Equipment Grounding

[crankbooster]

I have a 10' c band dish and a 90cm fortec Dish which are both mounted to poles from the ground.
Do I still need another grounding?
All these talks about Power surge and cable issue got me worried.

Rather be safe than sorry ?
If you grounded it it should be fine , you might not need it but this is like fine tuning a sports car. Also look at sadouns cable that already have the ground part in them.

RG6 Satellite Coax Cable, DUAL shield, Installation Kits, Flat,Null Modem Cables

I recently ordered the dual + earth as it saves me the time to run a seperate cable just to earth my stuff. Will open earth part several places close to a water pipe and ground it LOL.

Sorry I am just recently became a redneck LOL

[rainman]

I have had my c band dish up since 92 and the only ground it has is the pole in the ground never had a problem.

[wejones]

Same here. As mentioned in other thread, if your coax comes into the house near the house electrical ground (rare), then you can put your grounding block there. But if the coax comes in anywhere else, I really think that you are better off without a ground. At least without a ground on the coax. The only problems I have ever had in this regard have been with a system that was grounded at the dish.

[be236]

I dont see any benefit to grounding the dish.. or the LNB.

First off, the dish and LNB are not connected to each other.

And second what are the chances lightning would hit your dish, let alone the LNB.

If your LNB had a spiked, I think your unit may get burned w/ or w/o ground, no?

[crankbooster]

Originally Posted by be236

I dont see any benefit to grounding the dish.. or the LNB.

First off, the dish and LNB are not connected to each other.

And second what are the chances lightning would hit your dish, let alone the LNB.

If your LNB had a spiked, I think your unit may get burned w/ or w/o ground, no?

So is the surge protector a better option?

[be236]

Sure, if the spike in voltage is in the power outlet and not by lightning hitting the dish/lnb.

[rainman]

Originally Posted by be236

Sure, if the spike in voltage is in the power outlet and not by lightning hitting the dish/lnb.

they make surge protectors that also protects the coax but to crankbooster question yes i would use a surge protector.

[Reinhold]

The main reason for grounding the pole and the coax to the service ground is so that your system and the outlet you are using have the same ground potential.If there is a difference you could get arcing.grounding the coax also eliminates from the air interferance,it is shunted to ground.
I am no electronics expert,but a retired electrician,and have seen all kinds of problems due to improper grounding.
Besides all that it is a code requirement(meaning the law).
Reinhold.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by Reinhold

The main reason for grounding the pole and the coax to the service ground is so that your system and the outlet you are using have the same ground potential.If there is a difference you could get arcing.grounding the coax also eliminates from the air interferance,it is shunted to ground.
I am no electronics expert,but a retired electrician,and have seen all kinds of problems due to improper grounding.
Besides all that it is a code requirement(meaning the law).
Reinhold.

Although I think there is a difference between code, regulations and law (ex government employee who regularly violated federal codes and regulations), I agree re the code requirement for the coax.... "to the service ground", although I really wonder how many people really do this. I don't.

However relative to the dish itself, as the other response suggested, there is often no direct electrical connection between the coax or lnbf and the dish, and even when there is, it is typically a very poor connection at best. So the question is, what good does it do to ground the dish itself, particularly if the lnbf is connected to the service ground? In my opinion, the main benefit of a grounded dish is to prevent lightning strikes, not, as many people think to dissipate the current of a lightning strike. Ie prior to a lightining strike, there is generally a static charge polarization of the poorly conducting soil surface, and trees, etc. This polarization increases the voltage differential between the clouds and the surface. If you have a well grounded dish, it will dissipate this static charge, decreasing the voltage differential between cloud and dish, making a lightning strike less likely.

So anyway, while I am skeptical about grounding the coax at the dish (I think it's better to do at service ground or not at all), there is a good reason to ground the dish itself. However most dishes are grounded about as good as they can be due to being sunk in the ground, and the connection between the different parts of the dish are painted or corroded or rusted, and have poor conductivity, so the only way to effectively ground a dish, is to run a bonding wire to every part of the dish, which isn't easy. People who ground TV towers and the like, basically ground each section of the tower the whole way up, not trusting the electrical connection between each section to the next. So, there is a good reason to ground a dish, but it's so difficult to do it right, that I'm not sure if anyone really does it... right that is.....

[elgemcdlf]

I wouldn't waste any time with surge protectors UNLESS you are talking about one of the HD TV's. There is a company out of Germany that makes surge protectors that really work. Other than that the cost of a true surge protector is usually not worth the investment. Especially on this type of equipment. After all what does a complete motorized system cost?

And remember NO surge protector will protect against lightning.

[crankbooster]

Getting more confused, so what is the solution?

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by elgemcdlf

And remember NO surge protector will protect against lightning.

Never a truer word said. I've seen lightning take out dishes, LNBs, receivers, complete electrical panels, you name it. There is no protector built than can handle the 50,000 + amps of a direct lightning stike.

kat

[Reinhold]

You are right about that,Kat.Lightning arresters are not made to attract lightning strikes,they are supposed to equelize the ground potential so lightning does not strike.
I would be more concerned about the differance between building ground and equipment ground.You can get some severe arcing and that can damage your equipment.Also it is known that by grounding the shield on one end only you eliminate induction type interference.
Reinhold

[bobkat]

Originally Posted by crankbooster

Getting more confused, so what is the solution?

That's the point... there is none. This has been argued back and forth for decades.

kat

PS: My point of view? I never ground squat...

[rainman]

Originally Posted by bobkat

That's the point... there is none. This has been argued back and forth for decades.

kat

PS: My point of view? I never ground squat...

I agree kat if it's hit by lighting it ain't going to make a difference anyway.

And the inline surge protector rg6 fittings good / gimmick / ??? the 1 inch silver apearance onto receiver lnb in ?? Not wall socket extension type.
Also the usefullness of the ground cable on the dual/single rg6 + ground cable. ???
I was under the impression that the ? braid doubles as the ground if a ground block is connected somewhere on the cable.

The family tried to surprise me and bought some stuff after looking at my bookmarks, like the single 1000' rg6+ground and 2x fortec single universal lnb's + 2x 90cm dishes and 1 hh 120 motor + Spacestar DVB-S 700s not sure where they got it from, all new and some has arrived. Was happy + angry as I was still thinking / finishing my planning.
I forgot to place the order for the dual+ground as mentioned above Korn suryp = almost dead day.

LOL no f-connectors, sweet of them. LOL

Also F-connector is it better to go with the crimp or compresion or screw on ???