SuperDish installed (W/Pics, questions, ramelings)

[Beachbum]

This is great! I love Dish Network, good bye cable!
What to say....I'm speechless.
Basically I had a superdish and 2 322's installed Saturday. The install went great and was quick. I already had the wires ran from outside to the closet. Now mind you the closet is obviously not finished, in fact the house is still a war zone as far as hurricane damage that has yet to be repaired (and the whole area). At least one of my installers were from Ohio judging from his cell phone number he called me on. Installers are booked big time in this area from the storm damage, my install was booked one month in advance!

Anywho, the receivers themselves are placed on a temporary rack in my wire closet. I will have 2 UHF remotes arriving soon to replace the IR ones. The closet definitely is not finished, far from. It's somewhat temporary, only 2 of 4 TV's hooked up so far.

There are some questionable things on the install though, but not to big (I hope). Hopefully you can spot the problems in the pictures!

Things I noticed:
-Well, the switch is mounted directly to the house....cant it be on the dish? The reason I would like it on the dish is because the switch will probably be submerged underwater if another storm comes. (unless it can be underwater...)
-The caps on plugs not in use, shouldn't there be terminators on the unused connections?
-I don't think the ground wire is attached....(the one from the dish)
-I need to paint (or stucco) the house and get our central A/C installed
-Uh, what's with the pieces PVC pipe?

Oh yeah, and in one of the pictures I took a picture of the neighbors superdish, survived 2 hurricanes so far! Hasn't been used and probubly doesn't work but its there!

 

[fishman]

looks like the ground wire"messenger cable" is attached at the ground block.
Dish netnork has been requireing us to attach the switches to the house here in N.C.
pvc is probably so you dont weed whack the cable
nobody I know uses terminators on dishnetwork switches

 

[Beachbum]

looks like the ground wire"messenger cable" is attached at the ground block.

Yes, that is, but there is an exposed ground wire near the ground block (which I think comes from the dish itself).

 

[mudder1310]

No weather sleeves on any of those outdoor connections, I'd be failed on a QC for that. Other than that it all looks typical. I assume the PVC you're talking about is at the base of the post where the lines are heading underground? Hopefully it's one piece that goes all the way to the house but more likely it's just an elbow...for looks.

 

[bcshields]

Terminators are forbidden on switches and LNBF's.. the resistor inside it apparently messes with the switch matrix. It was on a tech bulliten a while back.

 

[SatinKzo]

-The caps on plugs not in use, shouldn't there be terminators on the unused connections?

Terminating resistors are not a good idea as there is voltage coming out of the unused connections and that heats up if you put a resistor on the end and causes all sorts of switch issues on the receivers. But maybe a better cap if it is loose fitting. Or possibly even a terminating resistor with the center pin broken out.

I have all my switches in the basement, but I have seen LOTS of people with their switches outside through ice/snow/rain. All the switches worked fine with just the OEM caps.

 

[Devil24]

No weather sleeves on any of those outdoor connections

What exactly do you mean by a 'weather sleeve' ??? all the installs I've seen look exactly like that one, with the only difference being the usage of either Gilbert or PPC XL connectors instead of SNS ones like those shown in Beachbum's set of pictures.

 

[StevenD]

These connectors are pefectly acceptable for outdoor use. All the weather sleevs do is hold IN water!

 

[Beachbum]

So, I should just leave it or what? Those caps WILL blow off if they haven't already.

 

[HokieEngineer]

No weather sleeves on any of those outdoor connections, I'd be failed on a QC for that. Other than that it all looks typical. I assume the PVC you're talking about is at the base of the post where the lines are heading underground? Hopefully it's one piece that goes all the way to the house but more likely it's just an elbow...for looks.

If you look closely, the pvc pipe against the house doesnt even go into the ground. I can see some black wire coming out the bottom going into the sandy ground..

 

[Liquidforce88]

The PVC is just so you don't weed wack thru the cables. Dish does not require it all the way to the house (st least I have never seen anything that says they do).

They are missing weather boots on all the connections on the ground block and switch.

They probably didn't put the switch on the pole because there is no good way to attach it, and it looks like crap when you try. Most of the time if we can, we put the switch in the house.

 

[RandallA]

Is that pole secured with concrete? If not, wouldn't that pole rotate in the sand without the concrete?

 

[Beachbum]

Is that pole secured with concrete? If not, wouldn't that pole rotate in the sand without the concrete?

Actually it is in concrete. Quite sturdy.

 

[larrystotler]

They are missing weather boots on all the connections on the ground block and switch.

Weather boots are unneccessary. So long as you actually tighten the cable with a wrench, you will not give water anywhere to go. We used to use them before we went to compression fittings because the older hex crimped fittings were really cheap. Completely unneccessary with compression fittings. Leaving the wire loose on the connection will cause more problems.

They probably didn't put the switch on the pole because there is no good way to attach it, and it looks like crap when you try. Most of the time if we can, we put the switch in the house.

The best place to put the switch is at the structure to ensure upgradability done the road. Having it at the pole is a pain.

As for grounding, technically, you are supposed to ground the dish. Not too bad from what I see. He used a quad ground block and grounded to the house ground and grounded the messenger wire from the dish. The drip loops could be a little more angled down tho. As for the DP34, if you are concerned about it getting submerged, you can get a waterproof enclosure for it for a decent price at Lowes or home depot. However, you could also overheat it if it doean't have enough airflow. The switches are designed to be outside. You could also put some silicone on the pass thrus on the right side. As for terminators, they are ONLY needed if you are running OTA on the same line with diplexors to minimize interference.

 

[miguelaqui]

When I lived in the mountains, some of the contractors, from the South, used to put the switches that low, but they did not understand about the fact that the snow didn't melt.

If you really think it will be submerged in water, why not move it inside?

 

[RandallA]

Actually it is in concrete. Quite sturdy.

Great. How about you move the switch where the second ground block is, just before entering the house. It will be high enough and protected under the eaves.

 

[BrettTRay]

I would never put weather boots on any of my person equipment or any installs that i do. I've seen installs that had them on the ground blocks and switches and It is amazing what a years worth of traped moisture will do to the connectors. If someone is that worried about moisture then just put some clear silicon rubber on the connectors. You should be pretty proud of this install as far as neatness goes. Its not the best I've seen but with all these half ass techs running around these days its not to shabby of a job.

 

[Beachbum]

Well....okay. What I will do is perhaps buy an enclosure one of these days (anyone have a recommendation?). I have some silicone stuff from one of those install kits I acquired and I could just pour a little onto those plastic covers, providing a stronger water tight seal.

 

[mudder1310]

You guys are dogging me for mentioning weather sleeves? I'm simply telling you what would happen if you were QC'd by our guy. It's recommended by the fitting supplier (PPC EX6 fittings) to keep water from wicking in the threads. Not that it matters, you all seem to know everything already anyway.

 

[timfouts]

Well....okay. What I will do is perhaps buy an enclosure one of these days (anyone have a recommendation?). I have some silicone stuff from one of those install kits I acquired and I could just pour a little onto those plastic covers, providing a stronger water tight seal.

Beachbum, it looks like you live on Pensacola Beach