Burned/Charred input 1 on Sky HD Amstrad box

h3000

Hi people of the satellite forum,

I have been losing signal on my box once in a while over the last couple of weeks. I was cleaning up my TV cabinet yesterday and was moving the SKY box. When i disconnected the input 1 connection loads of a black dust like substance fell away. The copper bit of the cable (now a black colour) was still stuck in the input hole even the the rest of the cable was disconnected. I looks like the connection was burned somehow. The input 2 connection is perfect no sign of any burning.

Have any of you come across a problem like this before? I'm trying to get through to Sky at the moment but I've been on hold for an age so far.

Thanks

kbell

Its water ingress in the cable that's causing that.
You need your cable replaced.

h3000 wrote: »

Hi people of the satellite forum,

I have been losing signal on my box once in a while over the last couple of weeks. I was cleaning up my TV cabinet yesterday and was moving the SKY box. When i disconnected the input 1 connection loads of a black dust like substance fell away. The copper bit of the cable (now a black colour) was still stuck in the input hole even the the rest of the cable was disconnected. I looks like the connection was burned somehow. The input 2 connection is perfect no sign of any burning.

Have any of you come across a problem like this before? I'm trying to get through to Sky at the moment but I've been on hold for an age so far.

Thanks

h3000

kbell wrote: »

Its water ingress in the cable that's causing that.
You need your cable replaced.

Jaysus that was a quick response. Thanks for your help.

Do you think Sky will charge me for those repairs?

STB.

Water has got into your box.

What I would do is take off the lid of the Sky box (whilst disconnected!!!) and get a hairdryer and put it on cold setting and blow around the lnb connection and board.

You need to replace that cable completely as water has run down the complete cable run.

You could do it yourself if you can chase the existing cable run back to the dish.

h3000

STB. wrote: »

Water has got into your box.

What I would do is take off the lid of the Sky box (whilst disconnected!!!) and get a hairdryer and put it on cold setting and blow around the lnb connection and board.

You need to replace that cable completely as water has run down the complete cable run.

You could do it yourself if you can chase the existing cable run back to the dish.

I think the input is completely shot and needs replacing now. Can the inputs on the box be replaced easily?

STB.

h3000 wrote: »

I think the input is completely shot and needs replacing now. Can the inputs on the box be replaced easily?

Unless you are handy with electronics, No. They are soldered to the main board.

I am guessing that this Amstrad Sky box is a good few years old ? Are you in contract still ? If you are I would contact them and tell them that the box is faulty and that the lnb input is all black. As this is, it is an electrical hazard.
They should swap it out for a replacement, without charging.

Who ever did the Sky install did a botch job. Water should not be travelling down the cable and back into the box.

h3000

STB. wrote: »

Unless you are handy with electronics, No. They are soldered to the main board.

I am guessing that this Amstrad Sky box is a good few years old ? Are you in contract still ? If you are I would contact them and tell them that the box is faulty and that the lnb input is all black. As this is, it is an electrical hazard.
They should swap it out for a replacement, without charging.

Who ever did the Sky install did a botch job. Water should not be travelling down the cable and back into the box.

I've done a little soldering but I don't think I'd chance it.

It's in about 5 years now and I'm out of contract. I think I'll play hardball with them to replace the box and cable. tbh I'll just cancel the subscription it if the don't. Thanks for you help.

MarkAnthony

Phone up, be nice but play dumb.

Call tech, tech will tell you it's a €100 service call, explain you're not going to be able to afford that and need to speak to cancellations. Have a listen to all the options and keep playing nice - you'll probably end up with a new box, better price and extra features.

More flies are caught with honey than vinegar. It's a tiny minority of people that understand that, you'll be amazed how much help you can get by being nice. Also call from a land line; alternatively after you've done a bit of chatting to the agent they'll almost always ring you back.

h3000

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Phone up, be nice but play dumb.

Call tech, tech will tell you it's a €100 service call, explain you're not going to be able to afford that and need to speak to cancellations. Have a listen to all the options and keep playing nice - you'll probably end up with a new box, better price and extra features.

More flies are caught with honey than vinegar. It's a tiny minority of people that understand that, you'll be amazed how much help you can get by being nice. Also call from a land line; alternatively after you've done a bit of chatting to the agent they'll almost always ring you back.

Thanks for the advice.

steveon

Turn the box off completely for a few minutes and get a needle and gentle twist its way through the burned array in the effected tuner, take your time and dont rush or force it in....have managed to fix many a tuner this way ...replace the cables immediately as will happen again...

h3000

steveon wrote: »

Turn the box off completely for a few minutes and get a needle and gentle twist its way through the burned array in the effected tuner, take your time and dont rush or force it in....have managed to fix many a tuner this way ...replace the cables immediately as will happen again...

Thanks Stevon. I had given it a try to clean the input port but I could not get the charred broken bit of copper out. I don't have a ladder nearly tall enough to get to the dish. I'm still trying to see if Sky will do anything for me.

Thanks for all your help and advice folks.

h3000

Hi folks,

Thanks for the advice last week.

