Beginner quesions for new build home.

[Swancoat]

I've been searching and lurking around here and AVS for a while. I'm in the planning stages for a new home, and since I have the opportunity to set things up right, I'll give it a shot.

My general philosophy, is that on the build stage it's (relatively) cheap to add infrastructure, even if it isn't utilized right away (which is why I want to end up doing things like 3 cans, even if they aren't quite full).

Tentative plan:

-The home will have a media room, with a small closet/control room behind the media room's equipment rack. This is where everything should be centered. I would like to put 3 large cans in. One for the alarm, one for Cat5 distribution/networking stuff, and the third one for telephone/cabe/satellite distribution, with the cans connected to each other through side knock outs.

-I also plan on doing some things like whole house audio, and one of the wireless/powerline techs for lighting.

First of all, is there anything wrong with this plan? (too much? not enough? bad idea somewhere?) - let me know, I can take the criticism and would like to set this up right.

Secondly, I have a few questions:

1: Cat5 distribution. I've seen some patch panels online, but they basically look like they need to be installed in some sort of stand-alone rack. Is there any kind of 20-30 port patch panel that can be installed in a standard can? (I can buy big cans with lots of room).


2: Telephone. The intent is just to run Cat5 all over the place, and if I decide later that one of them should be a phone, then I can run a wire from the patch panel, into the next can, and punch it down to the telephone punchdown block. This seems like it's too easy or may be a bad practice on some level. Any problems with this kind of plan?

Anything else I should know?

 

[electron]

Welcome to CT!

Most enclosure manufacturers (Leviton, Channel Vision, etc.) offer CAT5e termination modules, I use them myself (mine are 8 port Channel Vision models). Check out the CocoonTech gallery for some examples, and contact your favorite home automation dealer for more info. If you haven't settled on a dealer yet, check out the CTVA subforum which lists CocoonTech approved vendors.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

2: Telephone. The intent is just to run Cat5 all over the place, and if I decide later that one of them should be a phone, then I can run a wire from the patch panel, into the next can, and punch it down to the telephone punchdown block. This seems like it's too easy or may be a bad practice on some level. Any problems with this kind of plan?

What I did for my and my buddy's house was run two Cat5e's to the 'right' and 'left' side of the rooms, then terminate them all to a Leviton Voice and Data module punch down. I then obtained a Leviton 47603-24P media panel and had the phone demarc terminated to the telephone line distribution module.

Then depending on if you want a phone connection at a room's port, just patch the phone to the rooms punch down socket (that panel comes with the 'flat' telephone patch cables). If you want a network connection, just run a cat5e jumper from your network distibution hub/switch to the punch down socket.

It worked out great and gives the rooms a lot of flexibility. You never will know the difference plugging in the six pin RJ-11 vs the eight pin RJ-45 plugs into the sockets.

 

[Swancoat]

2: Telephone. The intent is just to run Cat5 all over the place, and if I decide later that one of them should be a phone, then I can run a wire from the patch panel, into the next can, and punch it down to the telephone punchdown block. This seems like it's too easy or may be a bad practice on some level. Any problems with this kind of plan?

What I did for my and my buddy's house was run two Cat5e's to the 'right' and 'left' side of the rooms, then terminate them all to a Leviton Voice and Data module punch down. I then obtained a Leviton 47603-24P media panel and had the phone demarc terminated to the telephone line distribution module.

Then depending on if you want a phone connection at a room's port, just patch the phone to the rooms punch down socket (that panel comes with the 'flat' telephone patch cables). If you want a network connection, just run a cat5e jumper from your network distibution hub/switch to the punch down socket.

It worked out great and gives the rooms a lot of flexibility. You never will know the difference plugging in the six pin RJ-11 vs the eight pin RJ-45 plugs into the sockets.

Ok, so fundamentally, this sounds like what I had in mind for my telephone service, but a lot 'cleaner'.

Telephone demarcation points are something I haven't dealt with before. Sounds like I need to read up a bit on how that world works a bit. I assume the phone company basically brings in a wire, and hooks it up to a punchdown block, and then you can just attach lines at will to that?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

My telephone company provided a box on the side of the house and I ran two cat5e lines from it to the wiring closet (one cat5e is a spare). I forgot how it was wired in that box (screw terminals maybe) but the other end was just punched down in that Leviton Board. That telephone interface board even provides a "security" jack (forgot the proper name) for a home security system.

 

[JimS]

I ran Cat5 out the siding and sealed it up before the phone company put their box on the outside wall. I asked them what they wanted first. I put it in a reasonable place toward where they were running their line from of course. And that way I got it where I wanted it. I think it probably varies from area to area how the phone company wants to do it.

 

[Neurorad]

You'll want to install cat5e or cat6, not cat5. Welcome!

You can use a wall-mount rack, for a patch panel, or 2. This thread has some good pics, on page 3.

 

[Swancoat]

I ran Cat5 out the siding and sealed it up before the phone company put their box on the outside wall. I asked them what they wanted first. I put it in a reasonable place toward where they were running their line from of course. And that way I got it where I wanted it. I think it probably varies from area to area how the phone company wants to do it.

Ahh yes, I figured I'd do Cat5e at a minimum and most likely Cat6 (to fit in with the idea of overspeccing when it's easy).