I mean, everyone in this group swears by Klein tools but I grabbed their tone and probe kit and it keeps giving me false positives on live lines. The green label one with the LED indicator. I've had to double check everything with my old beat up Fluke from 2018. Maybe it's just my unit but has anyone else had issues with these newer Klein models?
I was troubleshooting a customer's signal loss in a house near Denver. Pulled out the old RG6 that was installed back in 2013. Swear it looked fine on the outside but when I cut it open the copper was all corroded and green. Found out from a supplier that moisture gets in through tiny cracks in the jacket over time. That explained why their internet kept dropping out at random times. Has anyone else run into old cable that looked okay but was actually shot?
Last week I was doing a big job in a commercial building downtown. 24 drops, all cat6, and the customer wanted it done in one day. My old punchdown tool broke halfway through. I had two backups in my van. One was a cheap $15 plastic one from a hardware store. The other was an Impact brand one I got on sale for $40. I grabbed the Impact tool because I trusted it more. Bad move. The Impact tool's blade slipped on the third keystone and I ruined it. Ended up using the $15 plastic one for the rest of the job and it worked fine. Anyone else had a favorite brand let you down like that?
Had a job last Tuesday in an old house in the historic district. Customer wanted a cable line from the basement to the second floor bedroom. No drop ceiling, no crawl space, just plaster and lathe. I was about to cut a bunch of holes when an old timer I work with sometimes told me about using a glow rod and a magnet. Basically taped a small rare earth magnet to the end of the rod, used another magnet on the outside to guide it around fire blocks. Worked on the first try. Took maybe 20 minutes total. Has anyone else tried this method for tricky wall runs?
I hit the 500 mark yesterday on a job out in the Oakley neighborhood. That's a lot of wall plates. I realized I've only had 3 callbacks total in 4 years. Two were for bad splitters the customer bought themselves, one was a loose connector I rushed. It made me think about how many of us fly through jobs and don't track our own numbers. Anyone else keep a log of their install count or callbacks?
My buddy Dave told me to skip the cheap toner and get a Fluke Pro3000 instead, but I figured I'd save some cash and grabbed a no-name one off Amazon for $30. Took me three hours to trace a line at a house in Oak Park because the probe kept picking up noise from the neighbors' cables. Finally gave up and borrowed Dave's Fluke and had it done in 10 minutes. Anyone else waste time on bargain equipment like this?
Used to get kinks and bad 90s all the time guessing the radius on RG6, but now I crank those bends out clean and fast with zero scrap, anyone else make the switch from freehand to a tool?
I was counting up my job tickets from this year and somehow hit 100 attic cable runs today. That's 100 times I crawled through blown insulation, dodged nails, and sweated my ass off in 130 degree heat. Hit that number on a new build in Brookside where the customer wanted a whole home mesh system. It hit me different because I started this job solo two years ago and now I'm tracking real progress. Anyone else ever look back at their numbers and surprise themselves?
A guy in a Facebook group said the 3M clips from China were fine for exterior work, so I used them on a job last week. 4 of the 12 popped off by the next morning in just normal wind. Has anyone else had these fail on them too?
I was up there for 45 minutes with sweat dripping down my face because the previous installer stapled the old line to every single truss, and I had to cut it all out with dykes one staple at a time - anyone else have a job where the heat almost made you quit halfway through?
I count every single one in a notebook and number 500 came at a house off Maple Street in Springfield. That first attic took me an hour to get the drop line right and now I can do it in 15 minutes if the insulation isn't too bad. Has anyone else kept a running count of those miserable crawls?
I swapped out my old crimper for a new Klein one last week after using the same beat up one since 2015. The connections on the new one are cleaner and I haven't had to redo a single end. Anybody else notice a big jump when they finally upgrade a tool they've had forever?
I bought this off Amazon last week thinking I was saving cash. First job I used it on, the tone was so weak I couldn't hear it past 20 feet of cable. Wasted 2 hours tracing a line that turned out to be dead. Ended up borrowing my buddy's Fluke kit to finish. Has anyone else had a cheap toner give out on them mid job?
Met this old timer Ed during a commercial job downtown Omaha back in 2021. He insisted we run zip ties every 4 feet on every drop, said anything loose causes headaches later. Three years in, I just spent a Saturday fixing a bundle I ran loose that got snagged by an HVAC crew. Now I feel stupid for ignoring him all those months, has anyone else missed advice from an older guy that turned out to be gospel?
I had this job last Thursday at a house off Maple Drive where the signal kept dropping on the second floor TV. After swapping splitters and checking connectors for an hour, I finally looked at my own bend on a corner run and saw it was pinched flat. I always thought a tight 90 degree bend was fine, you know, as long as it looked neat. But some older installer walked me through how the dielectric gets crushed and causes reflection, which was messing up the whole line. Has anyone else had a similar "aha" moment with something basic like this?
I was working a new build in Raleigh and the GC pushed back the sheetrock crew by one day so I could get my runs in. That never happens, did I just hit the lottery or do you guys have any GCs that actually get it?
Found a $20 Werner at a yard sale in Tacoma last summer, looked barely used. Guy swore it was solid, but I ignored the cracked step rung because I wanted to save a buck. Third job up in a crawlspace, that rung gave out and I ate it hard onto a concrete floor. Sprained my wrist and had to take two weeks off. Anyone else learned this lesson the hard way with cheap gear?
Did a job at this big apartment complex in Austin last week and tried out the push-on connectors for about 10 units. Saved maybe 20 seconds per connection but had 4 callbacks in 2 days for signal drop. Switched to compression fittings on the rest and zero issues. Anyone else have bad luck with the push-on ones or was it just me?
I always thought I maxed out around 100 but a new coax crimper from Grainger made the difference. Anybody else ever track their numbers and realize they can push harder than they thought?
Last month I dropped $200 on one of those fancy toner and probe kits from a brand I never heard of. The probe kept losing signal every time I walked past a fluorescent light in this office building downtown. I spent like 3 hours chasing a dead circuit that turned out to be in the ceiling and the thing just couldn't pick it up. Anybody else get burned by a cheap tester that looked good online?
I've been doing installs for about 8 years now and never bothered tracking numbers until a job last week where I had to log every drop for a commercial building in Austin. Turns out I averaged 12 terminations a day just on that site alone, and it made me realize how much my speed has changed without me even noticing. Has anyone else ever actually counted their daily numbers and been surprised by it?
Last Tuesday in Phoenix, a guy pointed at my zip ties and said "you're just making it worse for the next guy." I started leaving service loops on every drop and it's saved me at least 2 callbacks since then. Anyone else get humbled by a homeowner who knew their stuff?
Been fighting with this one house all week, old fiberglass insulation everywhere. Tried the glow rods, tried a fish tape, took like 20 mins per drop. On a whim I taped a zip tie to the end of my fish tape so it would slide through the insulation instead of snagging. First try it went through in like 3 seconds. Has anyone else found a random hack like that that just works better than the proper tools?
Bought one of those $30 toner and probe kits off Amazon to save money. Worked okay for the first two days, then the probe just stopped picking up any signal at all. Ended up borrowing a Fluke from a buddy and it worked perfect. Anyone else get burned by those bargain toners?
I had a job last Tuesday in an old building with no drop ceiling and realized how much easier those magnetic push rods make it compared to the old days of taping fish tapes together. Has anyone else gone back to an old building and felt glad for modern tools?