Replacing HDMI cable: fishing through insulated ceiling-- bad idea?

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curtissg

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Aug 14, 2016
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Hi Folks.
I have a brand new Northwood Nash TT, and on the first trip the HDMI Cable broke. (cheap cable just came apart).
I removed the entertainment center console so I can access both ends of the old cable.
My plan is to pull the old cable through, fishing a line it's path, then pull a new cable through the same route.

When I start to pull the old cable through, I'm feeling more resistance than I would like.
My concern is that since the cable runs through the insulated ceiling of the trailer, that it will get caught up on the insulation causing it to bunch up inside the ceiling cavity.... and / or it will get tangled with other cables up there causing them to disconnect or tangle or otherwise cause damage to my new rig.

Anyone have any experience or advice pulling cables through an insulated ceiling?
Would I be better off removing one of the ceiling panels?
(this would involve disconnecting the AC return vents and a few lights)

Any advice is appreciated!
Thanks!
-Curtis.
 
I would try from both ends to refish the cable by attaching it to the old one, and measure how far you are reaching from both sides; then on the furtherest side, if possible try opening a air return outlet or a light fixture or even a exhaust fan and see if you can see or feel that tangled cable.
If that does not work , I'd buy the shortest HDMI cable, cut one end off and cut the damaged end of the existing cable and reconnect and soulder the connector to the old broken cable matching the proper colours.
 
legrandnormand said:
I would try from both ends to refish the cable by attaching it to the old one, and measure how far you are reaching from both sides; then on the furtherest side, if possible try opening a air return outlet or a light fixture or even a exhaust fan and see if you can see or feel that tangled cable.
If that does not work , I'd buy the shortest HDMI cable, cut one end off and cut the damaged end of the existing cable and reconnect and soulder the connector to the old broken cable matching the proper colours.
Click to expand...
When you attach the new one to the old one, wrap the union well with tape, tappering it down at bothe ends of the wrap to reduce the chances of snags.
 
The problem is the new cable has connectors on both ends that are considerably larger than the size of the cable itself.

No matter what you do, the connectors will snag whatever's loose along the path of the pull.

I vote for Normand's idea of cutting the end off of a cable and splicing it back together.  If it doesn't work using the existing cable, cut one end off of a new cable and pull it through without the connector, then splice it together.

If you don't feel comfortable soldering the small wires yourself, bribe a tech to help you.  I work for beer.  ;)
 
curtissg said:
I've read splicing HDMI is next to impossible... not true?
Click to expand...


HDMI is not a "fiber" the telecommunication cie uses it and splices it together with special tools !
HDMI is a bundle of copper wires wrapped in a plastic enveloppe. All you have to do is to match the proper coloured wires, solder them and tape them individually and that should do the job.
 
Stagger your splices along the length of the individual wires so that you don't end up with a "ball" of splices all at one spot.
 
Another option - wireless HDMI transmitter/receiver.  Not inexpensive though (IMO).  :-\

Probably already considered but if still under warranty, let the dealer fix it???
 
about the snag in fishing
it could be that the same guys that wired my stick n bricks house had a hand in it.

My house was wired for sound to a cabinet in the den beside the fireplace.  The bundle of cables going up to the over mantle TV is a huge wad of coax with a few cat5 cables.  They have a single coax for each audio channel + the 3 RGB composites.... all  duplicated a few times for various sources.... and then a few cat5 Ethernet runs in there too.....all coming from behind the TV, and in the wall these all join the bundles of coax and speaker wires coming from throughout the house.

I say bundled, because they did a really nice job of bundling this whole mess together, wrapping in tape.... so there is no way to fish out one of the cables so that I can pull through some newer technology such as HDMI

Bundling all these together probably made perfect sense when it was all just incomplete stud construction..... it was probably a nice neat looking wiring job that the guy stepped back to admire at the end of the day....

Sadly, I'll never get to pull an HDMI through without ripping out drywall..... but Hopefully you'll find away around your snag in your RV.
 
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