TV Wall Plates

 Jump to decombiner plates

Standard Wall plate wiring
	This is our 100-00677 screened flush TV + SAT wall plate. It is NOT a decombiner plate. The TV socket (female) and F socket (threaded female) are entirely separate and each needs its own cable. We recommend that you fit this to the deepest wall box available. A 25 mm deep box is just about deep enough but deeper is better. The reason is that your double-shielded cables will come down the wall and into the box with very little room to spare. They are not very flexible so you must cut them to the correct length. The photograph shows our suggested method. Note that the H109 cable (=WC100) has kinked (red arrow) so we recommend using our more flexible aluminium shielded cable or less flexible WF100 cable. A kink, like the one shown, can have a very bad effect on digital signals. Better still, run the cables outside the box, bring them in underneath, and keep the bend radii large. You can also rotate the wall plates (but bear in mind any markings will also be rotated so they might not look as nice).
	Strip the cable sheath away for 25 mm. Fold the copper braid back over the sheath. Strip the white plastic dielectric insulation back to leave 5 mm of copper core wire exposed. Trim the braided copper shield back to leave 5 mm of clear plastic insulator exposed. Insert the centre copper wire into the central screw turret. Tighten the screw. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN! A common cause of problems is that the centre conductor is sheared off by the screw. It looks as if it's still connected but you get intermittent loss of signal. Ensure that no copper strands can touch the copper core wire or screw turret. Fit the second cable in the same way then close the hinged cover and tighten each screw by only a few turns. DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN! The cable must be gripped but not crushed.
Decombiner plates
A decombiner plate normally has a single cable going into it, which carries several signals from a diplexer or a Loft Box. These signals are separated in the wall plate and fed to their respective sockets. Other sockets are often included for inputs such as a Return feed to Loft, and a telephone connection.
The illustration shows the Triax 304109 which has a Return feed (a simple F connector which is not connected to anything else in the wall plate and can be used as an up- or down-feed for LNB or UHF) and a triplexer which comprises a single input cable feeding several signals into a separating filter circuit. This set of filters is able to separate (decombine) TV (UHF) Radio (VHF and DAB) and Satellite (LNB) signals into three outputs. You don't have to feed all four lots of signals into the triplexer but it will separate them if you do. You will need a Loft Box or a diplexer (two signals) or a triplexer (three signals) combiner at the top end of the down feed cable. Return Note that the "Return" socket may be labelled "SAT2". It is completely separate from the decombiner connections and may be used for any purpose requiring a separate connection (and it supports DC pass-through). DC-coupling In this type of Triplex plate, only the SAT socket is DC-coupled to the (Input) cable. The TV and Radio sockets are decoupled with capacitors so that the LNB voltage can not get through and cause damage. This type of socket can NOT pass voltage up the Input cable to a UHF TV amplifier.
	This is the Triax 304110 wall plate with all options. It fits on a double-width pattress box. Other single-width wall plates with less options are available. You can, of course, use two wall plates to give a combination of options.
	First the socket assembly must be removed from the front plate. It is held by a single screw.
	Prepare the cable by stripping 11 mm of outer sheath away then cut through the copper shields and inner insulator to leave roughly 6 mm of the centre core exposed. Make sure that no strand of copper can touch the centre core!
	Cut the centre core at an angle to make a sharp point. Push it firmly into the socket without bending the wire. Tighten the screw gently to hold the centre core. (Some units don't have screws but rely on spring contacts inside).
	Fit the second cable in the same way then screw down the clamp so that it holds the copper screen firmly but without crushing it.
	The socket assembly can then be turned over and the plate screwed back onto it.
Notes: See notes for 304109, above. Decombiner (diplex or triplex) wall plates can be used only in conjunction with a Diplexer or a Loft Box which will combine the signals into one cable. Only double-screened cable should be used. Ordinary "TV aerial cable" has poor shielding properties and will not carry high frequency LNB signals. The cables enter the socket from below. This means that you will either have to plan the cable route carefully, or else mount the plate upside down so the cables enter from above! The cables must not be kinked. Do not make bends of less than the recommended radius (coffee mug size, absolute minimum). Where a plate is combining SAT (LNB) and other feeds into one cable, only the SAT socket can be DC-coupled. If you require a plate with a DC-coupled TV socket you must use a "Return" feed or use a plate which does not combine the SAT feed with the TV feed into one cable.
	The telephone wires should be pressed into place, without stripping the coloured insulation, using a Krone tool. As an alternative, you may be able to use a thin blade with a hacksaw cut down its centre.
	The V36-102 is the equivalent of our GLO28 decombiner plate. It has one cable entry.
	The cable is split out to two female IEC sockets for Radio and TV. The cable clamp is hinged.
	Fold the cable clamp down and partially tighten the screw.
	Prepare the cable in the usual way (as for an F connector) and insert it into the active hole of the two (one is an unused dummy).
	Tighten the clamp screw so that it just nips the copper shielding braid. Do not over tighten or you will crush the cable.
Modular Wall Plates
	Prepare the cable end by cutting as shown, leaving only 6 mm of bare copper wire protruding. Do not cut into the copper wire or it may fracture later!
	Remove 7mm of outer sheath, as shown. Make sure that no strand of copper braid can touch the inner copper wire.
	With a #1 cross-head Pozidriv screwdriver, slacken the centre screw until the hole in the terminal is unobstructed. Slide the copper wire in just far enough so you can see the end of it. It should not protrude. Tighten the screw sufficiently to clamp the wire. Do not over-tighten or the wire may fracture later. Make sure that the red captive washers are tight against the inside of the hinged flap.
	Close the hinged flap and tighten the screws so that the protruding metal wedge clamps the copper braid NOT the outer plastic sheath of the cable. Do NOT over-tighten. The cross-section of the cable must remain circular otherwise impedance mismatch will occur. Note the badly designed plastic clip. I recommend filing this down, before you begin, so that it doesn't kink the cable.
	Use the deepest back box you can find. If your cables are not loose enough to be pushed up into the conduit, leave them long and...
	... loop them like this so they cross over and enter the socket from below.
	This will give sufficient flexibility for the plate to be screwed into place without kinking the cables. A different design of wall plate is available. Click HERE for video.
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