Weather proof boot for SMA connectors?

Is there such a thing as a weather proof/resistant boot for SMA connectors?

I can find them for just about every other RF connector except SMA. Any leads on these?

Thanks.

Reply to
RodK
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There is an 'all weather' black tape made in England. It looks like black electrical tape, rolls on like electrical tape, then over time conjeals into a solid amalgam lump of tar. The British invented it for shipboard use. Works great, but the downside is you have to cut the lump off if you want to disconnect.

Reply to
RobertMacy

Caplugs makes plastic booties of all sizes.

There are standard screw-on SMA caps with retention chains.

Or screw on a terminator or, cheaper, an SMA short.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
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John Larkin

Panel mount or inline?

I've been using automotive spark plug boots when I'm in a hurry. However, I've never needed one for SMA.

If you're going to use a (vinyl) cap plug like these: you'll need to cut a hole in one end for the coax cable.

If I want long life and waterproof, I use a two layer approach. I first wrap the connector assembly in Teflon plumbers tape. The teflon will cold flow into all the gaps make a good seal without the sticky tape or "monkey snot" mess. For protection, I then cover the tape with vinyl electrical tape. If the tape is not UV resistant, a layer of clear Krylon acrylic spray. I many different RF connectors wrapped this way on various rooftops and towers. When unrapped for maintenance, the connectors look like brand new.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

If in doubt, get some silicone fusion tape. This is similar to the rubber fusion tape used in heavy wire splicing, it self-adheres and cures to a solid after application. The rubber stuff is good for burial, for sunlight resistance, go with silicone.

Used to be, you could get small rolls at Radio Shack for not much money...

Reply to
whit3rd

Yep, that's a possible option we have considered, it works REALLY well. We are worried about field techs damaging the cable if they have to remove it for some reason.

Reply to
RodK

Thanks, I'll check them out.

Reply to
RodK

The spark plug boot idea crossed my mind. The thread tape too could be useful. Thanks.

Reply to
RodK

Thanks - similar stuff to the black self amalgamating rubber I've bought from RS in the past.

Reply to
RodK

That's a neat trick. I wish I had heard of it this weekend, when I was playing with connectors on RG6 for a DirecTV system. I even had both kinds of tape available, since the nominal purpose of the visit was to help fix a sink and a toilet.

Does it matter if you use the white Teflon tape vs the yellow (thicker, for gas) Teflon?

Matt Roberds

Reply to
mroberds

Yeah, I know how that works. I arrive for a computer repair service call and end up fixing most of the electronic toys and appliances in the house. However, I've had to draw the line as I get older. No more climbing on the roof, no more running wires under the house or in the ceiling, and no more plumbing.

I've only used the white Teflon tape. I assume that as long as it makes a good seal (stretch it a little when wrapping), the yellow stuff should be ok.

Most of the tape one finds at the hardware store is 1/2" wide. That works but is kinda tedious to wrap around large connectors (UHF and Type-N) with a 50% overlap. For those, I found some 1" wide Teflon tape at the local Ace Hardware store. Every time they get a shipment, I buy most of it:

RG-6/u and F connectors don't need a waterproof wrapping. The Thomas and Betts Snap-n-Seal connectors are quite waterproof. I'm partial to the "red" SNS1P6U variety, which fits both double and quad shielded cable. You'll also need a compression tool and coax stripper.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I've been seeing those kinds of connectors on cable TV installations for a while, and even watched the cable kid install a few. They look slick and seem to stay put and last. However, the last time I had to make a connection like that, I thought about the last time I had made one, and I couldn't remember. So I went with ye olde hex crimper and connectors, mostly because I already owned them. :)

Also, right before I did that, I had been cleaning out my "wires and cables" stash. I had everything you needed to wire up POTS and analog cable TV, neither of which I had done much of lately. Anything that wasn't absolutely perfect went in the "scrap copper" pile. This may have influenced my decision somewhat.

Matt Roberds

Reply to
mroberds

Disgusting. Hex and ring crimped F connectors will fall apart. They will not pass the pull test: 6.2.2 Axial Pull Force: The male "F" pin type connector, when attached to cables manufactured to SCTE approved standards, shall withstand a minimum axial pull force of 40 lbs. for outdoor and 30 lbs. for indoor applications when tested per ANSI/SCTE 99 2009, Test Method For Axial Pull Connector/Drop Cable.

I strongly suggest you abandon your evil reactionary ways and follow the righteous path to connector nirvana by switching to compression connectors and tools.

