The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Early Start: Late Blog
Got paged into work early--
Seems some of the junk connected to this mess done blowed up. I didn't wire it and the guy who did responded to offers of help with grunts. Somehow it's my job to sort it out. While he takes the credit.
Oh, this is fun.
Oh come on, Roberta! I've seen a lot worse than that. You have carefully-velcro'd cable ties for groups of related cables, everything looks pretty much sized to fit rather than leaving loops of extra cable all over the cabinet, clearly the cables are color-coded to indicate their purpose, and you have clear access to the whole thing once you take the door off the rack.
About the only thing you could ask for beyond what you've got are nicely printed labels on each cable and maybe a more stable place for the mysterious gray boxes.
I've seen worse -- I have sorted out worse. The trouble is, my paycheck goes through that mess; it is online, 24/7. One untangles it at his or her peril.
The mysterious-gray-boxes (distribution amplifiers) are part of the present idiocy, done by an alleged tech who likes to dangle standalone devices from the cabled connected to them in the rats-nests of wires he creates. It will come as no surprise that he was also the last hold-out on using "clothespin" type strippers on coax, preferring to "trim by eye" and pocketknife. The SWR bump the resulting mess creates does disturbing things to high-speed serial video data and that's before the steady weight pulls the cable out of the poorly-crimped BNC connector.
The responsible authorities at my employer would reject at the loading dock any cabinet arriving in that condition from a vendor. Anyone found rubbing cables like that in an in-service cabinet would have their careers shot at dawn pour encourager les autres.
Slightly off topic, but I find out today that the FCC is apparently trying to get the incumbents to tighten up on the current 600 mHz band with the intention of auctioning the resulting available spectrum to, among others, cellular data... Sic transit gloria OTA TV. (can't find the post where I made my prediction concerning the impending transfer of spectrum from OTA TV to cellular)
Comment moderation is enabled. Your comment will not be visible until approved. Arguing or use of insulting or derogatory language will result in your comment going unpublished: no name-calling. Comments I deem excessively partisan will not be published.
A small localized fire, confined to that equipment room, might be your best solution.
ReplyDeleteYou could then rebuild it the way it should be.
Noooooo, that would be disaster. You're looking at the very heart of how my empoyer makes money. Pushing $10K a minute loss when it is down.
ReplyDeleteI will never bellyache about a poorly wired server cabinet again.
ReplyDeleteWow, how did you get into my wiring closet?
ReplyDeleteThat rack looks like it could use some serious cleaning up.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it looks a lot like the wiring closet where I work. So I'll just stop short of throwing stones whilst living in a glass house. :)
"done blowed up" as in "was working and quit" or "done blowed up" as in "was working, changes made, now no worky?"
ReplyDeleteGood luck in any case.
May the Tron God smile upon you.
I WISH the stuff around here were as neat and organized as that...
ReplyDeleteOh come on, Roberta! I've seen a lot worse than that. You have carefully-velcro'd cable ties for groups of related cables, everything looks pretty much sized to fit rather than leaving loops of extra cable all over the cabinet, clearly the cables are color-coded to indicate their purpose, and you have clear access to the whole thing once you take the door off the rack.
ReplyDeleteAbout the only thing you could ask for beyond what you've got are nicely printed labels on each cable and maybe a more stable place for the mysterious gray boxes.
reminds me of spaghetti lab back in Avionics Class A school...
ReplyDeleteI have seen worse. Still isn't fun to try to troubleshoot, but not the worst situation I've ever been in.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten a lot better about labels, cable ties, and organization since the one that broke me. The rat skeleton was the tipping point.
Cut the purple wire first...
ReplyDeleteDoes the guy sound like Marlin Perkins? "We'll send Jim in for a closer look. While Jim deals with that python, let me tell you about..."
ReplyDeleteBeen there. Sometimes the ultimate reward is longevity...
Jim R
But-- purple is SDI video!
ReplyDeleteYears ago someone tried to dump responsibility for a far worse wire tangle on me. I just indicated I would recable it with a chainsaw.
ReplyDeleteIt's the cable on the left.
ReplyDeleteSeriously? First thing I'd do is make sure all the cables were seatedproperly. And I have certainly seen worse.
I've seen worse -- I have sorted out worse. The trouble is, my paycheck goes through that mess; it is online, 24/7. One untangles it at his or her peril.
ReplyDeleteThe mysterious-gray-boxes (distribution amplifiers) are part of the present idiocy, done by an alleged tech who likes to dangle standalone devices from the cabled connected to them in the rats-nests of wires he creates. It will come as no surprise that he was also the last hold-out on using "clothespin" type strippers on coax, preferring to "trim by eye" and pocketknife. The SWR bump the resulting mess creates does disturbing things to high-speed serial video data and that's before the steady weight pulls the cable out of the poorly-crimped BNC connector.
Were I on the jury and saw that photo I'd vote for acquittal.
ReplyDeletelooks like it might be safe to cut the blue wire...
ReplyDeleteRats nest comes to mind... sigh...
ReplyDeleteAt least the wires are different colors!!!
The responsible authorities at my employer would reject at the loading dock any cabinet arriving in that condition from a vendor. Anyone found rubbing cables like that in an in-service cabinet would have their careers shot at dawn pour encourager les autres.
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topic, but I find out today that the FCC is apparently trying to get the incumbents to tighten up on the current 600 mHz band with the intention of auctioning the resulting available spectrum to, among others, cellular data... Sic transit gloria OTA TV. (can't find the post where I made my prediction concerning the impending transfer of spectrum from OTA TV to cellular)
ReplyDelete