Help - what is this wire?

Danny1969

Can you find a dead rat and place it near the broken wire, maybe with it's mouth almost touching the wire. That would be less hassle and more convincing than a crocodile. It would be enough circumstantial evidence to get you off the hook anyway.   

TimmyO

We'd have to first train the rat to go through the letterbox and retrieve the 'sorry' letter. Should be do-able.  

Offset

TimmyO said:

We'd have to first train the rat to go through the letterbox and retrieve the 'sorry' letter. Should be do-able.  

Not if it's dead :-)

TimmyO

Offset said:

TimmyO said:

We'd have to first train the rat to go through the letterbox and retrieve the 'sorry' letter. Should be do-able.  

Not if it's dead :-)

It's all in the sequencing of events... 

Offset

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.

notanon

Google search brings up 16AWG 4 lead Double Shielded, 1.5mm, Spindle Cable. Apparently used to connect to devices such as CNC, used on some Optima equipment. I give up at that :-)

Philly_Q

@Offset when @VimFuego mentioned a "hell mouth" I immediately thought of The Gate.  I love that film.

boogieman

I take it nothing went bang or phut when it was cut through? Doesn’t look like there’s any evidence of burning on the cable either so at a guess it’s either a very low voltage supply to something or an old cable tv set up. My money’s on the latter. 

WezV

Philly_Q said:

@Offset when @VimFuego mentioned a "hell mouth" I immediately thought of The Gate.  I love that film.

I recently rewatched it, having memories of it being one of the first horrors I saw back when my parents got a Betamax from radio rentals.

I really enjoyed it

Offset

^^ Guess what I'm watching tonight 

randella

boogieman said:

I take it nothing went bang or phut when it was cut through? Doesn’t look like there’s any evidence of burning on the cable either so at a guess it’s either a very low voltage supply to something or an old cable tv set up. My money’s on the latter. 

Mine too. The weathered box looks very much like our Virgin feed (installed back in the NTL days) and, since the one that got the chop *doesn't* come out of it, I'd say you're going to be OK.

If it has switched off their internet/illegal Sky hookup/weed farm comms system, get a mate round who a) has a meter and can check for anything ouchy (probably not, you'd know about it by now) and b) can then solder and shrink it as per @ICBM.

digitalkettle

I'm not often in Off Topic but this is such a good thread...carry on!

elstoof

Satellite dishes often have multiple receivers so you can record and watch multiple channels simultaneously, these require a multicore cable for the seperate streams

Headphones

elstoof said:

Satellite dishes often have multiple receivers so you can record and watch multiple channels simultaneously, these require a multicore cable for the seperate streams

and often have a fairly solid dc supply, great for sparking. Not that I have first hand experience... 

Sporky

elstoof said:

Satellite dishes often have multiple receivers so you can record and watch multiple channels simultaneously, these require a multicore cable for the seperate streams

Those would definitely be coax though. 

Danny1969

Sporky said:

elstoof said:

Satellite dishes often have multiple receivers so you can record and watch multiple channels simultaneously, these require a multicore cable for the seperate streams

Those would definitely be coax though. 

Yeah I said earlier any kind of video or data signal would need to be shielded or differential paired ... this cable looks like unshielded wires in a robust jacket ... like a DC control cable. 

However sometimes you do get what looks like single unshielded wires,  but on closer inspection when you peel back the insulation they are shielded and can carry video signals at lowish res a fair way if required. 

The photo isn't high def enough to see 

elstoof

The more pertinent question is why the neighbour’s cable is on your side of the fence

TimmyO

elstoof said:

The more pertinent question is why the neighbour’s cable is on your side of the fence

I.dont think it was - the drainpipe is shared and the 'boundary' on the wall - my partner cut the stray branches behind the drainpipe at that midpoint - Just turned out a branch-coloured cable was running up behind it too. 

Anyway, the neighbours have returned. They said it was an "old Sky cable" (potentially a misrembering of old cable TV cable) and not to worry about it. 

They also said it was nice to come home to a handwritten letter and to feel free to write to them again next time they are away :-) 

BillDL

Write them another note complaining nicely about the loose brown cable dangling freely down the wall and asking what they intend to do about it.

GSPBASSES

It looks like the old rediffusion cable TV, that was used back in the 70s and 80s where you couldn't pick up normal TV through your aerial. If the same type of cable goes across to your neighbours house to a similar box, then it's definitely the old style cable TV.