My cable supplier generically has cable available - to which I have recently bought 3 500' spools of Siamese CCTV combo RG6/u + 2/18 cl2. In my research on this forum, I see that many feel that it is best to have cable that is 95% copper shielded.

Of the 3 spools I received, two had some copper shielding, one had 0 copper shielding. Given that I want my jobs to be professional look & effectiveness, I would like to know what cable you suggest and use for your cctv professional installs. A good priced supplier and appx cost would be great too.

I am presently paying around $90/spool delivered, if it helps put things into perspective one way or another.

Thank you!
-WC-

Just ask for:

95% COPPER RG-59 (18/2) SIAMESE

Looking at $70-85 for 500', I land mine for around $200! I sell it to the client for cost on system jobs, generally around $250 to be sure.

Also the better one has a seperate jacket for the power cable instead of it in just one jacket.

rory

Perfect, that's what I needed to know. I didn't realize the price difference would go from $90 (what I am paying for generic) to around $200 for the good stuff.

But if it helps guarantee less interference, I think it is probably worth it.

Thanks for the info,
-WC-

Wait, do you pay the $200 price due to your location? Are you saying that I should look for the 95% mix at the $70-85 pricepoint?

If so, that's good news for me, given that is what I have budgetted generally in my quotes for the generic cable!

-WC-

No, I pay due to shipping and Customs Import Taxes ...

Its $70-85 for the good stuff, the cheap stuff is around the same price .. there is even more expensive stuff but you dont need that.

Rory

Do you all buy brand name cable, or does it not matter who's brand it is as long as it's rated at 95%?

-WC-

Right now I take what they send me.

Its still alot better than using RG6U Almuninum braid found locally ... an electrician just pieced together RG59, RG58, RG6U, for a job we just did, ... it was a pain in the but, they didnt want to spend for the real wire :cry:

Another 2 jobs i just did we have 2 different types of Siamese RG59, one was okay but very thin jacket, felt cheap, had chinese all over it, the other was great, hard to cut, heavy duty - that is the one I get sent when I order it from my distributor ..

Rory

I was just looking at the cables I have here, the generic mentioned above...

rather flimsy feel, infact the aluminum one seemed more solid. But the copper was rather light. Did you mention that the lowest percentage of copper, other than 0, would be 70? This looked peppered with copper, I would not think even 50%, but that's just a guess.

I have been doing searches for 95% mix online, you can definitely see the difference between that and what I have. Going with a cable company online, I wouldn't pay more than 33% more to get the 95% mix, which is worth it to me if it removes problems potentially down the road.

-WC-

The Cable that has seperate jackets, the one I like the most, labeled as this:

1C/20 AWG RG 59/U 2C/18 AWG TYPE CL2 OR CM (UL) E179334

But a single jacket is good too. Just when you have to strip the wire for the power supply, having a seperate jacket is better instead of having the raw black and red wires with no protection besides their normal thin cover. Neater with box cameras also.

My previous distrubutor just always sent the dual jacket, the new one, not sure yet, will have to wait and see. The rolls we have here now are from Eclipse, very heavy Duty, but just the one jacket. Still good and durable though.

Rory

Yes, my past 3 rolls of quad shielded was dual jacketed. It definitely was convenient to seperate, clean look too.

-WC-

I tell you though the job i did on the weekend with the thinner siamese with asian all over it, was soo easy to work with .. but i imagine that it is also soo easy to break! Even though the other is harder to strip, i still prefer its strength.

Where is the best place to buy RG59 95% with power?

I don't know if it makes much of a difference. The cheaper Chinese cable is easer to work with and you could still hang a cow with it. Compare it to alot of other wires like alarm, cat-5 etc. Still alot sturdier. Rather spend the money on a DVR that actually has qood playback quality :)

A local distributor, seeing as it is sooo heavy for shipping :-)
When I say distributor, I mean an actual distributor, not a company with OEM products with their name on it, though even most of them will have some good cable also ..

It does make a difference if you or your electrician bends that chinese one too much .. the inner Copper breaks .. while the stronger one wont .. :-)

One thing that may explain why your copper looked like it was a lot less is that the 70% stuff looses it's braiding really quickly.