50v on Xfinity RG6 cables

[tortuga]

Tell them to fix it or don't pay the bill. Tell your customer to file a complaint with your state's PUC.

-Hal

Around here the cable company is not responsible for inside wiring past the DMARC.
The OP is saying he is disconnecting the 'line side' :

When I disconnect at the Demark, it has no voltage on the line in side.

So I take that to mean the premises wiring on the customer side of the Dmarc is the issue.
If this is incorrect and it is on the cable co side then we stop here.

 

[tortuga]

Is the CATV bonded as required by 800.100 ?
I often see them bond to a hose bib connected to non-metallic pipe, or worse drive their own little 4ft ground rod.
Arlington mikes a nice brass intersystem bonding bar.
http://www.aifittings.com/catalog/grounding/intersystem-grounding-bridges/

 

[LarryFine]

Is it possible that the tuners intentionally output voltage for splitters, etc?

 

[tortuga]

I have herd of 'ground loop isolators' for RG6 but not sure if they violate 800.100.

 

[hbiss]

Around here the cable company is not responsible for inside wiring past the DMARC.

I have never seen that to be the case, and I can assure you that it isn't with Xfinity. If subscribers were responsible for their own CATV premises wiring NOTHING would work. Cable companies use specific cables, connectors and passives which they have determined to provide optimum performance with their system. Only God knows what Joe Homeowner or Jackleg Electric would do- assuming that they even know how to configure it correctly.

The only way I would believe that statement is that the premises wiring, passives, etc. are provided by the cable company and the subscriber has to pay a maintenance fee to repair it after that.

-Hal

 

[hbiss]

I just found out that there's 3 other areas locally having the same issue as well.

What more do you need to know?????? Go home. Get a good nights sleep!

-Hal

 

[tortuga]

I have never seen that to be the case, and I can assure you that it isn't with Xfinity.

See section 6 (c) of this document:

Comcast Agreement for Residential Services

Subscriber Agreement

www.xfinity.com

 

[tortuga]

I have never seen that to be the case, and I can assure you that it isn't with Xfinity.

Here its a long document

• c. You are solely responsible for Inside Wiring
  
  Wiring inside the Premises, including additional cable wiring, telephone wiring, and outlets, is “Inside Wiring.” Inside Wiring must not interfere with the Services or the normal operations of our cable network. Upon your request, we can install, repair, or maintain Inside Wiring. If we perform this work, we will charge you for that service. Regardless of who installed it, the Inside Wiring is your property, or the property of whomever owns the Premises. If you do not own the Premises, contact your landlord or building manager about the installation, repair, or maintenance of Inside Wiring. We have no responsibility for the operation, support, maintenance, or repair of Inside Wiring, except as set forth below.

 

[Little Bill]

I know that when I added on to my house I had to move a satellite receiver to the new part. I ran my own RG6 and put on top of the line connectors. A few moths later, I was upgrading, or some reason to have the satellite company here. When they got to the new part, they promptly cut my good connectors off and put theirs on.
Ticked me off royal as mine were fine and had been working for a while.

 

[tthh]

At my previous home I had Cox. Mostly ok service, but there were some times things happened. Once the signal was consistently bad for TV and Internet. Called them and they came out. The tech they sent proceeded to tell me the splitters I had were "too good" and he needed to downgrade them. He also said he needed to redo all the F connectors. I just let him be figuring he'd eventually figure out that wasn't it. All of this was in my electrical closet in the basement. Well...some hour or so later he's done all the new F connectors and put in all the new splitters. Still no good. Now he proceeds to tell me the coax up to my TV from the electrical closet is no good. Well...I had run two of the originally and I tell him let's try the other one and still I'm keeping it all to myself. Then he says the other one is bad too and he needs to run a new cable. I've had enough. I tell him there's nothing wrong with the cables and there was nothing wrong with the splitters and he's done. I email the GM of the local operation and someone calls me. I tell them the story and even they blurt out "oh my". They send another tech who knows what they are doing and decides my direct bury RG is bad. They put in conduit to the pedestal this time and run RG11 instead of RG6 and all was good.

