Was against using gel-filled connectors in wet environments until I saw the corrosion on a 6-month old standard connector from a customer's pool house

Found a failure analysis report from the SCTE that showed standard connectors fail 3x faster than gel-filled when humidity is above 70%, so now I keep a bag of the gel ones in my van for outdoor jobs, anyone else made that switch or stick with the old way?

2 comments

2 Comments

susanm2215d agoMost Upvoted

Think the SCTE study actually said 2x faster, not 3x.

noraj7915d ago

Yeah I read a blog from this old RF engineer who said the real problem is water getting trapped between the connector body and the jacket, not just the threads... gel fills that gap completely so it makes sense. He also mentioned that UV breakdown of the rubber boot is what lets moisture in after a year or two anyway, so gel is just buying time. But I have seen gel ones get messy when you have to take them apart later, the goop gets everywhere. Still worth it for pool houses and anyplace with a lot of water mist in the air though.