Cable repairs

Joined
28 Aug 2012
Messages
6
Reaction score
1
Location
Berkshire
Country
United Kingdom
My daughter bought an old house and asked me to install an alarm system with all the wiring hidden :rolleyes: . Not too difficult I thought, as she had the builders in and the floors up, so I ran all the cables under the floors and down into a cupboard in the hall.

When I came back to fit the control box the builders had lined the cupboard with plasterboard, bringing the alarm cables out through a cutout. I fitted the control box over the cutout, but in the process of drilling the fixing holes I cut into one of the cables (which weren't running where I thought they were) :oops: .

Never mind, I'd left plenty of spare cable to pull through in case repairs were needed, so I cut out a piece of plasterboard only to discover that they had fixed it to the wall with lumps of glue and in the process had glued my cables to the wall virtually all the way up :evil: . That stuff is as hard as rock.

So now I'm faced with cutting the cables off near the ceiling and splicing in six new lengths - that's 36 connections. I guess the most reliable solution is to solder each one, but I wondered if there might be a quicker way. Does anyone one make a 36 way tamper proof junction box?

Mike
 
Sponsored Links
My inclination would be to lift the floorboards above the location and splice in new cables from there, this time remembering to use a length of conduit! :mad: Under the floor you will have more room to work - there's nothing worse than trying to solder and heatshrink in a "matchbox"
 
Take the old cable and strip back the outer. Do the same with the new length so that you have got 4"-5" (10cm-12cm) of inners showing. Place the two cables together 'like hands, praying' and strip matching colours at 3" (7.5cm) long. Twist these together so that the insulated and uninsulated wire are twisted together. Trim the ends off and connect put them in a choc block to keep them safe.

This is the quickest way of doing it. You could use a junction box like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24-Way-Al...5948?pt=UK_Burglar_Alarms&hash=item589e00d20c

iif you want. You can put an extra choc block in here but you'll need to be neat to get it all in! ;)

Remember that you may not need to extend every wire - you could run a single 12V aux from the panel to the JB and wire all the PIR supplies to the one pair of terminals. If you are using 4-wire connections with a global tamper, you could make all the tamper links in the JB and run a single pair to the panel.
 
Links in this post may contain affiliate links for which DIYnot may be compensated.
Bootlace ferrules sleeved with heat shrink sleeving provide a compact way of joining two or more alarm cable conductors.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CTDICE0505.html

Select the size to match the total cross section area of conductors to be joined although a slightly over sized ferrule still makes a good connection provided the correct ratchet action crimping tool is used.
 
Sponsored Links
Thanks for all your replies guys.

Lifting the boards upstairs is not an option as the carpets have been laid and my daughter would have a fit. The cupboard is quite tall so there's room to work in there.

I hadn't come across bootlace ferrules. They look neat but I'd have to buy yet another crimping tool. I've already got heatshrink sleeving and a heat gun.

However, it hadn't occurred to me that I wouldn't need to run all the cables back to the control box. By terminating the tamper and power wires in the JB I'd only need 24 ways so that's looking promising!

I'll buy a JB then decide when I go back whether to use that or solder.

Thanks again.

Mike
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Back
Top