Prewire Naming Convention

Hey folks,

I think many of you may be following my blog and new home construction project at: Quadomated

We're finally getting to the point where I need to start planning what wiring will go where and a proper naming convention to help keep track of everything. Was wondering if any of you might have a naming/wiring convention that has worked good for your project and are willing to share. I'm planning on using Leviton Quick Port connectors with 1 RG6QS, 1 HDMI (on rooms close enough to the media room), and 4-6 CAT5E/CAT6 to all rooms/important locations. The breakdown for the usage of the CAT5E/CAT6 will be for possible HDMI distribution, network, phone, IR, and miscellaneous attachments. I also plan to use 22/2 and 22/4 for a significant number of window/door/occupancy sensors.

Any insight is greatly appreciated,
-Mike

Chassmain said:

Hey folks,

I think many of you may be following my blog and new home construction project at: Quadomated

We're finally getting to the point where I need to start planning what wiring will go where and a proper naming convention to help keep track of everything. Was wondering if any of you might have a naming/wiring convention that has worked good for your project and are willing to share. I'm planning on using Leviton Quick Port connectors with 1 RG6QS, 1 HDMI (on rooms close enough to the media room), and 4-6 CAT5E/CAT6 to all rooms/important locations. The breakdown for the usage of the CAT5E/CAT6 will be for possible HDMI distribution, network, phone, IR, and miscellaneous attachments. I also plan to use 22/2 and 22/4 for a significant number of window/door/occupancy sensors.

Any insight is greatly appreciated,
-Mike

Click to expand...

Hi Mike,
For the security end of things I like to mark up a set of blueprints with the zone numbers. I mark both ends of the cable twice about 2 to 4 feet apart on each end. I will then bring the wires into the can and print a label on heat shrink tube and slide it to the top of the can. I do the same thing for all the other wiring. In the end I will enter all of the data into an excel sheet and stick in on the inside of the can(s). For my voice and data I usually use D-XXX for data and V-XXX for voice. For the multiple runs of coax in the same room I use 1a, 1b, 1c, etc. Just make sure to document everything or you will be spending time toning everything out (not fun). One other thing to mention, if you have time, is to do a continuity check on the wiring before closing up the walls.

Good Luck!

-Joe

no matter what naming convention you use, get a GOOD tone generator / probe. It will save you time and time again. I also use the method stated above, I mark blueprints. However, I don't have "data" or "voice" drops, CAT5e runs can be either if terminated properly.

Chassmain said:

Hey folks,


We're finally getting to the point where I need to start planning what wiring will go where and a proper naming convention to help keep track of everything. Was wondering if any of you might have a naming/wiring convention that has worked good for your project and are willing to share.

Any insight is greatly appreciated,
-Mike

Click to expand...

I put together an Excell DB for my wiring. I'll use a wire labeling machine and mark wires like this:

TT-LL-RRR-F-#-P
TT= type of device.....WS = window sensor,DS = door sensor,ET = ethernet outlet,IP = phone connection. etc
LL= building level..... 1 = 1st floor,2 = 2nd floor, etc
RRR= room....LIV=living room, DIN=dining room, etc
F=room face...N = north wall,E = east wall, etc
# = Device number (from left to right side of the wall)
P = port number (in case of media outlet)
So on the wire label MO-2-BRM-N-1 would mean Media Outlet, 2nd floor, master bedroom,north wall, 1st device from left edge of wall

Results in lots of information on a small label footprint.

I do something similar to bucko. I use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of every run. Each wire gets a tag on both ends with Area-Type-Run No.

Areas - B=Barn, G= garage, 1=First floor, etc.
Type - 5=Cat 5, 22=22/4 security wire, C=RG6 cable, etc.
Run No. - just sequential

The spreadsheet has columns for Current Service, end termination location, closet termination location, and a column for other descriptions I might need.

I literally have hundreds of runs, so the Area-Type-Run label gives me a quick glance understanding of what each wire is, and if I need to I can get details from the spreadsheet.


