Used to think coax prep was just coax prep until a bad crimp cost me a whole afternoon

I always figured any tool would do for stripping coax, just get the jacket off and move on. Last Tuesday I spent 3 hours troubleshooting a bad signal in a finished basement, and it turned out to be my crimps all loose. Switched to a proper compression connector kit with the hex crimper and the signal locked in immediately. Anyone else found that cheap connectors cause way more callbacks than they're worth?

2 comments

2 Comments

patriciap5220d ago

Three hours in a finished basement. I spent a Saturday chasing my tail because a $2.99 connector pack from the big box store decided to fail on my best customer's brand new TV. The hex crimper paid for itself in the first month of not getting angry voicemails at 9 PM.

phoenix33120d ago

I get where you're coming from @patriciap52, but honestly a cheap connector pack can bite you just as hard as a cheap crimper. I've seen guys spend good money on hex crimpers and still end up with loose connections because they didn't check the die size matched the cable. The real lesson here isn't about the tool brand, it's about verifying the connection before you button everything up. Three hours in a basement is rough but a quick continuity test before you finish the install would've caught that bad connector right away. Idk, maybe it's just me but I'd rather spend 5 minutes testing than chase ghosts for hours.