Common problems and suggestions of coaxial cable

common problem

1. What is coaxial cable and its classification?

Coaxial cable refers to a cable with two concentric conductors, and the conductor and shielding layer share the same axis. The coaxial cable is composed of a hollow outer cylindrical conductor and an inner conductor located on the central axis, and the inner conductor and the cylindrical conductor and the cylindrical conductor are separated from the outside by insulating materials.

Coaxial cable can be divided into two basic types: baseband coaxial cable and broadband coaxial cable.

2. Should I buy coaxial cable or coaxial cable components?

Due to the diversity and application requirements of coaxial connector and cable installation, many suppliers provide pre assembled coaxial components for specific purposes. For a specific application, if the cable length, performance parameters and coaxial connector type are known, the choice is to use the cable assembly.

3. How are coaxial cables routed?

Different applications usually have very different cabling requirements. From the wiring in the equipment assembly to the wiring in the complex building, for almost any environment, there are corresponding coaxial cables that can meet their needs.

For specific wiring types, coaxial cables have several technical parameters to measure whether they can meet the requirements, including bending radius, load or unsupported wiring conditions, wind load, and a variety of environmental factors and ratings.

In general, such information should be provided to the cable purchaser, otherwise the exact details of the wiring requirements can be as important as the electrical performance of the cable. Since some applications make the operation of wiring rough, different protective materials and protective layers are usually used to assist in cable installation.

4. What type of connector is required?

Similar to the case of coaxial cable, there are a wide variety of coaxial cable connectors.

Depending on the size, type of shielding, type of central conductor, additional layer and type of metal used, some cables may be more suitable for some types of connectors. Among them, since the contact between different metal conductors may lead to corrosion and performance degradation, and eventually lead to failure, it is important to prevent such contact.

In addition, coaxial connectors and cables can be connected by crimping, welding, tool free press fitting and other means. It should be considered that not all cables are suitable for certain connection types.

proposal

1. Understand application requirements and parameters

For the purchase of coaxial cable, this means that we need to understand the quality of the signal that the cable needs to carry.

Some important factors are the frequency range and the power level of the transmitted signal. Other factors include the RF and electromagnetic environment the signal passes through, the length of wiring and the difficulty of wiring.

Around the specific coaxial cable selected for a certain application, the project budget and all institutional requirements also play an important role in decision-making.

2. Select impedance correctly

The two main impedances used in coaxial cables are 75 ohms and 50 ohms respectively.

Unless there are visible signs, the impedance of a coaxial cable cannot be judged from the outside. If the above two impedances are confused, it may cause damage to the equipment connector or the device itself, or at least degrade the system performance.

Although sometimes cross used, 75 ohm cables are typically used for video applications, while 50 ohm cables are more often used for data and wireless purposes. The type of equipment and devices to be connected determines the cable impedance to be used.

3. Select the cable length correctly according to the attenuation degree

The attenuation of coaxial cable indicates the energy loss per unit length of cable.

For applications where the signal power is extremely low or the wiring requirements are extremely long, and there is no amplifier or signal intensifier, a low loss cable may be required to meet the small signal strength requirements at the receiving end of the coaxial cable.

If the attenuation of coaxial cable is so low that no signal intensifier is required, it is a cost-effective investment even if the low loss cable is expensive.