Cable TV surge protection

Ok, Not many RVers do this (none that I know of) but there are two types of Surge protection and yes lightening is the danger

One is called a grounding block. Now some RVers have those. I had 'em for my sat feed when I had sat TV Basically it is a double female with mounting tabs. the "Barrel" is connected to the tabs which are then grounded.

I know one Cable Company that uses these on ALL installs at the homeowner's point of service.

The 2nd surge protector really is not needed for RV use but it's a gas discharge I do use this type of protection on antennas.. but not on coax.
You won't find it in your local Best Buy or Radio Shack (if you can find one).


One interesting thing. When Ted designed that cable system I mentioned he put all sorts of lightening arrester/surge protection at the "HEAD" (base of the tower where the company electronics are) and as I said additional protection at every customer's house.. The competitor in that town only at the tower.

Competitor's tower (When last we discussed) had taken 3 Lightening strikes to Ted's Zero.. Now I won't tell you the name of his employer for assorted reasons The biggest is. NO campgrounds served that I know of by that company.

Gas discharge tube protector. Not specifically for catv, just radio in general. Forget solid state protectors.

Just my humble 2 cents

Big_steve wrote:
Do most folks use an in-line surge protector on their cable tv coax cable? If so, where are you connecting it to ground?

NO. NOt worth the trouble.

About the only thing that will cause a "surge" on the TV cable is a direct lightening hit......and that little suppressor won't do anything to stop that.

fj12ryder wrote:
Nope, never heard of one, and most likely wouldn't have one if I had heard of it. come to think of it, we don't have one at home either.

If you have cable at home, there is a good chance you have one installed by the cable company. To each their own. I live in lightning country and have lost a tv and a desktop computer to a spike coming down the cable.

Nothing will protect from a direct hit on the cable, (or AC supply for that matter) You get surge suppressors for near hits, which can run a spike up to a couple of thousand volts.

Nope, never heard of one, and most likely wouldn't have one if I had heard of it. come to think of it, we don't have one at home either.

wildtoad wrote:
So maybe they don’t have scattered thunderstorms that pop up quickly in the desert south west..

All the time, but not so quickly you can't unplug. Good luck finding a surge protector that's good to a few hundred thousand volts.

So maybe they don’t have scattered thunderstorms that pop up quickly in the desert south west. Personally I’m not sure anything really will protect the coax if the cable is struck by lightning unless you unplug from the post. PIA.

Oh Jees.. for lighting unplug. Everything.

road-runner wrote:

2oldman wrote:
First I've heard of this. Where would a surge of power come from in a coax cable?

Lightning, I would think.

Yes, Have lost a tv and and a desktop over the years from nearby lightning coming in the coax cable.