It’s not even Halloween and you’re probably not thinking about cold weather. But, you should. Here are five ways that you should be preparing your home electronics for the winter. Do them now, you’ll be glad you did.
1. Inspect outside connections and cables.
Summer heat can be brutal on cables. The rubber outer sheaths can crack and let water into the inner portion of the cables. When it comes to connectors, they can swell from extreme heat, letting dust and dirt in. Take a good look at every cable and connector outside. Now is the time to replace them if you need to.
2. Test surge protectors and uninterruptible power supplies
If you have surge protectors with switches or circuit breakers, now is the time to test them to make sure they work well. Power surges come right after power is restored, and blackouts happen when snow and ice weigh down exposed power lines.
If you have an uninterruptible power supply, test the battery by unplugging it from the wall. Most UPSs will tell you if the battery needs to be replaced, but there’s definitely a wrong time to find out that this needs to be done.
3. Deal with the dust bunnies
Take a look behind desks and other furniture. I know, you don’t look there and you usually don’t look there for a reason. But, caked-on dust can be a fire hazard if your electrical stuff is up against a baseboard heater. Winter time often is the driest time of the year, and random sparks can have terrible consequences.
4. Check the aim on satellite dishes and antennas
You want everything on your roof to be in tip-top shape. Wintertime is the wrong time to be up on an icy roof dealing with something that’s not aimed right. Now’s the time to honestly assess whether you’re getting the reception you should be getting.
If you need to re-aim and you don’t want to go up on the roof yourself, you’re still in luck. Solid Signal can help hook you up with an installer in your area who can do the work for you. They don’t want to go up on the roof when it’s icy either, so get it all together to call them now.
5. Get a handle on streaming subscriptions
You probably really haven’t thought too much about your streaming setup all summer. After all it’s been the perfect summer in much of the country for just getting out of the house. But how much are you paying for all that streaming stuff? I bet if you add it all up it’s more than you pay for satellite TV or cable. Cut back a little bit on streaming apps you don’t actually use, and you can probably afford a live TV subscription from DIRECTV Stream. Live TV is critical when storms are coming and you don’t want to be without it.
Finally…
If you need anything to upgrade your home after you’ve done all your inspections, shop at Solid Signal for everything you need! We have over 40,000 parts all designed to help you live your best digital life! If you need help choosing, just call us at 888-233-5763 during East Coast business hours!
