Residental w/ rack; wiring question

[drvnbysound]

I ran all of my phone, network, and CATV cabling into a SMC. I would probably do the same again for the phone and CATV... However, I'm not so sure about the network cabling.
 
Having said that, a friend has asked me to help wire his home and I'm interested to hear how you guys would 'trim out' cabling that would be run to a rack? The cable is going to come out of the wall, and I'm not quite sure how I should handle a bulk amount...
 
I've seen server rooms where a conduit is run through the ceiling (generally to a cable tray), but I'm not sure of the feasibility of doing this in a residential application. Interested to hear thoughts on how you guys would finish something like this out.... this will be done in a closet.

 

[doogie04]

Personally, I don't think anything can beat standard punch down panel.   I would take all the structured wiring to a shallow wall panel (4, 6 or 8" deep) and do a fixed termination there.  Then use patch cables to reach your rack as necessary. 
 
In my residential application I used 3" PVC conduit to gather the wires in the ceiling, then made a penetration right next to my patch panel.  All the wires coming out of the conduit terminate in the panel.  I have about 45 Ethernet drops, 16 speaker terminals and 8 coax all terminated to the panel.   To avoid lots of long patch panels I have somewhat deeper brackets and two shallow switches that sit right in the bracket.  With the switches located in the brackets, what needs to leave the patch panel is easily manageable.

 

[tmbrown97]

I've done hundreds of branch office closets - and a handful of residential - and I must say it depends a lot on the available space/situation.  For me, pictures of the space would go a long way.
 
If you have a ton of runs and a dedicated basement room, then termination to a nice A-Frame rack could be good...  if you're tight on space and need to make an in-wall SMC work, that's totally doable.  Or if you have a lot of wall-space for patch panels and cross connects, that works too.  Then again, it also depends on equipment - a little netgear soho router takes a ton less space than a cisco rack-mount router.  
 
I ran a big enough SMC to hold all my stuff should I sell, but I installed a 12U wall mount rack for switches and an enterprise router - it's adjacent to my SMC - so far I'm very happy with it.

 

[drvnbysound]

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but I was able to see the house a couple of days ago; it's currently in construction - the framing was just completed.
 
Having said that, the owner is going to utilize one of the BRs as a dedicated media room. He originally wanted ALL LV wiring to terminate in the closet of this room; it's actually a small room (12.5'x10') and the closet is (~5'x2') with some awkwardly spaced wall studs due to spacing and adjoining walls.
 
Realizing that he wants CCTV, security, distributed AV, networking, etc. I was able to convince him to pull some of the items out of this closet and move them into another space with dedicated SMCs. However, it definitely makes sense for the networking and A/V cabling to be run into the closet where there will be a rack. I think I may have him put in a 28" or 42" SMC and pull all the wires through it. Likely terminating the networking cabling into a patch panel, and allow the rest of the cabling to reach directly to the rack.
 
My original concern was how all of the wiring may come out of the wall if a SMC was not present, but I think it makes sense to have one there anyway... it will just probably never have a cover.

 

[Neurorad]

Cables go into the SMC through a knockout, and cables leave the SMC via knockout. They could leave the wall via a scoop plate.

 

[drvnbysound]

Cables go into the SMC through a knockout, and cables leave the SMC via knockout. They could leave the wall via a scoop plate.

 
Ok, so how would you leave the SMC with ~30 Ethernet via knockout to the rack?
 
That's what I'm trying to get at... what is the recommended finished transition for a bulk amount of cables through a wall? I don't foresee that being via 6-port wall plates...
 
EDIT: I missed your mention of the scoop plate... that looks like what I was after. All of mine terminate at wall plates, and I didn't think that would be a good idea for a bulk amount. However, it doesn't necessarily seem that a scoop plate would be easy to use for adding patch cables between the SMC and rack - having to fish the wire through the wall each time you want to add another.

 

[drvnbysound]

Now the problem is trying to figure out how to get all wiring (speaker, AV distribution, IR distribution, CATV to rack mounted STBs, network, etc) cabling through X number of wall scoops....
 
Speaking of, does anyone have a good solution for IR distribution? This is new construction, so I don't need any retrofit type solutions, but it's something that I haven't done before. So I'm on a product search...

 

[lonebrave]

I've used http://www.xantech.com/ products for IR in a few commercial applications (i.e. conference rooms).

 

[pete_c]

He originally wanted ALL LV wiring to terminate in the closet of this room; it's actually a small room (12.5'x10') and the closet is (~5'x2') with some awkwardly spaced wall studs due to spacing and adjoining walls.

 
~5X2 is kind of small for a closet where I would just put everything in the main room which is larger.
 
Just to understand a bit better; friend wants to terminate all of the LV wiring in the closet SMC's then go from there to another SMC outside of the closet and put a rack in the main room?
 
Can you do a quickie pencil drawing of the room, closet and what you are suggesting?

