,which is Webro WF100, it's not expensive and is available cut to length from Here for example.

Make sure the cable termination on the LNB is waterproofed with either amalgamating tape or a weather boot and silicon grease,all also available from Satcure.....