Recent content by pablito

Photon: No worries at all. I'm not quite sure what to think of this in the end. I tried calling the Belden support and the sales person didn't think I should do that, but didn't offer much of a reason. I'll probably flip a coin. :rolleyes:

A bit embarrassing... :rolleyes: Oops! ;) Thanks for your thoughts about the metal tubing! Yes, I was intending to ground it.

Here's a thought. In areas where I can't avoid running CAT and Coax near AC lines, is there value is running a short length of conduit? In one case I thought a 4-5' length of EMT conduit would help me get through a "busier" AC area. In another, some of my cabling needs to run near the electrical...

Thanks guys. I guess I'll pick it up later today. Photon: The FT4 rating means suitable for in wall use in Canada. I think FT6 is suitable for plenums. I saw no such markings on any of the appliance or lamp cord I came across.

Hi: I am going to prewire for some blinds and called Hunter-Douglas and Somfy and both call for 16/2 cable. For some reason, I'm finding some in wall 16/2 speaker wire (by Omega) cheaper than the equivalent sized lamp cord. This surprised me, but perhaps it is a bulk thing. The point is, just...

Yesterday, I found myself at the house thinking about my install and am seriously contemplating putting in at least one Carlon Riser-Gard conduit to each of the bedrooms, the office, the family room and living room. Although nearly all exterior walls end up in the attic, my contractor originally...

Yeah I've had the same thoughts. I've been bouncing back and forth between doing it and not doing it. I am doing the wiring myself so that aspect is less of an issue and I'd really hate to miss my chance. My wife went a bit nuts with windows and I see powered shades as a must in at least a few...

Hi: I've been looking into motorized shades for my pre-wire next week. My intention was to follow the general advice of the Wiring 102 guide and run one 18/2 stranded for power and one 22/4 solid for possible control, but I thought I'd do a bit of checking nevertheless. I managed to check out...

Thanks for clarifying guys. I bought a spool of 22/4 today and specifically checked that it is 300V rated... which it is.

Clouds are clearing, skies are blue again... BSR: Reviewing the thread, I think you're exactly right. In my last post, I confused the whole 18 vs. 16 gauge discussion in the last few posts as relating to the dry contact cable running back to the Elk or whatever. Thanks for spotting this! So I...

Ok, I think I get it... although a 22/2 would suffice from a pure amperage/power perspective (as it is only a dry contact), the 18 gauge (or even 16 it sounds like?) is needed for a code and safety perspective. What threw me is that the Wiring Your Home 102 guide, in the automation section...

What gauge wire is used? Solid 22/2? Sorry for the newb question, but I guess I could use good primer on gauge vs. capacity, etc. What's confusing me is that it must be "rated 300V or 600V". Does this basically mean that gauge and length must allow the cable to present a 300V potential at the...

Good summary/review of the options Mike, thanks! So I assume then that in your setup, each squeezebox has its own pair of locally powered speakers (the AudioEngine A5's?). At one point, I thought I had understood that you had centrally located amps which fed speakers in each room so I was...

Just curious, but do the speakers loop anywhere locally before heading out to the central equipment room? Extra CAT5's, yeah the simplicity is appealing, but I've not had a chance to play around with baluns yet. Do they introduce any delay, degradation... or is that just more of my crazy talk?! ;)

Mike: Would you mind elaborating a bit on your squeezebox setup? As your squeezeboxes are distributed throughout the house, do you have local amps or a single central multi-amp? If central, how have you addressed running the signal from the squeezeboxes to the amps that you mention? Now I start...