cables
I recently ran a cat-6 cable from inside my house to the office, and I bought a bulk box of 500 feet. I pulled lots more out of the box than I ended up needing, and so now I have about 100 feet of cable outside the box.
Is there an electrician’s secret trick to getting the cable back into the box?
I have the same problem with the two piece, so I use the compression type. They cost more money, but they are simply worth it. I've never had one pull off.
This is the style most cable and satellite companies use.
Never use electrical diagonal cutters or dykes to cut cable. They flatten out the end. Use cutters like this.
Always use a good cable stripper, never use a razor knife. You never want to nick the inner copper wire.
The compression connector can run as high as $200.00. I've seen this economy compression tool at Lowes for under $25.00 and it includes a hand full of connectors.
I can't say you will never have problems with them. but I've never had a problem with ghosts or snow on my tv's since I started using these tools.
Added Please remember for every splice or connector you loose around 25%, or it could be worse for bad connections. Don't daisy chain connections.
The co-ax TV cable in the house is considered "low voltage" and shouldn't pose a hazard to people (unless something is seriously wrong with the wiring, like it touching the mains somewhere).
First, I'd ensure that the cables in the house are disconnected from the cable service line. There should be a grounding block on the side of the house where the house's cable lines connect to the service lines. They may look something like:
Disconnect the "house" side cable from the block, and then cut or tear out whatever cable you'd like. After this disconnection, the line should not be energized at all. As GrecMac commented, it is a good idea to use a non-contact voltage detector to ensure that the cables do not carry a dangerous voltage.
Best Answer
Don't
Just coil it up and tape it to the side of the box. Then put the box away, or sell it, depending if you have any future need for cable. The coiling interior to the box to make them work is more complex than it appears on casual inspection, and getting the box tangled so it won't "just pull out" is far worse than having some coiled cable on the outside. How do I know? 300 feet of miserably tangled cable in a box that I had to fight with until I used it up, got a new box, and NEVER tried that foolishness again. Network wiring is part of what I do for a living.