Area - Type - Run No. Current Service
B - 5 - 1 (future barn data)
B - 5 - 2 Barn phone
B - 14 - 1 Barn Speakers
B - 14 - 2 Barn Speakers
B - 18 - 1 B/W Barn security contacts
B - 18 - 2 spare
B - 22 - 1 (future barn motion)
B - 22 - 2 barn to backyard motion
B - 22 - 3 (future shed motion)
B - 5e - 3 spare
B - 5e - 4 spare
B - 5e - 5 spare
B - C - 1 Barn Cable TV
B - C - 2 Barn to garage camera
B - C - 3 spare
B - C - 4 Barn to driveway camera
B - C - 5 Barn to rear house camera

Hey folks!

Great stuff! Exactly what I was looking for!

I'm in the process of going through my floorplan/blueprints making new sets of drawings for window/door/occupancy sensors and wiring, ethernet/telephone/IR wiring, and whole audio/video distribution wiring.

I really like the naming scheme of what bucko and Mark S use and will do something similar. All about getting as much information on the cable in as small a blueprint as possible to keep everything simple. Would one of you mind sending me your Excel file so that I can get an idea of what a completed system looks like all organized?

Thanks so much,
-Mike

My naming convention was OK but not the greatest and several wires got confused. My problem was not deciding on the convention before starting and it sort of evolved as the process moved forward. It killed a couple of hours during the finish out getting that worked out.

I wasn't aware of a heat shrink wire label. That would be beautiful. Maybe you could tape it on initially and then when you terminate, slide it down toward the end and shrink it on. That would look so professional and would make future mods a breeze. If it is reasonable, I would consider using a less abreviated convention so that a reference sheet isn't even necessary.

We just used a Pancode book, one of the ones that has pages of number stickers from 1 to 48. As we pulled our wires, we numbered them sequentially and just made sure to number both ends. When you have more than 48 lines, start using two numbers together on each end; for example, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, etc. It doesn't really matter as long as they are all unique.

We didn't take notes as to what we ran where because we didn't have time -- had to get it done in a weekend because the builder had drywallers coming the next week. It's not that big a deal, though. When I open a box to install something, I just look at the number on the wire in the box, and then I find the wire with the same number at the home-run location. I have been keeping an Excel spreadsheet of numbers that I've used as I install devices.

For a really huge installation, or for an installation with a lot of people working on it, this probably wouldn't work. But if you are doing a 50-150 line installation by yourself or with one or two partners, it's simple and it works well.

Honeslty if you just go with numbers and use all different numbers and keep an excel chart, your fine.

We ran... ohh who knows probably over 500 different wire runs in our new office. We gave every wire a different number and have a master excel list. The master list is broken down by room, we can sort by wire #, by room, by wire type. Basically we had the following info

Wire #
Room Source
Room Destination (most went to server room, but some went to other rooms)
Wire Type
Wire Purpose (hvac, network, phone, audio, etc...)
Misc info

Worked fine for us. 2 months in and we're still connecting wires but its easy to find them all... hardest part is figuring out WHY we ran a wire as we didnt keep detailed plans on what we wanted to do and i have to think back and come up with a new idea as to WHY i have this wire when i might not need it (we have extra wires it seems, but better to have extra then cut a hole in the wall)

Vycor said:

Honeslty if you just go with numbers and use all different numbers and keep an excel chart, your fine.

We ran... ohh who knows probably over 500 different wire runs in our new office. We gave every wire a different number and have a master excel list. The master list is broken down by room, we can sort by wire #, by room, by wire type.

Worked fine for us. 2 months in and we're still connecting wires but its easy to find them all... hardest part is figuring out WHY we ran a wire as we didnt keep detailed plans on what we wanted to do and i have to think back and come up with a new idea as to WHY i have this wire when i might not need it (we have extra wires it seems, but better to have extra then cut a hole in the wall)

Click to expand...

