Hey all.

I'm installing speakers and a TV outside on a deck. The run will be about 60ft. It'll be in 2 conduits along the outside wall of the house. One conduit will be power for the TV, the other a few shielded Cat6 cables and a 2 pairs of speaker wires . I've always avoided long runs where power and signal parallel each other. What's the best practice here?

Thanks.

Craig.

My old business partner dropped a Catx right down the path of all the electrical out of the breaker box for a theater HDMI run. Any guesses on if it work right or not?

I have always requested at least 1' separation, but had runs in conduit that were closer. I don't recall any issues when conduit was involved.

For aesthetic reasons I really don't want to have a large separation between the runs. Me thinks this calls for a test at home prior to installing at the site.

Craig

Results will be different depending on location and circumstances. Plastic conduit does nothing for signal. Perhaps protects from cable damage and easy replacement. You must run wires close to power often in homes with little problem. Doubt much issue. Until a lightning storm passes.

The amount of radiated energy depends on the current- if the wires carry minimal current, it should be fine, especially if it's in metal conduit. If you use metal conduit for the low voltage cables, make sure to ground it.

I usually use plastic but in this case perhaps the metal is a better choice?

Thanks for tip about the grounding. I do this but it's appreciated none the less.

Craig

Plastic is convenient, but isn't able to protect as well as metallic conduit. I usually use Krylon paint if I need to match and have been happy with their primer, too. If I have a long time to let it dry, I sometimes use Rustoleum etching primer, but I have had no problems with paint coming off unless something scraped it.

I was on a job once where some questionable electrical work was done. It want until I realized the cat 5 was run out to the pool house in the same conduit as the 100amp line. It was about 200ft away so chances of the cat5 working were slim to none....

Well, I can tell you that the pool house has a very clear picture from the JAP system. Still waiting for the call saying either it was fried or doesn't work any more but it's going on 2 years now...

This was regular cat5 too, non direct burial.

I would go ahead and try it with a release form from the client. You just never know!

I'm planning to use shielded burial Cat6, and I'll try the HDMI extender at home first wrapped around 100ft extension cord running a space heater or something.

I'm feeling optimistic though. Thanks!

In similar situations, I've twisted the power cables (with a drill) and haven't had any issues. This Middle Atlantic white paper has some testing they did on the magnetic field of different power conductors and tight twisting minimized or eliminated it.

Check out page 13
[Link: google.com]

Wow awesome! Great link. Thanks very much.

So do you use Romex and twist it or individual loose wires?

Craig

I'd only do this with individual wires. Twisting the outside sheath doesn't help and just makes things harder to do.

Craig, be aware that a twisted length of wire is shorter than the same wires untwisted. Don't cut the wires until you're done twisting them and you have all the length you'll need. Also, be ready for the wires to untwist maybe 20% when you release the wire from the drill chuck.

ABSOLUTELY use EMT. Plastic does nothing to reduce interference. Since it's outdoors, use EMT compression fittings to attach the conduits to one another. Ground the EMTs, too.

Generally,THHN (single strand) is the go to since romex in conduit generally won't pass the inspection per code.

EMT conduit would be my choice in this situation due to the shielding characteristics.

But not in the same conduit- that doesn't meet code. If the low voltage cable is in some kind of insulating sleeve, it can but low voltage cabling can't be in direct contact with high voltage wiring.

Thanks everyone.

Customer bailed on the project when I told him the ballpark price for what he wanted.

This is a rant for another thread but I should have known when he told me everything he wanted to accomplish in the back yard and then led with, "I figured a bunch of Bluetooth speakers..."

Oh well. I still appreciate the help.

Craig