I will get some pics and a story to you soon, but a few tips I can share now...
1. Use duct tape for the rough-in labeling. It can be cut off later, but it isn't likely to fall off. Also a little easier than writing directly on the cable.
2. Use a can of fluorescent spray paint (the upside down marking stuff works well) to mark the studs where the low voltage is going. This draws attention to the stud, then you can write on the wall what you need.
3. Personal preferance - mount the outlets and the data rings opposite (such as outlets horizontal and low voltage vertical). This makes it much easier to ID the ports after drywall.
I priced out going with a rackmount bracket and rackmount patch bay. But going with the wall mount was less expensive, plus my personal preference was to separate the "data" and "phone" runs.
I also knew most of the gear would be little boxes that would go just fine on a shelf.
Thanks, though for the tip on the wall-mount rack. Not too much $$!
I will get some pics and a story to you soon, but a few tips I can share now...
1. Use duct tape for the rough-in labeling. It can be cut off later, but it isn't likely to fall off. Also a little easier than writing directly on the cable.
2. Use a can of fluorescent spray paint (the upside down marking stuff works well) to mark the studs where the low voltage is going. This draws attention to the stud, then you can write on the wall what you need.
3. Personal preferance - mount the outlets and the data rings opposite (such as outlets horizontal and low voltage vertical). This makes it much easier to ID the ports after drywall.
Both great ideas. Looking forward to seeing more of your story!
I read your three part How To: Diary of a New Home Network with interest. Thanks for presenting a highly readable guide for the amateur complete with photos.
I am a registered cabler with an endorsement for laying data cable, down under. It became illegal to run cable including data cable in Australia in 2001 unless you are a registered cabler. Just think that you would appreciate comments from an experienced professional.
There are a few items in the Australian standard which apply to any data cabling installation anywhere in the world. I expect these items are in the standards of your country.
1) Separation from mains voltages must be maintained along the entire length of the data cable and must be at least 50mm. This is to prevent electrocution due to mains voltages becoming present on the data cable for whatever reason.
2) Separation of at least 140mm should be maintained between data cabling and mains voltage cable to avoid crosstalk, except where data cabling crosses mains cables at right angles. Inducted voltages from mains cable can induce currents in the data cabling which reduce data speeds due to interference.
3) Where data cabling and mains cabling cannot be separated by at least 50mm, such as in a hollow concrete shaft, the data cabling must be encased in armoured conduit to prevent accidental damage from enabling dangerous voltages on the data cabling.
4) Care must be taken during installation of the cabling to ensure that the cable is not compressed. eg stepped on. This is because the rate of twisting of the pairs varies along the length of the cable for each pair. Compression of the cable may lead to permanent modification of the twists, thereby allowing crosstalk to occur between the pairs. ie Stepping on data cabling, or excessively bending it, during installation will most probably lead to a reduction in the maximum data transfer speed and noise on the line.
I notice that the photo of the punched down cat 5e socket shows one of the wires not being cut off where it should be. This is one of the things I look for when checking that I have punched down the wires correctly.
Another cheap tool which I have found essential is one that lets me check that each pin on the socket has a good electrical connection through to the appropriate pin on the socket at the far end of the cable. eg http://www.dse.com.au/ and search on cable tester.
I understand why you used the ply, but for myself I would use a 19" frame as it is much more elegant. Nor does it have to be expensive. One small enough to hold 2 patch panels would be big enough, say 4U high. A metal plate on top would then flesh it out to act as a shelf. Rather than using a phone patch panel I would simply plug the phone leads straight into the cat5e sockets albeit possibly with a plastic insert to reduce the width. There is the possibility of doing damage to the cat5e socket due to the plastic shroud of the phone plug but I am yet to see this in practice.
Hope that this comment finds you enjoying the fruits of your labours.
Here's another article, from a few years back. This one is for a more involved network installation. Tom's - 6/30/03
Michael, for some reason, that link does not correspond to a product, but seems to simply default to the index page of the site. Apparently I'd have to be a logged in Member to access that?
Congratulations on your new home networking. I am impressed at your installation, I deal with lots of small businesses and you would be amassed at what a horrible networking job some of these places have. Your installation challenges many of the "professional" installations I have seen.
There a few things that I would have done differently, I prefer to use a 66 block instead of the telephone panel that you used, it will be cheaper also. I typically terminate all pairs of a cat 3 or cat 5 cable in to the block, and all the cables coming from the Telephone Company.
Any changes that need to be made could be done by simply jumping the different cables across the block. The advantage to doing it, this way, is that you can have up to 4 different telephone lines (assuming you use cat5 cable) at every location.
The next recommendation is that any time that a cable run is made, 2 cables should be done. I say so for the following reasons:
1. You never know when you need an extra network outlet.
2. If for any reason one of the cables is damaged, you don't need to re-run a new cable.
3. The price of the cable is negligent since a 1000ft box of cat5 can be bought for under $100.00; chances are that if you buy a 1000ft box you will have left over cat5 cable.
4. When you are running the cable it takes minimal extra effort to run 2 cables instead of one, (assuming you run both cables at the same time).
