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Can we talk about the color codes on coax connectors these days
I was down in Tampa last week doing a big apartment complex install and noticed something odd. Three different boxes of F connectors from the same store had slightly different color rings on them. My helper kept handing me the wrong ones for outdoor vs indoor use. I ended up having to reterminate about 12 connections because they started corroding after a rainstorm. Does anyone else run into this problem with connector colors changing between batches? How do you keep your team straight on which is which?
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the_diana12d ago
Oh man, you are singing my song right now. I had almost the exact same mess happen last spring with a batch of those big box connectors. The blue ring ones were supposed to be the outdoor rated ones according to the package, but they turned out to be the same cheap zinc crap as the indoor ones just with different plastic. I ended up having to replace about 30 of them on a townhouse job after they started turning white and crusty within two weeks. It drives me nuts how these manufacturers just change colors every few months like we're supposed to guess what they mean this time. That silver Sharpie trick is genius by the way, I'm absolutely stealing that for my tool bag.
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wendy62812d ago
Yeah, you said "three different boxes of F connectors from the same store" and that's probably part of the problem right there. Those store brands are notorious for swapping suppliers between batches, so the color rings are all over the place. I've been doing this for about 15 years and I've learned the hard way that you gotta stick with one brand for everything, like PPC or Klein, and buy them from a real supply house, not a big box store. The color codes from those cheap brands change so often it's almost like they're messing with us on purpose. For my crew, I just mark the outdoor connectors with a silver Sharpie right on the bag before we head out, saves a ton of headaches later.
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