Wiring / Grounding question

[Shawn95GT]

I've read Sadoun's page on grounding as well as the page over at DBS Install regarding proper grounding.

As I understand it, both the coax and the pole itself needs to be grounded. No problem there.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to run my satellite ribbon cable into the house. If i run the whole ribbon into the house right up to the receiver, the coax for sure isn't grounded properly unless I cut it before it enters the house and add a ground block (grounded via a #10 wire back to the demarc box's ground, and less than 20' long) outside. I don't have a problem doing this but I was thinking about it and thought it might be better to run the coax to the demark box as I would with a normal dish and just split off the actuator / polarotor wiring as it passes the TV outside and pass it through the wall directly. The coax would run down to the demark box and come back to the TV via the exisisting E* dual RG6 run that I'm currently using for my SG2100 / Ku dish and my OTA antenna. The OTA I can Diplex on one of the lines if needed and realisticly I could diplex my single run to the SG2100/Ku dish on the existing house wiring if it came down to it.

Which way is correct? Are both correct? If one way is wrong, why?

I appreciate any input. I drew up a quick drawing to show what I'm trying to do. the two different pairs of blue line represent the two different ways to run the coax into the house.

It isn't in the drawing but i plan on replacing my SG2100/Ku dish's RG6 run with a dual RG6 with messenger ground run to ground the pole.

I noticed in the positioner bundle of wire that there is a base wire mixed in that I don't have a use for. There is what looks to be a ground lug on the motor right where the cable strain relief is. Is this yet another ground? If so, where does this ground connect on the other end of the run?

Thanks in advance!

 

[oljim]

It will do no good to ground your coax cables when you have no way to ground the act cables
Best thing is look and see if Pannamax still makes the surge protector for all the sat wires like we used back in the 90s

 

[Shawn95GT]

It will do no good to ground your coax cables when you have no way to ground the act cables
Best thing is look and see if Pannamax still makes the surge protector for all the sat wires like we used back in the 90s

You meant the actuator wires right? Like I mentioned, there is a ground there too but I didn't know where you'd tie it into the grounds. Maybe I'd need to run the whole ribbon to the dimarc and ground the ground cable in the actuator bundle to the house ground as well.

Wouldn't the same hold true for the polarotor controls? I haven't taken that bundle apart yet.

Shawn

 

[Shawn95GT]

It will do no good to ground your coax cables when you have no way to ground the act cables
Best thing is look and see if Pannamax still makes the surge protector for all the sat wires like we used back in the 90s

Is this the box you are talking about for the actuator / polarotor wires:
http://www.panamax-sales.com/max_scl8.htm

Shawn

 

[oljim]

Yes they had a towermax series that you could add this and all the coax moduals you needed. all wires from dish were covered.
I put up my first dish in 1982, second in 1989, both still working, both use the towermax system, NO grounds anywhere and still going strong.
If the dish is not grounded to mian house ground with 6 ga. wire. do not ground at all. ground loops will drive you nuts.
Jim

 

[Xevious2K]

Shawn,

I would use a separate grounding rod near the dish. (~$10.00 at Home Depot)

Run your ribbon cable to the receiver as normal. On the dish side, cut the coax near the new rod and install a ground block (or two). When you cut the coax, make sure you leave the rest of the ribbon long enough to get to the actuator and servos respectively.

Run ground wires from the rod to the 2 grounding blocks and to the housing of the actuator motor. Also run one to the pole. If your LNB touches any metal on the dish, you're fine, If the LNB is metal and not touching any other metal, then I would ground the LNB as well.

A basic principal of electricity it that it will follow the path of least resitance to ground, so having a ground rod close to the dish will protect everything in the house.

Hope this helps...

 

[Shawn95GT]

i did some poking around at the Panamax site and they seem to lean towards the NEC code too:

http://www.panamax.com/pdf/gndcbl.pdf

This doc too leaves the actuator / rotor wires out of the equation. It did go so far as to say:

Direct-strike lightning currents re extremely large (up to 100,000 Amperes), and violate people's intuition and experience about electricity. Even the attenuated lightning current (1,000-10,000 Amperes) at the end of a coaxial cable sheith is much larger than currents one normally deals with. For currents of this size, a driven ground rod (typically 10-100 Ohms) is almost useless, and even the #14 green wire ground in residential wiring systems develops enormous voltage drops while carrying away the lightning currents. That's why bonding directly to the building electrode system is so importnat - it limits the development of big voltage drops within the building wiring system.

I think I'm going to do this....

Whole ribbon into the demarc.
Install a dual ground block for the sat coax.
Ground the ground from the actuator bundle at the same point.
If there is a matching ground in the polarotor bundle, I'll ground it there as well.
The mast will be grounded either via the messenger ground on my new cable run to the little dish... or I may run a #10 from the mast to the ground in the demarc.

From there I'll run the cable outside the house back towards the living room and into the house, exactly like the E* cables do now.

Is there some kind of uber wall plate to terminate all the connections to? If not I guess you just leave a length of ribbon to deal with.

Shawn

 

[Shawn95GT]

Yes they had a towermax series that you could add this and all the coax moduals you needed. all wires from dish were covered.
I put up my first dish in 1982, second in 1989, both still working, both use the towermax system, NO grounds anywhere and still going strong.
If the dish is not grounded to mian house ground with 6 ga. wire. do not ground at all. ground loops will drive you nuts.
Jim

The problem is...

Thats pretty much how I have the small dish run now (no grounds) and I've definately got ground loops going on. The receivers doesn't ground to the house (2 prong power) but the TV does.

Shawn