Help - what is this wire?

Barney

Sporky said:

TV cable is coaxial.

Yeah the arial cable is but I thought the old underground TV cable was multi core ?

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

Strip back two inches of each end, bare half an inch of each core, twist them together and solder, insulate the joints with tape, fold them in opposite directions along the outside of the cable to be sure, then wrap the whole lot in waterproof duct tape, hide it back in the bush and no-one should be any the wiser.

If you want to make it look professional, use heat shrink tubing for the insulation - remember to slide a big piece over the outer cable *before* you join the cores - but still use duct tape to seal it over the top unless you’re using glue-lined heatshrink. Nearly forgot, check there isn’t a shield as well when you’re joining the cores.

And don’t ask how I know this .

And don't be put off by the large audience of neighbours gathering to watch as you're busy soldering in the front garden.

TimmyO

I can't solder so that's not an option unfortunately.

There's no alarm system.

Cable TV might be a good shout. As I said this is a town that had cable TV everywhere years before it was common (Telewest I think it was back in the day) 

ICBM

TimmyO said:

I can't solder so that's not an option unfortunately.

In that case use a chocolate-block terminal strip. It’s not as good in the long term since corrosion may get in, but if you twist the wire ends before putting them into the terminals - all from the same side - and wrap the whole thing in duct tape, it will probably still be working after you (or they) move house .

thermionic

Optima are a manufacturer of outdoor-mounted TV signal splitters: https://www.aceonline.co.uk/optima-158-c.asp

Those are for coaxial cables, maybe they made them for now-defunct cable systems that used 4-conductor wiring? All the cable tv units I’ve had have come into the house on coax AFAIK though.

Sporky

Barney said:

Sporky said:

TV cable is coaxial.

Yeah the arial cable is but I thought the old underground TV cable was multi core ?

Ah - I did not know that.

Paul_C

If you set fire to their house they probably won't be worrying about the wire when they get home.

Danny1969

It looks like 4 core dc control cable, which can be used for alarms, moving a satellite dish, controlling pumps and valves for ponds, irrigation etc. 

Generally any signal cable needs to be shielded or differential paired and twisted ... so this looks like DC control cable to me 

BillDL

I believe the wires go to concealed cameras in your bathroom and bedroom and that the neighbours have been spying on you and selling videos of you padding around the house in S&M gear, or whatever you get up to within the confines of your own home.  Are you sure they are away on holiday rather than incarcerated for this kind of thing?  How long have they been absent for?  I suspect that if you smashed down their door and had a good nosey around you would find banks of digital recorders all connected to that brown wire.

Kittyfrisk

I'd be considering myself lucky that I hadn't just snipped the shunt from the mains meter bypass to enable the weed farm next door to be lit & heated for free...

spark240

Is it possible that it comes out of that box into the ground, then pops up somewhere else around the house, it looks more like an outgoing cable than incoming ?

Philly_Q

Kittyfrisk said:

I'd be considering myself lucky that I hadn't just snipped the shunt from the mains meter bypass to enable the weed farm next door to be lit & heated for free...

There's a house at the end of my road which has a windowless external wall which seems extraordinarily warm sometimes.  Walking past it on a cold day it's like being near a heater.  I do wonder what they're up to.

BillDL

I thought Grogg lived up here?

VimFuego

Philly_Q said:

Kittyfrisk said:

I'd be considering myself lucky that I hadn't just snipped the shunt from the mains meter bypass to enable the weed farm next door to be lit & heated for free...

There's a house at the end of my road which has a windowless external wall which seems extraordinarily warm sometimes.  Walking past it on a cold day it's like being near a heater.  I do wonder what they're up to.

it may just be a hell mouth, doesn't always have to be a sinister reason. 

Kittyfrisk

VimFuego said:

Philly_Q said:

Kittyfrisk said:

I'd be considering myself lucky that I hadn't just snipped the shunt from the mains meter bypass to enable the weed farm next door to be lit & heated for free...

There's a house at the end of my road which has a windowless external wall which seems extraordinarily warm sometimes.  Walking past it on a cold day it's like being near a heater.  I do wonder what they're up to.

it may just be a hell mouth, doesn't always have to be a sinister reason. 

Or it could be the outside wall of my elderly parents house. Fark, it's hot in there...

VimFuego

Kittyfrisk said:

VimFuego said:

Philly_Q said:

Kittyfrisk said:

I'd be considering myself lucky that I hadn't just snipped the shunt from the mains meter bypass to enable the weed farm next door to be lit & heated for free...

There's a house at the end of my road which has a windowless external wall which seems extraordinarily warm sometimes.  Walking past it on a cold day it's like being near a heater.  I do wonder what they're up to.

it may just be a hell mouth, doesn't always have to be a sinister reason. 

Or it could be the outside wall of my elderly parents house. Fark, it's hot in there...

did a job in a care home the other day, it was so hot in there my crewmate and I had to take turns going back to the truck to cool down with the A/C.

Hmmm, a thought has occurred; combine weed farms and care homes. The weed farm benefits from the free heat and the care home benefits from the sale of the produce. 

Philly_Q

VimFuego said:

Hmmm, a thought has occurred; combine weed farms and care homes. The weed farm benefits from the free heat and the care home benefits from the sale of the produce. 

A bit like a much smaller-scale alternate version of Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen, where they're renting space from landed but cash-strapped gentry to grow weed in underground labs.

midlifecrisis

Could you borrow a crocodile and get it to bite the cable at both ends so you can say you didnt do it, a crocodile did?

Kittyfrisk

midlifecrisis said:

Could you borrow a crocodile and get it to bite the cable at both ends so you can say you didnt do it, a crocodile did?

It's always the obvious simple solutions that most people overlook 

VimFuego

midlifecrisis said:

Could you borrow a crocodile and get it to bite the cable at both ends so you can say you didnt do it, a crocodile did?

caiman, no one would believe that.