chasing in cables for LCD TV

village_life

Hi

ive got a plasterer coming round on saturday to board and skim our conservatory wall - ultimately we want an LCD TV on the wall, and wanting a tidy job we want the cables to be chased into the wall using a conduit of some sort.

can you advise how we should go about this? - should i buy the conduit and tag it to the wall and let the plasterer board and skim around it? or should i let him board it first and then ask him to cut out a hole for the conduit.... or any other way you can suggest?

Thanks in advance

rdpro

You can either use external conduit after he's done the job (in case you decide to move the TV at a later date, or add more cables like pc/av/dvd) or mark exactly where you want the cable to come thru the board and get him to cut a 1in hole in the plasterboard at that point, and pull the cable through before securing and skimming.

Poppycat

Or you could use a cable tidy which will keep all the cables in a large umbilical cord which doesn't look too bad, we have it on our chimney breast in the bedroom and the dvd player is tucked into a bedroom cabinet with a hole made in for cable to run out

http://www.jmldirect.com/Cable-Tidy-PC8910/

ormus

if the signal cable has a scart socket on the end you will need a very big conduit.
maybe better to get the cables in now, (behind the PB) even if the telly is not bought yet.

the other wires, (mains power etc...) should be ok in a standard conduit.

village_life

hi

thanks for the replies, my point is more about how and in what order? i.e. do i put the conduit in in advance of the plasterer coming to board it, or ask him to cut out a hole before he skims and after the board is put in place?

ormus

conduit is installed first.
the plasterer will then make the holes when he installs the PB.
if you want just the hole without any conduit , then make sure you leave a wire or string in place, knotted at both ends. make sure it cannot disappear!

then when required, you tie/tape your cables to the string and pull.

village_life

cheers.... i presume the conduit can just be tagged into place on the wall?

ormus

yes. just fix into place with pipe clips etc..
no more nails adhesive might even work, if it sticks plastic? (cant remember).

or try this product?
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Conduit+Trunking/Self-Adhesive-Mini-Trunking/invt/712943

turk3y

if you are having it skimmed I would think its much nicer to have the conduit burried and skimmed over, you can get nice openings to put in place, or if you wanted put wall plates in so you then plug from the tv to the plate?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Scart-Cable-Lead-Wall-Plate-Socket-NEW-TV-DVD_W0QQitemZ140229223202QQihZ004QQcategoryZ116853QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or a hdmi one if you are going hd. you can also get regular airal plates, and ethernet as also of things can be run via cat 5 in small runs (ie trunking). These should look ok with no tv there, and then the tv will go over them so you will get a totally seamless install.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HDMI-DVI-S-Scart-Component-Video-VGA-USB-RCA-Wall-Plate_W0QQitemZ220230647315QQihZ012QQcategoryZ14965QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em122

You can have the cables just hang out, less pretty when there is no tv but invisible once its there, and you could argue better quality signal as there is one less connection although I very much doubt anyone but an uber nerd with an osciliscope could tell.

I think a question like this would be better suited to a av forum where this sort of setup is the norm, they may have experience in other porducts / ideas. Avforums is a good uk based forum.

remember to leave enough slack so you can pull the tv off the wall, and move the av equipment on the other end unless you go for two flush ends.