Why do cable splitters go bad

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Reviews provided by. Join Now. Recent Trailer Photos. Upload a Photo. Recent Listings. Add A Posting. United States Canada Add Campground. Mission Statement : Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts. Long story but determined that the TV splitter was bad, replaced. Worked two trips with the second only using OTA.

This time out hooked to campground system up and nothing. After bypassing the antenna amplifier, hooking direct into the splitter still couldn't get a signal so I bypassed the splitter directly to the the cable to one TV.

Would something cause a splitter to go bad? I can see one going but two back-to-back seems odd. Join iRV2. I'd suspect the cable itself going to the TV. Two bad splitters in a row Splitters do cause signal loss, an amplifier at the antenna should overcome much of that loss. Be sure that the splitter is not between the power input and the antenna.

Also, turn off any and all LED lights when scanning for channels, and then see if channels are lost when the lights are turned on. Unless the splitter is rated to carry AC or DC voltage, that could explain it getting fried.

Check for voltage between the shield and center conductor on each cable with the amplifier on and off. Eg center conductor to each shield. There should not be any detectable voltage with a VOM. There are two types of splitters. I have multiple splitters in this coach most are 13 years old, one is about 9, Check for voltage on the coax from the Amplifier power supply The Winegard Wall plate to the splitter. Buy a better splitter How many TV's do you have? Thanks for the answers so far. I'll try to clarify, then start at A instead of H in hope that there is a better clue.

The cable to TV is good, I pulled it off the splitter and hooked direct to the pole. I have checked for wayward voltage at the cables, the first time I had problems, and not finding anything. There is four TV's. Fleetwood in there vast wisdom had an EIGHT way splitter in it with none of the extra ones terminated. Yes, over time, splitters tend to degrade and that may result in signal loss. This will help the splitter last for long.

Also, we would like to point out here that good quality splitters tend to last much longer than the cheap ones. Age is just one factor. There are other problems your splitter may encounter, due to which it does not work properly. To make this clearer, we have answered a few frequently asked questions about cable splitting.

Yes, it will. But how much it reduces quality depends on how good the cable is and how much you have split your connection. These days, we get excellent quality cables and splitters. If they are installed properly, you will not notice any change in the speed of your Internet. On the other hand, improper installation and wrong choice of cables will impact the speed. We suggest that you keep it minimal.

Make sure the F-Connectors are tight. Hand-tight is not enough, but you don't need much more. Outside of corrosion, I've never seen a splitter fail.

They are extremely simple devices internally, but most aren't really well sealed, so moisture can intrude via the F-connector's center pin hole. Splitters exposed to temperature variation are most susceptible to corrosion, as they will "breathe" moisture in and out with temperature changes that result in air expanding and contracting. If you replace one, make sure it passes up to 1ghz. Cable systems are at mhz these days and that will likely go up in the future. And as a reminder, remember splitters are passive dumb devices.

A splitter with unused ports should be replaced with a unit with fewer ports. ZPrime wrote: Google for "inside of a catv splitter" and note the almost total lack of stuff there.

Right, there was a thread a while back and someone posted a pic, I think it was the same pic that shows up in Google if you search "inside of a catv splitter". When I look at that, the only thing I can think is that it is a miracle that they work at all even when new. Maybe there are some quality versions, but most look like cheap junk.

Voltage between your building's electrical ground and the cable system's separate ground at the pole or whatever can also cause failure.

Quite often, you'll find several volts between the two. Depending on whether the splitter is grounded and what it's grounded to, it might be acting as a little light bulb, glowing with the potential between your house's ground or lack thereof and the cable company's ground or lack thereof. I've worked on houses that were effectively grounded entirely through the cable system. I routinely get shocked when connecting cables from the cable company to devices inside a house.

One splitter I replaced was completely melted inside from the heat generated by this kind of problem. It's virtually impossible to isolate all this effectively, especially in houses that aren't wired with grounded outlets. And even in those that do, the neutral wire often serves as the ground, and if your cable company is better grounded than your house or vice-versa, all your electronics might be effectively grounded through your cable via, say, your DVR.

There are some old houses grounded through the water pipes not suppose to. If you're wondering what a splitter looks like inside, here's a pic I took of a satellite L-band. This one was supplying low output power it's amplified which was starving my receivers. There are some electronics to amplify the incoming signal, and supply outgoing LNB power. Most splitters are much simpler.

Everything else is passive for the wilkinson quarter-wave divider network. If I were to cut off all the active electronics and connect the leads formerly separated by the amplifier device, the splitter would likely work.

Another thing to do is always put a loop in the wire before and after the junction box. So any condensation runs down the loop bottom lower than the box itself.

That way any condensation does not just run into the junction and sit there but down harmlessly over the rubber cabling and drip off away from the connectors. Runestar wrote: Another thing to do is always put a loop in the wire before and after the junction box. But what if it's indoor? My L-plug that failed was inside my house. How does something with zero electronics in it just die like that, in a relatively climate controlled and stable environment?

Quote: How does something with zero electronics in it just die like that, in a relatively climate controlled and stable environment? Any number of reasons, poor construction, poor materials, mechanical stresses, etc. Because on average, a t-junction, mate, or terminator would fail once per week. The way you knew one had failed? The troubleshooting process was as follows: 1. Determine which subnet the affected users were on.

This determined which server NIC they were connected to. Go to server, disconnect one segment. Replace segment with 50 ohm terminator. If MORE users started yelling, that is the wrong segment, the problem is on the other one. If the previously screaming users say it's working, it's the correct segment to continue troubleshooting.