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Spent 3 hours chasing a signal leak that turned out to be a coax staple too tight
Had a job in Dayton last Tuesday where the internet kept dropping every 20 minutes and I swore it was a bad splitter. I swapped three splitters, reran the drop from the box, and even replaced the modem before I found it. Turned out my own staple from the original install had pinched the cable just enough to mess with the signal when the sun hit the wall. Took me 3 hours and 4 trips up the ladder for something I did to myself. Any of you got a trick for checking staples without pulling the whole run apart?
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hugo_jones1d ago
Honestly the staple trick that saved me was getting one of those cheap tone and probe setups so you can wiggle sections of the cable and watch the needle jump. Way faster than pulling the whole run apart. But real question, was it actually the staple pressure or was the sun heating the jacket and letting the center conductor shift? I have seen cables test fine in the morning and go to crap by 2pm just from expansion. Did you meter it cold vs hot to confirm it was the pinch and not a temp thing?
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