I know to use f plugs wherever possible but I need a coax plug to connect at the back of the tv. I had a quick look on the CPC web site but they sell aluminium plugs, nickel plated zinc plugs, and plated brass plugs. Are they all the same or is one better than the others?
In real terms, there isn't much difference. The typical Belling Lee style TV plug is pretty grim as connectors go but, as they tend to be only plugged/unplugged once in a while, it doesn't make much difference.
I use whatever I have to hand, mainly aluminium as I happened to pick up a stock of them for free.
You can get converters so you can use F plugs but, in all honesty, they can be pretty grim as well, if no fitted correctly. I carry some in my motorhome as some caravan sites use F sockets on the TV distribution system and the adaptors are sometimes missing.
I was lucky enough to pick up some nice pre-made F leads for free which are about a metre long, which I use between the wall plates and the satellite receivers here.
The plated brass plugs tend to be best IME. CPC also do some quite decent "screw on" belling lee style plugs that you fit in a similar way to an F connector.
I think the real choice is the solder type for the central conductor or the ones that have a screw to hold it rather than solder. Of course in practice I guess most in use are solder type but not soldered. Regards David
In real terms, there isn't much difference. The typical Belling Lee style TV plug is pretty grim as connectors go but, as they tend to be only plugged/unplugged once in a while, it doesn't make much difference.
Agreed - I bought some plugs from Wilko, as I was desperate for them, and they were useless as the aluminium had no 'spring'. Got som brass ones asap and they've been OK for several years.
I can understand the mistake of fitting the cable grip upside down, given that the cylindrical metal shroud of the plug often has a conical indentation at the cable end into which the conical end of an upside-down cable clamp fits nicely. I've even seen plugs with the clamp already inserted upside down so a punter would naturally assume that when he has removed it to fit onto the cable it should remain in that orientation.
I've never heard of soldering the central core to the centre pin of the plug. I was told to use fine-nosed pliers to crimp a slight kink in the core so it will make good contact with the inside of the centre pin.
Images 9 (the one with the fingers) and 10 are wrong. The braid of the coax should be splayed out radially, lightly sandwiched between the clamp and the body, trimmed to very slightly more than the diameter of the clamp - and then the 'nut' tightened up.
That said, I have been known to do it the way shown - especially when I found myself making a right pig's ear of the proper way!
I've only kinked the inner when I didn't have a soldering iron at hand - and then it was a sufficiently kinky kink to require a very firm push to insert it through the pin.
No it shouldn't. The segmented end grips the outer insulation. The braid goes right through the segmented piece and out of the plain end, where it is splayed out like a chimney sweep's brush, then trimmed into a circle. When the nut is tightened, it forces the segmented piece to grip the insulation, at the same time pressing the plain end to grip the sweep's brush between it and the plastic that holds the centre pin.
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