Spent 3 hours tracking down a bad connector that looked fine

Had a job in Greenville last week where a customer's signal was dropping randomly every few minutes. Checked all the usual spots, splitters, amps, nothing wrong. Finally found a compression fitting on a drop that looked perfect but had a tiny crack inside the dielectric. Took me three hours to find that one stupid connector. Has anyone else run into a fitting that looked good but was actually garbage from the factory?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona_young24d ago

That used to be one of those things I'd roll my eyes at, figuring a bad connector would always look bad. Then a couple years back I had a brand new box of compression fittings from a big supplier, and three of them failed within a week. They looked perfect, crimped fine, but had the same tiny crack in the dielectric you describe. Changed my whole approach, now I check every fitting with a tester before I leave the job, even the new ones.

adams.spencer24d ago

Man that is rough, I feel you. It's crazy how even the good stuff can let you down like that.

grace_bailey24d ago

What tester are you using for that? I've been looking for something reliable that won't break the bank.