I'm doing much the same thing. The goal is to untrash the house and office so that I have room to add more junk. The goal is a 50% volumetric reduction, which is becoming painful because I'm giving away or recycling quite a bit of stuff that once cost good money. I'm concentrating on the big junk, which also tends to be heavy. I would normally sell the stuff on eBay, but the cost of shipping eliminates most of my potential profits. I left a huge pile in front of my house labeled "Free" which amazingly has shrunken dramatically. I did the same thing a few weeks ago in front of my office, and had to talk my way out of ticket for littering, illegal dumping, and trashing the neighborhood. Lesson learned. It's going to a recycler.

Garbage in, never out.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

I have only seem them fail where miss-matched connectors and cable were used.

apparenlty compression connectors are better, offering lower loss, but I was only seeing about 0.5db (or something like that I don't remember) loss (at 1.2Ghz) with the hex crimp connectors, and have not seen a figure for the compression ones.

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umop apisdn
Reply to
Jasen Betts

Find a hex crimped cable with an F connector. Screw it into a mating F receptacle. Find a spring gauge and pull to 30/40 lbs. Try not to fall backwards when the connector fails and disconnects from the coax.

It's not the loss that's the problem. It's the signal leakage of hex and ring crimp connectors. The shield connections sucks. There's also a tendency to use RG-59/u instead of RG-6/u with hex and ring crimp connectors. I rip them out as soon as I see them, even if they look ok. They're probably ok when newly crimped, but they don't stay that way. Try the pull test.

Before the analog to digital transition on cable, I would go around the neighborhood with a leakage detector and fix as many of the leaks as possible. These days, Comcast only injects a leak test carrier if they need it. So, I sniff with a samll portable TV.

As for connector loss, the paranoia level is absurd: The loss worked out to about 0.05dB/connector or roughly the same as a similar length of coax cable.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

"Television is a vast wasteland."

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Reply to
Phil Hobbs

my "strain gauge" only has precision to 20 litres of water (call it 44 pounds) and the crimp I tested withstood that, the weight of the rope, the bucket itself and the 6.0kg lump of scrap iron I placed on-top of the bucket.

this is Belden F30456 cable and unbranded crimp connectors "for RG6 quad shield" purchased from Jaycar Electronics.

on which basis I conclude that hex crimp connectors are good enough.

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umop apisdn
Reply to
Jasen Betts

"Television programming is a vast wasteland."

He was pitching "programming in the public interest" which is roughly what England has today. I don't recall if F-connectors were included in his speech: I suspect that computing, public education, government, the FCC, and Usenet might also be considered vastly wasted.

"Time to Pull the Plug? 8 Real Threats to Traditional TV."

We return you now to our regular scheduled off topic discussion...

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Hey, it wasn't a hex and ring! (Although I know what those are.) It was a hex and long-sleeve-with-ridges, already attached to the connector.

In the past 6 years, I have made 3 co-ax terminations, all having to do with getting tired of ready-made co-ax jumpers running down the hall to my cable modem. I only did the outside end once. The inside end I've done twice, because I moved the cable modem once. I think I saw a compression crimper for $20 or $30 at Home Depot. That, plus the connectors, means that each connection I've needed to make lately would have cost me $6 to $10.

It took me a while to figure this out, but part of the secret to not accumulating stuff is to not buy / accept it in the first place. :)

I still have a Pentium-100 PC (since upgraded to a K6/400), partly because of this. That thing cost me about $2,500 real United States dollars in 1995! :)

Matt Roberds

Reply to
mroberds

Yep. Those have a different problem. The ridges are a little too deep and tend to shred the coax braid. I found this when I cut open such a connector with a Dremel cutoff tool, and found that the braid was gone. On a TDR (time domain reflectometer), it looked ok in some positions of the coax, but showed a large impedance bump when I moved the coax around. Not every cable had this problem, so my guess(tm) is that either the connector was badly stamped or the crimper was misadjusted.

I don't know how many F connectors I've installed in the last few years, but a clue is that I buy the plugs 50 or 100 at a time and my order history from one of my vendors shows 250 connectors 2 years ago.

Home Despot is a bit expensive. eBay and Amazon are cheaper. Here's about half of my collection of F connector compression tools and cable strippers. The rest are in my car and office. The one I use the most is the one with the orange handle covers. I have three, but can't find any more to buy at a reasonable price.

Now you tell me. No wonder I have so much junk. When I can't find something, it's easier to just buy another one.

That's because of Moore's law (as interpreted by David House). My version is that every 18 months, every electronic device that you own seems to run twice as slow. In reality, it's running at the same speed it did 18 months ago, but because of relativistic performance dilation, it just seems to be going twice as slow. Bit rot and inflation also play a part, but they're too dull and boring to mention.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

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