5. If you don't want to spend the money on the extra jacks and a bigger panel you don't have to terminate the cable at the moment, you could do it when the need arises.
I think it is cost effective doing it this way you may save yourself time, money and effort in the future.
I hope my suggestion will be useful to some of the THG readers.
Unlike some installers, I don't see the value of running lower-grade infrastructure next to CAT5e, as technology tends to migrate upwards rather than down (e.g., VoIP & IP phones). You're better off running pure CAT5e, especially considering the cabling is cheaper than CAT3 anyhow.
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There a few things that I would have done differently, I prefer to use a 66 block instead of the telephone panel that you used, it will be cheaper also.
Old style 66 blocks don't meet fast ethernet specifications for crosstalk, near-end crosstalk (NEXT), and isolation. By using them, you effectively reduce CAT5/CAT5e rated cable to CAT3. Instead, consider using CAT5e/CAT6-rated patch panels. Typically these terminate with higher density 110 blocks.
I second the idea of running a minimum of two cables per run. This never fails to pay off in a year or two when your network devices proliferate. In addition, consider running poly line alongside any pulls. This will facilitate pulling additional cable in the same chase in the future.
With the decision of T-568A / B out of the way, I next had to decide how I was going to terminate all the CAT5e at the wiring panel. The cheapest way to go was to not use a patch panel at all, but instead just crimp an RJ45 plug onto the end of each cable. After all, the data lines will just end up getting plugged into a switch port, so why have the extra layer of interconnect? I almost went this way, but remembered how much I hate getting the wires lined up properly to crimp into an RJ45 plug. So despite the added cost, I decided to use a patch panel.
While simply crimping RJ45 plugs onto interconnect cables and foregoing patch panels may seem attractive, don't do it. CAT5e interconnect cable doesn't play well with most RJ45 plugs. You'll notice signal loss, intermittent continuity problems, or at worst, dead cable runs. This is especially true of plenum-rated cable, because the jacket material doesn't properly friction-fit with the crimp action of the plug.
Among our clients who have existing cable infrastructure, >70% of those without patch panel interconnects experience intermittent connectivity problems. Within two years, the majority of them have opted to retrofit patch panels to remediate the problem. As you can imagine, the costs of doing after-the-fact are substantially higher. Especially if the previous cable installer ignored other EIA/TIA best practices -- missing service loops (1-3 foot of slack at each end) being the most common mistake.
Leviton provides a good overview of cabling practices:
While I see many people stating they would have used different equipment and have their reasons, many people must understand that Tim had quite a bit of money already invested in this.
He didn't list a total price for all his equipment and pricing but I'm sure it wasn't cheap.
While many of you would have liked to use a 19" rack, these can run anywhere from $50-$150 for low end, while his plywood sheet would have only cost a few dollars.
I work on a larger scale for a national company installing networking. In short, my company goes around and buys other similar companies and I'm sent in to put the network together. Many of these companies are forced to skip out on equipment or they tend to spend too much money on equipment.
While the 19" rack looks good, the plywood works just as good. The majority of companies I've gone into and looked around use plywood to punch down with a plastic rack attached. The cable then run over to a rack.
Working with wires in a rack isn't always easy and you tend to have to purchase a rack that works to your needs. A lot of times it can take days to weeks to get the rack that you want and it's not necessarily easy to pick up.
Often in the computer field I find that manypeople tend to go overkill in many situations. Many times I find things are done poorly. In my experience, many people are unable to figure out the best equipment to use for a job. In Tim's case he based his decision on price, quality, and useability.
I personally couldn't justify spending $50 for a rack, especially since this is a brand new house and he has other expenses.
I wanted to share my thoughts with everyone that very rarely do you work with an unlimited budget, especially in Networking. Certain areas you will need to make compromises. Tim used plywood for his rack and used the money saved to purchase quality equipment. Had he not purchased the wire strippers, the cable tester, etc, and bought a Rack instead, he would either end up spending more money or have a bigger headache on his hands.
Bang for the buck is what I like to say when it comes to figuring out your equipment. Most people always figure "More" into the factor instead of asking, "Does spending X amount of money on this justify the need?"
In his case, in my opinion, a rack would have been overkill. In fact, he can always add on later if the need arises. Just something to keep in mind.
I'd recommend crimped coax connectors over the screw-on type. I've found the crimped coax connectors to be far more trouble free.
Another option for Cat5e wiring is to buy pre-made and tested cabling (with plugs already attached). I've installed a few home and office networks --- so you would think I'd have figured out how to properly punch down a RJ-45 jack. However the Fluke test equipment that I have purchased almost consistently shows a problem with about 10% of all the jacks that I've punched down.
Tim noted Sweat Equity. I guarentee most people our humble world have more time than they do money. This was cost effective for Tim and gave him an opportunity to save money by putting his skills to the test.
Again, working with limited budgets, Tim saved money on this project.
While crimping the cables down may have taken an hour or two, premade cables may have cost him hundreds of dollars more. Sweat Equity is the best thing to do, especially when you're working on a home project.
