atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Installing outdoor speakers

I am going to run some outdoor speakers under my deck. Being a telephone guy, I know I need to ground & bon deverything exiting the building, but I don't know what the correct solution for an outdoor speaker system is. Would someone please enlighten me?

Keep in mind I haven't shopped out the parts yet, so please forgive me if there is actually a ground lug of sorts on this type of speaker - I am just planning out some spring time needs.

I am also interested in solutions for 8ohm outdoor speakers. They will be mounted out of view, so estetics are not important. I would like to keep the budget reasonable, and will spend most of my budget on the indoor speakers. Any reccomendations?

Yamaha make a nice set of outdoor speakers, and though they are a bit pricey BOST outdoor speakers have great sound. PANAMAX also makes a protection module for outdoor speakers.

This is what we used to do on the speaker end, actually I still do. I install a water proof box for my connection and between my drop and the speaker I take 26 gauge wire and wrap it about my screw driver about a dozen times. What this does is lightening likes to travel in a straight line, so when it hit's the coil it blows it out. On the amp side I use low voltage protection as Anthony has described.

Thanks for the info. That part looks like it will fit the job much better than the POTS two pair protector I would have used if left to my own devices

Justbill: So you actually wrap the speaker cable itself? Is that actually a tried and true method?

I wouldn't spend any money on a protector unless you are talking about LONG exposed runs to the speakers. Generally speaking, if the cable runs are less than 100 feet, you can just run the cables directly to the speakers. If the speakers are installed on a structure that's attached to the building itself, i.e: Deck or patio, then protection is not going to be necessary. Protectors that are designed around the telephone industry are intended to encompass surges that are derived from exposure to miles of telephone cable. I doubt that's the case here.

Lightning is going to kill the coil in an 4-8 ohm speaker anyway, despite what you do to protect it. We are talking about wire in the 40+ gauge range.

I'd just run the cables as carefully as you can and invest in lower-cost speakers. You can't really enjoy good speaker quality outdoors anyway. Check with www.mcminone.com for some good speakers that won't break your heart if lightning gets them. Mine have been installed on my deck for ten years with no lightning protectors whatsoever.

Yes, absolutely what Ed said. Don't waste your time on protectors and especially don't use telecom protectors.

Most of the blown patio and deck speakers I find got that way because they couldn't handle the power available from the amp and the kids cranked the volume up trying to blast the neighborhood like a rock concert. Sometimes the volume gets set too high inadvertently because the speakers are outside the house and you can't hear them from where the audio equipment is located. If somebody doesn't know that the inside speakers are off they crank up the volume trying to get them to work. A few minutes of that and they are toast if they can't handle it.

So that's something else to consider- power handling capacity.

-Hal

For the record (so I don't loose my last star, if that is possible) the telco protectors was a joke.

So Hal, you don't think protectors are necessary? I was kind of thinking that myself.. but it just doesn't seem right. I am only running our of the house about 3 feet (most of the wiring is going to be under an extension porch of the house).

On the other hand, I am also planning on running telephone, cable, data, doorbell, and alarm wires out to the the garage. So far I am planning a 3/4" burried PVC conduit... but I have yet to do the research to figure out what sort of standards need to be met with respect to electrical codes.

Now that I am writing it down instead of planning in my head, it seems it would be a bad idea to run a doorbell wire in that same conduit... I will probably be better off with a wireless solution, or possibly integrating the doorbell with the telephone. Hmm.. good thing I have a nasty Saskatchewan winter to plan it all out.

No. I terminate the drop to the speaker on a block. I teminate the speaker on a block. Between the two, to tie them together is a piece of wrapped 26 gauge, this will blow before the speaker blows on a lightening stike. Been there, done that, works great. I use the water proof drop wire boxes and put two terminal blocks in them, you could just mount a 42A in them and go the same thing.

I'm with Ed and Hal. Trying to install lightning protection on such a short run like that will achieve nothing except wasting money and effort.

I don't know about the Canadian Electrical Code, but most codes including the American NEC and the British IEE Wiring Regulations have rules about the classes of circuits which can share a conduit or raceway. Over here, for example, you can only pull phone/data/signaling circuits into the same conduit with power if they are run with cable rated for the highest voltage present on the power conductors. In a situation like yours, it would generally be much easier to run a second conduit for all the LV wiring.

Paul is correct. If you're running power and signal together all the cables got to be at the higher insulation rating.

I remember hooking up elevator phones, where I had to run through conduit/trough etc. that shared power. I would change over on a 42A block to 14 or 16 gauge electrical cable.

That being said if all you're running is "telephone, cable, data, doorbell and alarm" those all sound like low voltage to me. You may have some trouble fitting them in one 3/4" pipe though.

Sam