 

[hbiss]

Here its a long document

All that says is that you own your premises wiring as has been for decades. But if you are foolish enough to think you know how to design and install a system and blame them for your lousy picture or internet they will be happy to charge you to come out and redo it. Time and materials of course.

What they are telling you is to have them do the installation (which often is free for new customers) and pay the few dollars per month for the maintenance agreement... if you want to save yourself a lot of trouble.

-Hal

 

[tortuga]

if you are foolish enough to think you know how to design and install a system

-Hal

Well its not the first time I have been foolish.
I was just pointing out that they dont fix inside wiring issues automatically for free, unless you pay for a plan.
I have done just about every kind of low-voltage over the years, even Key 1A2, I enjoy it.
The one thing I never touch is fire alarms, when I was starting out I did a few years for a fire alarm company and you dont really want to screw that one up.

 

[tthh]

Well its not the first time I have been foolish.
I was just pointing out that they dont fix inside wiring issues automatically for free, unless you pay for a plan.
I have done just about every kind of low-voltage over the years, even Key 1A2, I enjoy it.
The one thing I never touch is fire alarms, when I was starting out I did a few years for a fire alarm company and you dont really want to screw that one up.

Typically what the cable companies say is if we come out and it's your problem we will charge you. Never been my problem and never been charged.

 

[tortuga]

Well the OP Justin, said he has had the cable company out and they have replaced their lines up to the DMARC.
He also does not state if them problem happened before or after he did a service change.

We have completely redon her service, redid and updated the grounding (new ground rods, to water line, and even to gas line).

The cable company has replaced their line from the telephone pole to the house.

Furthermore the problem is on the customer premises side of the DMARC.

Because it does not happen when run off a generator:

I did try running a generator with the extension cord to see how that would effect it. It doesn't show any voltage on the wires

I suspect its a ground loop or a improperly wired receptacle combined with a faulty TV.
I would determine if the voltage on the COAX is AC or DC or both.

My next move would be to test the outlets and check the equipment grounding.
I use an ideal 'sure test' for this, its quick and also gives me the voltage drop.

If its DC voltage I would be immediately suspecting the customer equipment.
Use process of elimination to eliminate the source.

I would also test the customer equipment for ground faults, or 'earth leakage'.
I have a break out cord that lets me put a clamp meter on an appliance.
A bad cap in a power supply could be leaking to the frame ground and if the outlet is not properly grounded it might light up the coax.

 

[LarryFine]

Has anyone said whether this is voltage from shield to earth or center conductor to shield?

I would unplug the coax from every tuner and measure the voltages of concern individually.

 

[tortuga]

He did say

I disconnect those cables one by one from the splitter, and each one besides the line in shows the voltage.

 

[LarryFine]

When I disconnect the wires at the splitter, I read 50 to 70 volts on each one of the RG6 cables.

I'm reading the voltage on the RG6 cables outside when I disconnect them from the splitter.

I disconnect those cables one by one from the splitter, and each one besides the line in shows the voltage.

Voltage from what to what? I just read through the whole thread again and I still have no idea.

Telling us you're reading voltage with a non-contact tester doesn't give us enough information.

You need a voltmeter with two leads so you can tell us what points have voltage between them.

 

[ActionDave]

Same for me. When the thread started I assumed the OP was measuring voltage on the shield of the coax.

 

[Little Bill]

I mentioned this back in post #10 and #14.

 

[hbiss]

Ok, one more time.

I have a customer who is experiencing her tv and internet going down for hours at a time multiple times throughout the day.

I just found out that there's 3 other areas locally having the same issue as well.

Just how the h*** do you figure that there is a problem at her house???????????????????

Really guys, you should stick with things that you are proficient with, not something you know nothing about.

-Hal