If you have the skills and time to use your skills, do it. It's by far the best way to save money and stay on budget.
Now, most of this applies to both Dish and Cable customers, but some is directed more at Cable customers.
The article was going real well until you decided to go with screw on connectors for your coax. Now, having not worked in cable, you probably think one connector is just as good as another, but I'm here to tell you that line of thinking couldn't be further from the truth.
You're using RG-6, which is good - alot of people don't know the vast difference the quality of cable you buy makes. Unfortunatly most home users don't have a good signal meter and they think that as long as their picture is clear everything is okay, well that isn't true either - what you can't see is that those poor connections are butchering your signal.
I recommend Tri-Shield or Quad-Shield RG6 depending on your RF environment, from either Commscope or Times Fiber. (some cable co's will let you buy a reel through them when they order for themselves, some won't)
For connectors, you should be using high-quality ones like these:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_di [...] =WMFDIGI-S (crimp tool: http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_di [...] ROD=SLCCT1 )
Once you have the cable stripped, fold back the braid and slide the connector on until the white dialectric material is even with the inner ring of the fitting. You should trim the centerconductor once crimped so that it does not protrude more than 1/8 - 1/4 inches from the end of the connector. There are different connectors for different types of cable also. Alot of people also like using those handy little push-on jumpers you get at wal-mart or sometimes they come with the VCR - pitch them in the trash. They cause more problems than you would care to know. If you must use a pushon, at least make a RG6 jumper with good fittings and then use these type: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi- [...] F-59_.html
If I was your cable tech and came into your house, I would have to pull every fitting and every faceplate in your house and recrimp the connectors after you put screwons on.
Whats the purpose of this you ask? Well, I've seen a lot - I mean a lot, of bad TV's, VCR's etc, that actually put 110volts back on the *ground* of the coax. This can cause all kinds of problems that I'm not going to go into here.
General rule of thumb: Don't buy coax or equipment from anyplace that has "-mart" in its name. Don't buy gold-plated (worthless junk - yes, lets gold plate the ground instead of the part that actually carries the signal)
The common mistake alot of people make is assuming that they'll get better picture out of the ports of the splitter with the bigger number, where the opposite is actually true, the numbers indicate LOSS of signal in db, and you should generally assume that you get 15db into the house, and subtract from there (ask your tech how many db you are getting to the back of the house - he may give you two figures, split the difference and use that as your start). Depending on the carrier to noise, your picture could become grainy or even hard to see at 0 or -15db (no signal is -30), and you should always have about +10 hitting the back of a BigScreen (they generally require more than the average TV for a good picture).
Okay before I ramble way off-track I wanted to get to the CAT5, and reinforce what was said before about the patch panels and having ends on your runs. Horizontal cable is generally "Solid Conductor" meaning that each wire in the pairs is a single wire. This makes it stiffer, easier to handle and it has better characteristics as far as signal performance. However, the common mistake people make is in fact, connectorizing this cable rather than, when properly utilitized, terminated into a patch panel. The solid conductor is why you can't use it as a patch cable. The more the cable moves, and that wire bends, its just like taking a pop can and wiggling the tab back and forth, eventually it breaks off, then you have your intermittant failure or high-resistance connection or just a complete failure altogether. Now, if you do terminate it into a fitting, it best be a fitting that never moves because it will fail eventually. This is why you buy the premade jumpers that are made from "Braided Conducter" that are easier to bend and are not so stiff for your shorter, more commonly moved around, plugged and unplugged often connections.
You want to buy them premade because braided cable is a pain to terminate, let me tell you - and patch cables don't cost hundreds of dollars either (unless you are buying a lot of them...)
While the job overall was well planned and thought out, some inexperience in these matters could cause problems for you on down the line. A job done right is always better than a job done on the cheap - some corners just shouldn't be cut, regardless of the extra cost.
Overall, I give the project a 3 out of 5, with points off for improper termination and tidyness of the panel.
Very interesting, I'm in the middle of wiring Cat5e network in a new house I'm building in the UK, the cable runs (25) are all in and I'm just about to start terminating them. I'm happy with the data connections its just trying to figure how to set some up for simple telephone voice comms thats giving me a headache. I'm planning on terminating the drops on a 48 port patch panel I already have. I'm just working out how to split the phone signal to the 4 or 5 drops I need for it.
Other suggestions.....
When you run cable drops during a house build leave plenty of over-run, loop and pin out the way and note not just the number of the cable but where it is! It is very frustrating to come back after the dryliners have been in to find they have burried half your cables. Photos are good to track cables. Odds are the cable ends will get covered in bits of plaster, paint, stood on, pulled (note all the horror stories about damaged cables). Basically no matter how good they are, and I've had some great guys on site, other trades have no idea about network cable (or power cables when it comes to it).
We had no problems using white masking tape with pen numbering to tag the cable, run it round the end of the cable a couple of times and then take a 2 inch bit and double it back on itself.
Only other thing is that Cat5 cable costs basically nothing so just run it eveywhere, you can just hide it behind drywall or blanking plates.
Have a look at our build
www.blackie.me.uk Cat5 first fix on 15:1:06