 

[drvnbysound]

~5X2 is kind of small for a closet where I would just put everything in the main room which is larger.
 
Just to understand a bit better; friend wants to terminate all of the LV wiring in the closet SMC's then go from there to another SMC outside of the closet and put a rack in the main room?
 
Can you do a quickie pencil drawing of the room, closet and what you are suggesting?

 
No. Misunderstanding... the room will be theater. Rack will be in the closet.
 
I was asking about wiring between the wall and the rack... and the best way to trim that out (understanding that it will likely be a LOT of cabling).

 

[drvnbysound]

Here's a shot of the floor plan; I noted the room to be dedicated for theater as well as the location of the rack. 
 

Note, that I cleaned all the dimensions and misc. markings off the plans as I'm using that as the basis for plans of everything else (e.g. speakers, CCTV, network drops, etc.)

 

[Neurorad]

Ok, so how would you leave the SMC with ~30 Ethernet via knockout to the rack?
 
That's what I'm trying to get at... what is the recommended finished transition for a bulk amount of cables through a wall? I don't foresee that being via 6-port wall plates...
 
EDIT: I missed your mention of the scoop plate... that looks like what I was after. All of mine terminate at wall plates, and I didn't think that would be a good idea for a bulk amount. However, it doesn't necessarily seem that a scoop plate would be easy to use for adding patch cables between the SMC and rack - having to fish the wire through the wall each time you want to add another.

If the scoop plate is near the enclosure, it's easy to add a cable.  With that layout, would be more of a challenge.  If the SMC will be on the wall to the right of the rack closet (facing the rack), I'd probably put the scoop below the SMC, and run a bundle along the wall, to the right of the rack.
 
One of my pet peeves is cables running from an enclosure to anywhere.  No cables should be coming out of the front of the enclosure.  If the scoop plate is below, or in the stud bay next to it, it's easy to add more cables.  There should be an outlet or 2 in the SMC, as well.
 
If the bundle is too large, use 2 scoop plates.  Double gang scoops.
 
Using conduit from SMC to back of rack would be difficult, for a large number of cables, added piecemeal over time.  If you know what cables will need to be run eventually, you could add most of the patch cables now, from SMC to rack, and leave empty conduit for unforeseen cables.
 
Ah, looking at the drawing more closely, i don't think positioning the enclosure next to the rack closet is an option.  Who wants an enclosure in a theater?  
 
I think most of your patch cables should be run at the time of the prewire.
 
This thread has some good links on running a large bundle from a ceiling (or wall) to a rack:  http://www.avsforum.com/t/1491475/mec-large-wire-plate-transition

 

[drvnbysound]

Ah, looking at the drawing more closely, i don't think positioning the enclosure next to the rack closet is an option.  Who wants an enclosure in a theater?  

 
Well, the owner wants all AV distribution as well as network equipment to reside in that closet, in a rack. A central closet for all of the equipment, means that all wiring needs to be there for connectivity.
 
I've been fortunate to be able to talk him out of putting the security in there as well, because after seeing the stud bays, there just isn't any room for it.
 
My personal preference would be to have all of the wiring on the wall opposite of the washer and dryer (which is just on the other side of the closet). I think it would be a better space for the rack too...
 

Double gang scoops.

 
Do you have a recommendation for these? I've done some Google searching, but haven't found a good source/manufacturer/model. Just random Amazon and eBay parts...

 

[Neurorad]

If the enclosure will go in that small closet, with the pull out rack (rack on casters, maybe?), I think additional patch cables would be pretty easy.  Easy, too, if the enclosure ends up on the other side of the wall.
 
I would drop the ceiling in the closet a foot or 2.  Bring the cables down from above, in bundles.  Leave some cable slack neatly inside the ceiling, for future changes to the rack layout.  Like pictured in one of those links above, add a drywall access panel to the ceiling, next to/behind/in front of the cable penetrations, for easy access to the bundled service loops (as per Mac Burks/39 Cent Stamp's suggestion).  The $10 drywall access panel, and the lowered ceiling, would allow very easy future cable drops.
 
With the pull out rack, you'll need to leave some slack in the cable bundle, without getting in the way of the casters.  With the cable bundle coming in from the top, it's less of a problem than coming in from the side, or bottom.  
 
If the cable bundle(s) don't come in from the top, you can use a bungee cord or 'spring balance/tool balancer/tool retractor' to keep the bundle off the floor.  Not everyone can afford Middle Atlantic's hinged cable 'ferrier' product.
 

 
Tool balance:
 

 
http://www.avsforum.com/t/788074/show-me-your-rack/1650#post_23051071

 

[drvnbysound]

Not all that worried about the cable management, I'm sure that I can come up with something for that pretty easily.
 
Any recommendation on dual gang scoops?
 
Any recommendation on IR extender? (TV in living room will be distributed from the rack)