I don't think cornut and vycor are thinking about the future effects of their system. While you guys have a good idea what is going on now, and rely solely on some excell file to make sense of it, what happens 1 or 2 years from now? New people take over your projects, computer files are lost or not updated, etc. You have wires with 2 or 3 numbers stuck on that will fall off ( those labels are terrible about staying on very long).
A wiring scheme should be designed so that a person who has never been in your server room can come in and know exactly what a wire does immediately cold turkey. He doesn't have to use a computer file to refer back to a reference number to know what is going on.
My style system only requires someone to know the layout method (3 minutes of study) and then can move about anywhere and know all about the wire easily. I have been to too many sites where I spend half a day finding someone who eventually locates a master list so I can figure out what a number means on a wire. Then if you need to run more wire to a room that has wires already, it really gets messy. Now your numbers jump sequence, and new wires end up on the bottom of this excell record, easily overlooked by the new guy or third party tech working in there.
Always think future proofing.

The bottom line is it all works as long as you are comfortable with it. After years of all kinds of elaborate naming conventions in Corporate America and home, now I just do two things.

1. I try to put at least 2 labels on the end in the 'closet' a foot or two apart.
2. I just take advantage of the small print on the modern labelers and use 2 lines on a 'wrap' label. First line I usually bold and put the actual room name, like 'Kitchen', 'Mast Bed', 'Office', etc. On the second line in regular font I put the device, like 'PIR', 'Glass', etc.

It's simple, I don't need to refer to a chart, no codes to remember, nothing. Sure, you can make arguments against it like in the last post, but for me, in my own home, I really don't care if someone else understands it, or what happens after I sell, etc. It works for me while it's my house. A pro who needs to keep track of several house may need a more generic system. So like I said, whatever you're comfortable with - the bottom line is to just make sure you put SOMETHING so you know what the cable is.

Bucko's location based system makes sense to me. But purpose of wire may have a value in tagging. CAT5 especially has multiple uses. My concern was always a mislabeled wire getting plugged into the wrong spot.

On a related note... Can these problems that are the result of mislabeling or mixing up a wire cause real problems?
* cat5 that is live for phone getting accidentally plugged in hub or plugging a phone into a wall jack that is terminated back to the network hub? Of course you can eliminate most of this by terminating your phone jacks with RJ11 but if you dont do that I could see the cat5 hub getting connected to dial tone if not careful.
* use a test toner on a wire that is already plugged into the hub. In theory when I terminate the room side of a connection I am terminating a the media closet side at the same time and marking the jack. But what happens if you put a tone generator on a line plugged into a hub?
* same question for a cat5 test tool(the one with the lights)
* cat5/rs232 mixup - I have some cat5 jacks that i terminate with IRA-3 ir reader - http://www.home-electro.com/ira3.php They get jumped back to a rs232 multiport using a 'special' cat5 cable. I use different color cat5 from my punchdown to my serial multiport when I do this but since I dont know the useage of the cat5 in advance the way they are listed on keystone is based on location only not usage.

Anyone know if any of these mix ups can kill equipment?

bucko said:

Vycor said:

Honeslty if you just go with numbers and use all different numbers and keep an excel chart, your fine.

We ran... ohh who knows probably over 500 different wire runs in our new office. We gave every wire a different number and have a master excel list. The master list is broken down by room, we can sort by wire #, by room, by wire type.

Worked fine for us. 2 months in and we're still connecting wires but its easy to find them all... hardest part is figuring out WHY we ran a wire as we didnt keep detailed plans on what we wanted to do and i have to think back and come up with a new idea as to WHY i have this wire when i might not need it (we have extra wires it seems, but better to have extra then cut a hole in the wall)

Click to expand...

