My cable blew out my high-definition television, and it won't turn on any more. Surges come through the cable lines, and without a fuse to protect against abnormal voltage, I'm sure it will happen again. I didn't have any problems until after I had a cable guy install digital cable, road runner, and digital phone service to my house. And he said he didn't have time to ground the cabling.
Any ideas how I could test to find out what sort of fuse I would need?
You could probably sue.
Otherwise install the grounding surge protection where the cable enters the biulding. It's a fairly simple and cheap device you should find in any CB, television or radio spares supply - probably in the dustiest section of the store.
It's basically an aluminum block - a cable clamp with a small spike in it to penetrate the outer sheath of the cable only, and a long wire that you are expected to attach to a rod in the immediate ground area or to a nearby standing metal pipe.
RL
Why not buy something like this?
You need a surge protector. Just by chance, some spamming moron just posted an advertisement for such equipment in this very newsgroup............
....Oh. Sorry.
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Paul Hovnanian mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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Fuses won't work, they are way too slow. A surge protector on both the AC line and the coax might. Unless your cable box fried, your power company seems like a more likely culprit.
Tam
Craigm displayed what is required on every cable where that cable enters the building:
Either you don't have it or it is not connected to the same earth ground also used by AC electric and telephone. Even National Electrical Code (NEC) says that connection must exist.
You don't need a surge protector. Surge protectors are only devices to connect to earthing. Earthing is the protection. If you have:
Meanwhile, AC electric does require a 'whole house' protector. No effective protector has been seen in Sears, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Staples, Circuit City, K-mart, or your grocery store. Those protectors also do not have the dedicated earthing wire. An effective 'whole house' protector is sold in Lowes, Home Depot, and electrical supply houses. And, of course, your earthing must meet and exceed post 1990 NEC earthing requirements.
More numbers. Fuses take milliseconds to trip. Surges are done in microseconds. You could have 300 consecutive surges before a fuse even considers blowing. Meanwhile, you obviously don't have something on your cable equivalent to
Anyone with no technical knowledge can follow that earthing wire. A 'less than 10 foot' wire goes from each: breaker box, from telephone NID, and from cable ... all to the same dedicated earthing rod. Not to a water faucet. Not to a cold water pipe. Not to dirt in a flower box. Earthing wire must go to a dedicated ground rod that is also used by all other utilities. Otherwise your wiring does not even meet
1990 NEC requirements. And who is responsible for providing that earthing? You.Service man has installed in violation of NEC if he did not install a 'less than 10 foot' connection to that earthing also used by AC electric. No way around those code requirements. Neither fuse nor surge protector on cable is a solution.
Sue the cable company for an inadequate installation.
...Jim Thompson
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I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Regarding Corey White - I follow the alt.magic newsgroup where the following has been posted several times:
----------------
The best information I have seen on surges and surge protection is available from the IEEE at:
Both guides were intended for wide distribution to the general public to explain surges and how to protect against them. The IEEE guide was targeted at people who have some technical background and will probably be of more interest to people on this newsgroup.
Obviously should have been installed.
w_ is saying plug-in surge suppressors don't work. But both the IEEE and NIST guide say they are effective. Plug-in suppressors, as described in the IEEE guide, work by CLAMPING the voltage on all wires to the common ground at the suppressor. They do not work primarily by earthing.
Earthing the CATV ground block does not necessarily prevent problems. If the ground block and power system earthing are not connected in a "single point ground" voltages between CATV and power can damage equipment as illustrated in the IEEE guide, starting guide page 31. (The same can happen with phone wires.) The guide also illustrates how a plug-in surge suppressor can protect equipment where a single point ground is not present. As above, the voltage on all wires (signal and ground) are clamped to the common ground at the suppressor.
I agree fuses are way too slow.
Normal practice is to connect a short earthing wire from CATV and phone to the earthing wire from the power service close to the power service. The longer any of these interconnecting wires are when forming a single point ground the more likely there will be damaging voltages between systems if a surge hits.
??? The installer is responsible for providing earthing.
If the cable entry point is distant from the electric service it may not be possible to have a short connection. For 1 & 2 family dwellings the NEC says 20 feet (with an exception) - not 10 - and the actual distance to the earthing wire at the power service can be much longer than that. If it is not possible to get a short connection, the cable can run adjacent to the power service, a second ground block installed, and cable distributed from there. The same with phone. Or as in the example in the IEEE guide, protection can be provided with a plug-in surge protector.
-- bud--
Regarding Corey White - I follow the alt.magic newsgroup where the following has been posted several times:
----------------
The best information I have seen on surges and surge protection is available from the IEEE at:
Both guides were intended for wide distribution to the general public to explain surges and how to protect against them. The IEEE guide was targeted at people who have some technical background and will probably be of more interest to people on this newsgroup.
Obviously should have been installed.
w_ is saying plug-in surge suppressors don't work. But both the IEEE and NIST guide say they are effective. Plug-in suppressors, as described in the IEEE guide, work by CLAMPING the voltage on all wires to the common ground at the suppressor. They do not work primarily by earthing.
Earthing the CATV ground block does not necessarily prevent problems. If the ground block and power system earthing are not connected in a "single point ground" voltages between CATV and power can damage equipment as illustrated in the IEEE guide, starting guide page 31. (The same can happen with phone wires.) The guide also illustrates how a plug-in surge suppressor can protect equipment where a single point ground is not present. As above, the voltage on all wires (signal and ground) are clamped to the common ground at the suppressor.
I agree fuses are way too slow.
Normal practice is to connect a short earthing wire from CATV and phone to the earthing wire from the power service close to the power service. The longer any of these interconnecting wires are when forming a single point ground the more likely there will be damaging voltages between systems if a surge hits.
??? The installer is responsible for providing earthing.
If the cable entry point is distant from the electric service it may not be possible to have a short connection. For 1 & 2 family dwellings the NEC says 20 feet (with an exception) - not 10 - and the actual distance to the earthing wire at the power service can be much longer than that. If it is not possible to get a short connection, the cable can run adjacent to the power service, a second ground block installed, and cable distributed from there. The same with phone. Or as in the example in the IEEE guide, protection can be provided with a plug-in surge protector.
-- bud--
The purpose of a circuit box fuse isn't to protect the equipment in your house, but to stop the house wiring from overheating and starting a fire.
There's a number of things that can have gone wrong with your "new" HDTV, from a power surge to a faulty power supply. If it's "new", then it should be under warranty.
However, most likely, the fault is that your HDTV doesn't actually exist. Case in point:
In this thread, you report that your HDTV is actually 32". Did it shrink 5" from the 27" size that you recently reported?
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