I had a Sky engineer out on Friday evening. He replaced the cables and set top box. He said the cable first installed was low quality and was damaged in a number of places. We're all good again.

h3000

h3000

Hi boardsies bumping my own thread here but I’ve had this problem repeat itself in March last year and now again. Completely burned/charred cables each time. Is this a common problem? I’m really concerned it could cause an actual fire in my house now. I’m sure Sky won’t give a crap when I ring them :mad:

steveon

Strange you are having the same problem again, how is the cabling ran is it going over a ridge tile on the roof and is there a loop on the cable before it enters the house, as there should be.

The Lnbs the last few years are not great in my opinion the water can protrude onto the connections and rot at the lnb end but very unusual for twice water to run all the way down as in your case..

swoofer

I bet its just a bad install with cheap cable, a few pictures would be good , its quite possible the cable runs down side of property and a weather loop has not been used. Its skys fault so a free repair would be in order. To stop it happening again you would need a good installer and the best cable. it would be worth getting cable and asking guy to use that but they may say sky wont accept that. or if possible get cable into loft space and down cavity. The best cable is something like wf 100. With the water getting in you usually get signal loss initially or some channels worse than others.

post a few pics if you can.

h3000

steveon wrote: »

Strange you are having the same problem again, how is the cabling ran is it going over a ridge tile on the roof and is there a loop on the cable before it enters the house, as there should be.

The Lnbs the last few years are not great in my opinion the water can protrude onto the connections and rot at the lnb end but very unusual for twice water to run all the way down as in your case..

swoofer wrote: »

I bet its just a bad install with cheap cable, a few pictures would be good , its quite possible the cable runs down side of property and a weather loop has not been used. Its skys fault so a free repair would be in order. To stop it happening again you would need a good installer and the best cable. it would be worth getting cable and asking guy to use that but they may say sky wont accept that. or if possible get cable into loft space and down cavity. The best cable is something like wf 100. With the water getting in you usually get signal loss initially or some channels worse than others.

post a few pics if you can.

I don't think it's run over a ridge tile but it is run down the side of the house. I don't think there is a loop in the cable before it enters the house either. I'm at work now so I can't check.

The cables have been replaced before, so has the LNB and the set top box.

I only have pictures of the cable and connection now but will try to get other pics if it is still bright when I get home.

swoofer

I've seen those type of pics before!! I think sky installers work on the principle you wont see me again so tend to work as fast as possible and go. They cant get a bad rep as no one will take the trouble to complain. When the next guy calls just make sure he puts in a loop or better still a weather shield where the cable enters the house.

kbell

The cable is rubbing somewhere and where it wears away, it’s allowing water to ingress.
The cable needs to be replaced and properly secured so it doesn’t move.
Also If the cable is dragged up onto a roof for install , it can wear away where it’s in contact with the tiles.

h3000

Thanks for the advice guys. I eventually convinced Sky that they should come out and fix the problem. They will be out on Saturday. I’ll make it as clear as possible to the engineer that this is a repeated problem and please fix it this time.

Do they still have the “old” 2tb boxes in stock for repairs or will I have to get one of the Q boxes? I haven’t heard great things about Sky Q.

h3000

The Sky engineer called today and replaced the cables, box and lnb. He said the cable wasn’t properly looped and he installed a weather shield. Hopefully it lasts this time.

steveon

h3000 wrote: »

The Sky engineer called today and replaced the cables, box and lnb. He said the cable wasn’t properly looped and he installed a weather shield. Hopefully it lasts this time.

Glad you got sorted 3rd time lucky we hope :-)

h3000

steveon wrote: »

Glad you got sorted 3rd time lucky we hope :-)

Fingers crossed.

Thurston?

If water is coming down the inside of the cable, a 'weather loop' isn't going to protect the receiver ...

swoofer

glad your sorted, did he have any idea how water got it in? could you do a few pics, show dish and cable run.

STB.

I dont know if its my imagination but in one of those pics, what I assume is a Sky branded HDMI seems very shiny on part of it. Just check that its not water.

h3000

Thurston? wrote: »

If water is coming down the inside of the cable, a 'weather loop' isn't going to protect the receiver ...

swoofer wrote: »

glad your sorted, di he have any idea how water got it in? could you do a few pics, show dish and cable run.

I taught myself that it was coming down the inside but I couldn’t be sure. I’ll try to get a few pics up tomorrow.

STB. wrote: »

I dont know if its my imagination but in one of those pics, what I assume is a Sky branded HDMI seems very shiny on part of it. Just check that its not water.

There’s definitely no water back there. Plenty of dust though.

STB.

h3000 wrote: »

I taught myself that it was coming down the inside but I couldn’t be sure. I’ll try to get a few pics up tomorrow.

There’s definitely no water back there. Plenty of dust though.

Its evident in the pictures you already posted. The inner core is rusted in the picture between your thumb and finger above.

This problem will continue if they dont replace the whole cable. The connection at the LNB must be loose and not have the waether seal down. Is this dish in some mad place they cant get to ?

Is this at least going to a wall plate before it goes to the box ?