Typo. I meant it shouldnt' be hard to get. But maybe only mail-order (internet).
And of course no one on any newsgroup is obliged to solve a poster's problems. People try because they want to be helpful and sometimes to show off their knowledge (or what they think is knowledge at the time of posting.)
And I too considered returning the original cable. I asked if it had already been buried and was too dirty to return.
And this question was definitely suitable for sci.eletronics.repair, because the only real question is at the electronics level. The question of how to connect two cables is just an inquiry about technique.
...snip... from PERSONAL experience: DON'T SOLDER LONG TERM CONNECTIONS! ESPECIIALLY OUTDOORS!
Crimp, or constant mechanical pressure is BEST. And DON'T solder a crimp, you will ruin it.
I made the mistake of soldering links in my security system. Now these solder joints were something to be proud of, too. Cleaned wire. Wrapped tightly together at the splice for at least 5 turns. Solder was high quality and not overheated during soldering. Solder shiny and wetting out for at least 1 inch. They lasted 10 years before I got hit with a false alarm. Then a month later another mysterious false alarm. Each time reset alarm system and all connections were good. Then went to every week. Until I went to all my soldered junctions and re-soldered them. Alarm worked for another 10 years, until, repeat.
I never had to re-do my crimped connections.
Being an arrogant college graduate, I did not listen to the "lowly" experienced security system installers who told me about crimping is better than soldering. I knew better. I thought they just were lazy, because careful soldering takes time and crimping is fast. I learned a very humbling experience from these experiences.
By the way, a separate alarm system with links running outside the building, the soldered connections lasted only one year before false alarm. So, again, don't solder your connections.
Crimp is best, because you have constant mechanical pressure between the conductors. Solder won't do that, all eases with time.
The overhead power lines provide a voltage disturbance [shorted out by shielding] and a magnetic disturbance, as a result of how much current is carried [most utilities companies provide free EMF surveys] but if those lines are low voltage, they are close together, so the magentic fields won't be as strong as from those 115kV lines, which are separated by more than 15 feet. If you measure more than 1 microtesla at your cable, I would be surprised. And, you can calculate the effect of such a field. Don't worry about it.
But as you know, make the shield a complete 'opaque' wrap, completely enclosing all wires. Do NOT break the shield and use a single wire to 'jump the gap' for any distance.
From reading the manuals, it appears GTO has active circuitry inside the wand. Power is supplied to it. Plus, from your comments with them, it appears the ONLY difference in the wand/cable is length of wire. Note they know the problems of splicing cable underground and provide you with a 'trouble-free' long run of sealed wire. A splice violates that seal, and believe me an underground splice can be challenging.
You have to retrieve your wand anyway, so I recommend trying the extra cable length. The cost of cable is small. And for this initial test, you can simply use any shielded cable containing more than two twisted pairs. Simply lay the cables out on the ground and test the system. Probably will work. If so, then as you reinstall underground, use a better cable and make sure your splice is placed inside a water-free zone, like in an upside down plastic tub covering the splice. Just picture how would you house such a splice if the whole system is underwater? That pretty much covers what rain soaking will do to you. Even so, still use amalgamizing coatings to seal the conductors, else they will deteriorate.
Sadly, William has the BEST suggestion, but it is much less challenging. Go to the vendor and ask them to upgrade you to a longer cable wand for a small charge. Or, if you feel wronged, no charge.
My bet says the buried part of the system will perform well for ten years spliced and for 25+ years with no splice.
Most of the hits I got yesterday called it Scotch 23 Rubber Splicing Tape.
Hah, Mouser sells it. Within the areas they sell things for connectors, small switches, etc. they have just about everything,
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They call it rubber splicing tape. When I got mine, it came without a wrapper, which is why I ddidn't know what to call it.
They want 22.76 a roll. A dollar less each if you buy two. The URL I posted yesterday charged about 12. I don't know about relative shipping costs. This is for 3/4" which is the narrowist I've seen.
30 feet which is what the other rolls that width were.
This width is what I have and if you get wider, it may be harder to economize with it.
A search for rubber splicing at the HD site showed nothing.
Lowes came up with Image x
3M 3/4"W x 15'L Electrical Splicing Tape Item #: 158594 | Model #: 2242
For moisture sealing and insulating. Highly conformable, linerless ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) based tape
But this is number 2242 Linerless Rubber Splicing tape, with which I have no experience and it isn't the same thing because without the liner the other stuff would merge into a blob. It's only 3.94 but if it doesn't self-amalgamate, I don't know what is special about it.
Don't let one person, especially a person who reads the very newsgroup you're reading (because of the nature of the question, he must have thought you were reading SER), pressure you into removing crossposting. Whether you need individual shielding for each pair of wires is more an electronics question than it is a home repair question. Sure plenty of the people on AHR know more than just how to saw wood, but fewer do electronics full-time, which some of the SER people do. Fewer took relevant courses also, either in school or at their jobs.
And especially in this case, I don't know why he's suggesting shielded pairs when the original cable has only one layer of shielding for all four wires. I guess because the stuff is easy to get from the places he shops, but 4-conductor, one-shield is easy to get at other places.
SER restored.
Sure you can, and if you get 100 feet, doesn't that mean you'll be burying the connection with the other 50 feet, as planned?
BTW, don't get carried away with their alleged "today only". There are at least two places that are cheaper than they are for this every day of the year. monoprice and one other I bought from
Who says it's not required? It's not facilitated or provided for, but that's not the same as not required. Even Robert Macy -- and no one has commented on his posts yet. I would like to hear others' opinion on that -- didn't say that that a mere plug-in modular phone connector (which is what cat5 and 6 use, except with more wires) was enough. He disliked soldering but wants crimping. Plugging in is not crimping, and he recommended crimping.
Yes it does, to shield one pair from another, one wire from a wire in another pair, but even your original cable doesn't bother to do that. It only tries to shield the wires from the outside.
With Cat-5 or 6, you're paying for 4 pairs, 8 wires, instead of just 4 wires. That's a waste too.
And you're paying for them to put on ends which unless someone I know convinces me otherwise, you should really cut off and solder or crimp to the original wire.
They do use modular plugs where the phone line comes into the house, if there is a Network Interface Device, or the same thing by another name. It's a covered box, outside but above grade. I don't know how often they need maintenance.
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