OT: Combined Electrical and Coax Outlet

[Jim Thompson]

Why not buy a blank plate and drill a few holes?

John

Watson beat to that suggestion. I think it'll work, just a little
more difficult to fish the coax through.

...Jim Thompson

 

[David Lesher]

I really doubt it, NEC frowns upon signaling wires being grouped
with power wires in a receptical box. They like to see the two
run at least 1 foot apart in walls.

They even whine if you mix power and fiber......

 

[Chuck Harris]

And you would still be in violation of multiple electrical codes.

Of that, I am certain but that is what the home owner wanted and for the
same reason as Jim. I am certain there will be no short as I installed a
divider in the box.

If you put a divider in the box, then the box will be in violation for
wire fill size. [snip]
-Chuck

That apparently is not correct. I HAVE found plastic outlet boxes
with a molded-in divider, for mixed AC and "low voltage devices".

...Jim Thompson

If the box was NEC and UL approved with the divider, then it would be
ok. It is not ok to just wing it and put your own divider in the box.

Box dimensions for the line side have a wire fill requirement that for
#14 guage wire is 2 cuin for the line, 2 for the neutral, and 2 for all
of the grounds, 4 cuin for the receptical, and 2 cuin for an internal clamp.
A typical box with one duplex receptical whose circuit ends in the box
needs to be a minimum of 12 cuin in volume. A boxe's size is the size it
is NEC rated for, not necessarily the exact volume... you are not allowed
to make your own.

It is the testing part that is missing.

-Chuck

 

[Jim Thompson]

Lord Garth wrote:

And you would still be in violation of multiple electrical codes.

Of that, I am certain but that is what the home owner wanted and for the
same reason as Jim. I am certain there will be no short as I installed a
divider in the box.


If you put a divider in the box, then the box will be in violation for
wire fill size. [snip]
-Chuck

That apparently is not correct. I HAVE found plastic outlet boxes
with a molded-in divider, for mixed AC and "low voltage devices".

...Jim Thompson

If the box was NEC and UL approved with the divider, then it would be
ok. It is not ok to just wing it and put your own divider in the box.

Box dimensions for the line side have a wire fill requirement that for
#14 guage wire is 2 cuin for the line, 2 for the neutral, and 2 for all
of the grounds, 4 cuin for the receptical, and 2 cuin for an internal clamp.
A typical box with one duplex receptical whose circuit ends in the box
needs to be a minimum of 12 cuin in volume. A boxe's size is the size it
is NEC rated for, not necessarily the exact volume... you are not allowed
to make your own.

It is the testing part that is missing.

-Chuck

I've decided to go with Watson's suggestion.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Of that, I am certain but that is what the home owner wanted and for the
same reason as Jim. I am certain there will be no short as I installed a
divider in the box.

And you got both NEMA and UL approval to make the divider?

 

[larry oravetz]

Go to a store that sells tv's and has a large number of them on display.
Look at what they're plugged into. What I'm talking about is a raceway thats
split in the middle...power on one side and coax on the other. Its about 2
in wide by 1 inch tall and comes in up to 10 ft lengths.If it will work for
waht you want to do...it can be gotten from any electrical supply house..
Hope it helps

 

[Chuck Harris]

I've decided to go with Watson's suggestion.

...Jim Thompson

It should work ok, it is the one that all of the cable installers
use.

-Chuck

 

[Joerg]

Hello Jim,

That's a good idea, Watson! Three easily drilled holes, one for the
coax, two to mount the faceplate into plastic anchors.

Problem solved!

You can get stainless steel plates that look better than the cheesy
almond plastic. But whatever you do make sure it doesn't get full sun.
Else it'll cook out the coax in no time. We could not avoid that for the
eastern deck. So I hacked a gray outdoor wall outlet cover. An angle
F-connector makes sure it can close even when the TV cable is in there.

But the best was when I bought a TV modulator after finishing the
centralized TV distribution. Now we can watch Andy Griffith everywhere
just by selecting channel 69. What's missing is an IR-RF-IR feedback to
the VCR for skipping commercials.

Regards, Joerg

 

[Jim Thompson]

It should work ok, it is the one that all of the cable installers
use.

-Chuck

No, they'd staple the coax on the outside of the wall :-(

Years ago, when cable TV first came to Phoenix, the installer came and
started to do that staple routine.

I called halt, requested a spool of coax, and told the "installer" to
return in two days.

He was more than happy to oblige.