I don't think cornut and vycor are thinking about the future effects of their system. While you guys have a good idea what is going on now, and rely solely on some excell file to make sense of it, what happens 1 or 2 years from now? New people take over your projects, computer files are lost or not updated, etc. You have wires with 2 or 3 numbers stuck on that will fall off ( those labels are terrible about staying on very long).
A wiring scheme should be designed so that a person who has never been in your server room can come in and know exactly what a wire does immediately cold turkey. He doesn't have to use a computer file to refer back to a reference number to know what is going on.
My style system only requires someone to know the layout method (3 minutes of study) and then can move about anywhere and know all about the wire easily. I have been to too many sites where I spend half a day finding someone who eventually locates a master list so I can figure out what a number means on a wire. Then if you need to run more wire to a room that has wires already, it really gets messy. Now your numbers jump sequence, and new wires end up on the bottom of this excell record, easily overlooked by the new guy or third party tech working in there.
Always think future proofing.

Click to expand...

Ummm ohh k, how is yours any better? You can't fit a ton of info on a label... i wouldnt understand your wiring layout any better then you mine.Your talking about labels falling off and files getting lost and this and that, thats a lot of things that can happen. If i lose all my data the least of my worries is wires that i could just tone out later in the event of a total disaster loss of info.

Going from 1 to 1000 is just as hard/easy to follow as spending extra time calling something CR-D-1 and KT-P-2 (conference room data 1, kitchen phone 2), etc... without knowing wtf CR or KT is (my examples) it won't help anybody. And its going to take more time, be more frustrating coming up with easy to read combos/etc... then just going in numerical order

While it might look neat, if i walked into your place and tried to read your wiring without a master chart, i'd be lost. It would also take me MORE time to read your chart because there are so many numericals and letters involved that are easily confused. You can also accidently duplicate something if you dont remember your chart... going in numerical order, well hey the worst you do is mixup maybe 13 for 15 because they may look similar, but you are always reading a number and not some code.

Also, to keep things easy, make every wire a different color.

Data = Blue
Phone = White
Fax = Orange (or your choice, we use yellow)
IR = Yellow (or your choice)
HVAC = Green
CCTV = white
Cable = black
Alarm = grey
Fire = RED RED RED (dont use ANYTHING but red please, it might even be code in some states, at least in commercial)

Outside of data/phone/fire everything else is your choice, but data/phone are usually blue and white in the walls. at your patch panel go nuts with whatever colors you want, but in the walls try and use something like that.

We have a rainbow of colors in our room, and without even looking at a wire chart i know my yellows are wires for IR or HVAC (we used same color for both). I know my white is phone, my blue is data. I know my black quad is for cable tvs and my white siamese is for my cctv cameras. My 18/6 wires are for readers, my small white 18/2 is for strikes, my larger 18/4 is for speakers.

we use one type of cable in a specific color for 1 purpose. we didnt run blue cat5 for IR sensors or for phones, as it would confuse us later. THAT will also help you with wiring

Vycor said:

Also, to keep things easy, make every wire a different color.

Data = Blue
Phone = White
Fax = Orange (or your choice, we use yellow)
IR = Yellow (or your choice)
HVAC = Green
CCTV = white
Cable = black
Alarm = grey
Fire = RED RED RED (dont use ANYTHING but red please, it might even be code in some states, at least in commercial)

Click to expand...

Sounds great on paper, and I agree, only use RED for Fire....

but beyond that, cat5 cables are so versatile, and you end up needing one extra wire in the future for HDMI/Phone /IR whatever.... and you have a extra cat5 already in the box, you will repurpse it no matter the color.

so just use a label convention that YOU like, and can understand you are not in the commercial world worrying about that next guy taking over your project...

bucko said:

I don't think cornut and vycor are thinking about the future effects of their system. While you guys have a good idea what is going on now, and rely solely on some excell file to make sense of it, what happens 1 or 2 years from now?

Click to expand...

I hear you, but I'm not too worried about it. As long as I'm alive, no one touches my system but me. I'm in the process of writing a manual so that if something happens to me, then (assuming the system is still in use at that point) my wife can hand it to someone and they can figure it out.

When you get right down to it, no form of labeling is really permanent. Markings can fade or rub off of insulation. Or the insulation may turn brittle and fall off. I did see a system once that involved fastening embossed metal labels to the cables, but even that can corrode or get smashed. It's been three years now and none of my Pancode labels has fallen off yet, although some of them have gotten gummy.