Lifetime of a RG-59 Cable

[kandcorp 0]

Anyone know when an RG-59 Coax cable starts degrading in quality. Is there a general length of time when it should be replaced?

 

Basically I have a Job that the customer does not want to replace his cable. It is RG-59 U type bare copper braid shield 95%. It has been up and running for about 15 years.

[Cooperman 0]

That's possibly an impossible question to answer.

 

Depending on where the cable is installed, under what operating conditions (particularly temperature and UV exposure), and of course, the original quality of the cable outer jacket, it could potentially be anything from 5 years upwards.

 

I'm still using cables (RG 59B/U) that I bought in the early '80s, but that isn't necessarily indicative of what would normally be expected.

 

Maybe the obvious thing is to carefully inspect (and test) the clients cable, and try to establish whether there's another ten years life in it. In theory that should easily be achievable.

[kg6mti 0]

If it's still providing a signal and good quality video it isn't broken. I wouldn't fix it.

 

The parts I would examine are the ends. Are they getting loose? If so you might want to just change out any loose ends. I agree with the previous post depending on the environment the cable will last a very long time.

[securitymonster 0]

maybe get a line tester and verify first hand on signal quality compared to a new cable. The line test equipment is pretty cheap...

[jisaac 0]

is he not wanting to do it because he does not want to run wire? Becuase man if their is existing wire unless it is secured along a beam really tight or something than that is a breeze. Just tie/secure his new wire to the end of his old wire and pull from the other side. (pull wire).