Of course it took me and the two sons both days to thread the coax
around the house (flat roof, no crawl space)*

* Hint for those in similar situations, PVC pipe makes a wonderful
"threading" device to "shove" coax through such spaces.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Jim Thompson]

Hello Jim,

You can get stainless steel plates that look better than the cheesy
almond plastic. But whatever you do make sure it doesn't get full sun.
Else it'll cook out the coax in no time. We could not avoid that for the
eastern deck.

Yep. I located the TV wall hanger at the only place on the patio
that's always shaded.

So I hacked a gray outdoor wall outlet cover. An angle
F-connector makes sure it can close even when the TV cable is in there.

That's a good idea. The heat here eats plastic like there's no
tomorrow :-(

But the best was when I bought a TV modulator after finishing the
centralized TV distribution. Now we can watch Andy Griffith everywhere
just by selecting channel 69. What's missing is an IR-RF-IR feedback to
the VCR for skipping commercials.

Regards, Joerg

I have a "Channel Plus" system. IIRC they have type-F outlets with an
IR port that can send the code out on the coax.

I don't own it since I had the builder pre-wire 4 coax between the
great room entertainment center and the garage location of the cable
TV entrance and the Channel Plus box.

...Jim Thompson

 

[NunYa Bidness]

Could be ;-)


Surfing I've found a plastic box with a partition rated for a low
voltage device plus an AC device... box, but no components.

I may just have to bite the bullet and cut another hole, but it's an
outside wall... thick stucco, not fun, or easy to be neat, to chisel
out :-(

...Jim Thompson

Buy some white RG6 and lay it along the baseboard. There are clips
which can be installed as well.

Outside walls suck. If you do decide to cut...

Those do-all spindle cutter tools out there (similar to dremel)
which would allow you to cut nearly anything to your hearts content.

The cutter head, being round instead of a blade, allows easy plunge
cuts to be made.

 

[NunYa Bidness]

I just remember:

A friend of mine had the silly idea to mux hot and cold water in the same
copper pipe to get warm water into a small room without installing a second
pipe

What was his signal to noise ratio?

 

[John Fields]

I just remember:

A friend of mine had the silly idea to mux hot and cold water in the same
copper pipe to get warm water into a small room without installing a second
pipe

 

[NunYa Bidness]

I really doubt it, NEC frowns upon signaling wires being grouped
with power wires in a receptical box. They like to see the two
run at least 1 foot apart in walls.

-Chuck

O worked at an HVAC company once where they had a 150' long serial
cable run, and it was draped all over the big power conduits along the
way to its destination. It also had breaks/splices in the foil
shielded cable.

Needless to say, that is why it did not work, and I told them that
the simple fix would be to replace the entire segment with one without
break, and with better shielding. Routing it better would also have
helped.

It was a CNC feed to a plasma cutter table from a VAX computer.

How was your question off topic?
We can engineer an outlet for you! :-]

 

[NunYa Bidness]

They even whine if you mix power and fiber......

Which has to be the most lame of mindsets. Fiber links carry no
electrical currents whatsoever, and is also not susceptible to
electrical interference.

 

[NunYa Bidness]

Go to a store that sells tv's and has a large number of them on display.
Look at what they're plugged into. What I'm talking about is a raceway thats
split in the middle...power on one side and coax on the other. Its about 2
in wide by 1 inch tall and comes in up to 10 ft lengths.If it will work for
waht you want to do...it can be gotten from any electrical supply house..
Hope it helps

Do you think the boys at the local consumer electronics store
actually get inspections of their installations done?

What does that tell you about the actual conformance of such
set-ups? Sure it works... so what? Doesn't mean that it is legal.

 

[NunYa Bidness]

It should work ok, it is the one that all of the cable installers
use.

Panduit sells small rectangular plastic conduits that have 3M tapes
on the back for attachment. They also sell the surface mount outlet
shells and faceplates too!

 

[John Larkin]

Do you think the boys at the local consumer electronics store
actually get inspections of their installations done?

What does that tell you about the actual conformance of such
set-ups? Sure it works... so what? Doesn't mean that it is legal.

For Pete's sake: we're electrical engineers. Why would we care if an
outlet is "legal"?

John

 

[NunYa Bidness]

For Pete's sake: we're electrical engineers. Why would we care if an
outlet is "legal"?

Note that I was referring to consumer electronic store employees.
They are only a couple notches above burger flippers.

 

[Lord Garth]

And you got both NEMA and UL approval to make the divider?

--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida