sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring cctv cable and termination

Hello everyone,

I recently ran into the situation at my current job where the Pelco security system was installed about 8 years ago or so by what I believe was the electrician doing the install. One of the cameras developed a dark image, so I got up on the ladder and discovered that the BNC what looks a compression connector is just twisted onto the RG6u (markings on the cable) and taped off with the electrical tape. All of the connectors are taped with electrical tape as well at the at the dry tower end as well, I assume now they are just loosely twisted onto a cable as well. Anyways, the issue with the camera I think might be a bad automatic iris lens, so I am getting one from eBay used of course for a good price. My concern is the cabling and terminations of it, I want to take care of, however the only experience I have with RG6 cable is quadshield that I installed at my friends house with f connectors about 4 or 5 drops and terminations total. Never had to work with prior to that or after that one time install, and that was a long time ago. I got lucked out as I bought an open item Ideal compression tool at HD and returned it afterwards as the cost of it was not something that I could afford for a one time install. Now I am looking into getting a decent tool and was looking at Ideal 30-793 for the tool as looks like it will be able to accommodate the BNC connector. My questions are:
Is there a specific connectors to be used for that type of cable? Not sure if RG59 is equivalent to RG6u?
Is special tricks to be aware of when doing the terminations? From what I've seen on youtube and some posts online seems fairly simple and doable with little patience.
I'd appreciate your input and opinions on the issue at hand.

Thanks

RG59 and RG6 are different sizes, they require different connectors.
The Ideal tool you listed should work, provided that you buy their BNC connectors.
https://www.idealind.com/prodDetail.do?prodId=bnc-compression-connectors&div=2&l1=connectors

You mentioned that you suspect that the electricians installed the style 6 cable (incorrectly referred to as "RG6"). That is a common misnomer, as is RG59.

Electrical contractors tend to use CAT5e and RG6 for everything that they do. If it is low voltage, then CAT5e is the only thing that will work in their minds, be it for doorbell wiring, phones, thermostats, you name it. If it is low voltage, then CAT5e is their one-size fix for it.

The same thing applies for anything that requires a coaxial cable in their minds. Style 6 ("RG6") is their magic solution for everything. For simplicity's sake, I'll just refer to it as RG6, RG59, etc. hereon.

CCTV usually uses RG59 cable. It is 22 gauge (center conductor), while RG6 typically uses an 18 gauge conductor. The much larger cable design isn't typically designed to terminate with anything other than CATV type F connectors (F56, for example). There really aren't any industry standard applications for RG6 cable other than for cable TV.

RG59 on the other hand is used for many other applications, including CCTV, antennas and other applications that don't require heavy bandwidth. Manufacturers of connectors have tended to cater their designs to the cables that are most appropriate for the application. This is why you won't find BNC connectors that are designed to interface with RG6 since those connectors aren't used in cable TV installations.

I guess where I am going is to refer to electrical applications that might make more sense. While it is perfectly acceptable for someone to use #6 AWG electrical cable to support a 20 amp circuit, you'll be hard pressed to find a 20 amp device that will support the termination of a #6 wire. Manufacturers assume that the installers know what they are doing and won't try to cram the wrong type of wire into an application. It appears that your situation is one of those that the manufacturers fear.

If it were my situation, I'd stick with standard F56 connectors that are designed to work with the RG6 cable and then use adapters that will convert this type F connector to a standard CCTV type BNC connector. While it is true that you can get type BNC connectors that will work with RG6 cable, I really think that you'll be much better off by using the appropriate connectors for the cable and then adapt them.

Thanks
You Jeff and Ed, you are a world of information. It starts to make sense a little sense sinse I do not deal much with that type of cables. I just found a removed connector from the camera cable, I guess I did take with me for reference. It does look to me to be pressed/crimped already, since I do not see an "inspection hole". From my observations so far the cable does look to be rg6, but with only a center conductor, dialectic insulator and a copper brading, and thin cable insulation, there is no foil between the dialectic insulation and the brading. I guess the connector used was designed for a larger diameter of the cable than it was used on. If I recall correctly the cable manufacturer was a known brand, I will be able to get more info on it tomorrow and post some more pictures of the connector later today and cabke tomorrow.

Thanks

You've already said that the cable was marked RG-6/U and that's all we need to know. That is a legacy cable with, as you state- copper braid, regular poly (not foam) dielectric and (I believe)an 18ga solid copper center conductor. So real RG-6/U is what you will have to find connectors for.

I don't see anything in the Ideal link that Jeff provided that is made for the old RG-6/U but a quick search turned up:

https://www.westpenn-wpw.com/pdfs/coaxial_spec_pdfs/CCTV/806.pdf

Down towards the bottom of the page there are compatible crimp connectors and tools listed. Apparently West Penn still makes the cable for CCTV use.


-Hal

This is what we have used for quite some time now (https://www.belden.com/resourcecenter/tools/Compression-Connectors-and-Tools.cfm). You'll find that the tool and connectors are not cheap and you will need to buy the connectors in 25/packs. You'll also find compression BNC for that RG-6. If you're in it for the long haul this is the route I would go, however for a quick fix, just press on a F connector and go to radio shack and purchase a female screw on BNC.

Thanks for finding that Hal.
I assumed it was regular CATV coax that they used for CCTV.

Ok, here is the picture of the actual cable I have to work with, these ends are not terminated at the dvr tower end for some unknown reason two cameras on one side of the building were never installed eventhough the cables were ran and sharpie labeled.



The info on cable reads:

Coleman cable 921003 18awg rg 6/u type cl2p c (etl) us 3020465 cmp ft6--07/20/05/ 302400 0212/0788 | ft

My undersdanding of it is that some of the info pertains to the manufacturing date, length on the reel, plenum or not, gage of center conductor, reel/batch number it came off of production line.

The diameter of the dielectric is closer to what it is in the connector for the rg59 type cable.

The outter diameter of the complete cable itself is slightly more than 3/16 and less than 1/4 in.

OK, here is the datasheet:
https://www.ccixpress.com/wcsstore/CCIxpress/images/catalog/catalogPDFs/9-/921003.pdf
It's solid copper, copper braid, plenum insulation, so it requires plenum connectors.
Part number 89-050 is the correct BNC.
https://www.idealind.com/prodDetail.do?prodId=plenum-bnc-compression-connectors&div=2&l1=connectors

Nicely done, Jeff!

Sam