Input needed for house wiring, please.

[beelzerob]

Ok, the hole has been dug, and concrete has been poured already...and that means the clock is ticking until it's time for me to wire my low voltage. I'm going to have free reign to wire all the low voltage I want. So, I want to nail down exactly what I want to put in, and then from that calculate just how much wire I need to purchase so it's ready to go when I get the green light.

I basically want to wire this house for whatever future HA purposes I might want. Here's some basic capabilities I believe I do want:

Multi-zone audio
Security
Climate control/monitoring
Weather (external station)
Distributed audio/video
Lighting control

Here are the floorplan images. I'd welcome some suggestions on where items could go, where lighting would best be controlled (I don't plan to control EVERY light in the house), where touchpads could best be mounted, etc. I'll update/modify the images as time goes to show the locations of various items.

I don't have a lot of equipment on hand just yet, but again, this is for future, incremental progress. The wiring closet and as much hardware as possible will go in the basement.

Because lighting is a big expense, I'd prefer a system that let's me do little by little, replacing existing switches as I go. For that reason, I'm leaning towards EDT or similar, but I'm open to compelling suggestions.

Wire List:
Speaker wire - 16/4 wire (single run per room with 2 speakers)
(Note: Rooms with 1 speaker will also have 16/4 wire)
Temperature Sensors: 22/2 wire
Window/Door Contact Sensors: 22/2 wire
Touchpad/Panel: Cat5 + 18/2 wire
PC Network: Cat5e
Video: 4 RG59
Smoke Alarms: 22/2 wire


Thanks for any help!

 

[IVB]

weren't you going to do a front-door camera?

 

[beelzerob]

weren't you going to do a front-door camera?

That must have been in the old crime infested place I used to live.

I don't have any real plans for any cameras at this point. The only place I can see putting one is above the garage because it'll have a clear view down the driveway...but I can easily wire that at any time. The only other cameras we've thought of having is a simple IP camera that we can put anywhere in the house where we want temporary monitoring (kids room, for example). I only forsee using IP cameras, no matter where.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=6700

 

[beelzerob]

http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=6700

Hehe...thanks. Read both of those a while ago. It's what gave me the idea about the smoke alarms.

 

[upstatemike]

Don't you want to use 18/4 fire wire for your smoke detectors (even if you initially go with 2-wire detectors)?

Wouldn't 4 conductor also be a wiser choice for temp sensors in case you switch to a different technology sensor down the road?

I don't see any phone wires / intercom wires

Do you show doorbell wires on here? Door intercoms, door cameras, door speaker for HA system to greet guests (or trick-or-treaters)?

Atttic feeds for OTA HD antenna, SAT dishes, FM master antenna, lightning detector, Cell phone extender, WAP?

Buried wire to automate mailbox?

Wire under the stairs for pulsor strain sensors?

Thermostat wires

Internal motion detector wires

Glass break sensors, CO sensors, methane sensors, flood detectors?

Are you going to have wires to your AC panel or meter for sensors to monitor power consumption?

 

[SnyperBob]

Wire List:
Speaker wire - 16/4 wire (single run per room with 2 speakers)
(Note: Rooms with 1 speaker will also have 16/4 wire)
Temperature Sensors: 22/2 wire
Window/Door Contact Sensors: 22/2 wire
Touchpad/Panel: Cat5 + 18/2 wire
PC Network: Cat5e
Video: 4 RG59
Smoke Alarms: 22/2 wire


Thanks for any help!

I would upgrade your Cat5 to Cat5e. And upgrade your Cat5e to Cat6. The cost isn't much more, and it's better quality wire. Also, I don't really know what RG59 is, but I would upgrade to RG6QS. The QS means quad shield. This will better 'future proof' your home for the digital video future.

Remember, the few extra hundred dollars you spend now on better quality cables will make the difference over a long time of enjoying your work.

Reading the 'Wiring your New House' guide is about all you need to do. The information in there is way better than anything we can tell you. It's all covered in that guide.

What I did in my new home recently was run 6 cables to each 'wall jack'. More specifically I ran:
1. Cat5e (blue) - For use with phone or future VOIP phone
2. Cat5e (green) - For extra future use. In case I need two Internet connections in one area, or if I end up using a whole house audio system (Think HAL). They use cat5 for remote audio inputs.
3. Cat6 (red) - For Internet connection. Yes you can pretty much use wireless on anything nowadays, but you can't always count on wireless working perfectly in every location of your house. Not to mention that wired connections are more reliable, faster, etc... Think of how many things run off of Inet (HTPC, XBOX, Cable box, etc.)
4. RG6QS - Cable TV feed
5. RG6QS - Antenna, this will connect to an attic antenna in the future. Will come in handy for receiving FM stations, etc...
6. RG6QS - Video Auxillary, I can in the future connect a camera feed to this and pipe it to each TV's AUX input. Or I can have one DVD player in my wiring closet and run the video from that to every wall jack. Then I don't need to buy 10 dvd players to have one in every room.

Yes, I have three runs of RG6 in each wall plate. This allows for the ultimate future proof, by allowing multiple configurations to be had. I home run each cable to my wiring closet for the best flexibility. I can terminate each run as I need them, or as I can afford to do so (Have you added up the cost of wall plate keystones. They're like a dollar each!!!)

Here's an idea as to how I do it:

You can see I terminated at this wall plate 4 out of the 6 wires. I'm not sure if you can read it, but I put a label noting that the green and blue cat5's are hidden in the wall. I can pull these out later when I need them, punch down some keystones and they'll be ready to go!

Each bedroom has at least two wall plates, that I put in optimum locations based on where I would forsee entertainment centers, desks, TVs, etc being placed.

Oh, a word to the wise - buy a really nice label maker. You can trace wires using a tone generator, but it's just easier and faster to use labels on the wires.

Of course, I ran all kinds of wires for ceiling speakers in bedrooms, alarm, satellite into the attic, etc....basically just read that guide a few times, buy about 3000 feet of RG6QS to start, and color code your wiring for ease of use later. I'm really glad I bought all different color wires, it makes identifying a lot faster. I'm working on setting up a patch panel in the basement. Everything terminates there, and can be patched in on the fly when access is needed to a new wall plate in the house.

 

[royalj7]

I'll chime in with a couple points.

Since you didn't specify what whole house audio you would like to use, run cat5e and the speaker wire from your headend to each keypad location, loop the speaker wire at the keypad. Then run the 16/4 wire to the speaker locations. This will give you the flexibility to do Abus systems or a central amp like Russound, Nuvo, etc.

For distributed video, I would recommend going with the RG59 like you have, or a unshielded RG6. You really don't want to use RG6QS for that because they tend to be copper clad steel and are very stiff and hard to terminate when you try to get 4 or 5 of them into a wallplate. If it was my house, I'd probably run 5, just so I could do analog L+R, along with digital coax. I always mention, mainly because I'd like to hear from someone that had actually used it , RapidRun sounds like a very cool product for video/audio distribution. Again, that is just from reading about it.

I think you'll be fine with Cat5e over Cat6. The price difference it getting smaller and smaller between the two, but when you are evaluating them, look at the cost of the keystone jacks too, they are more expensive than their Cat5e counterparts.

 

[beelzerob]

I think you'll be fine with Cat5e over Cat6. The price difference it getting smaller and smaller between the two, but when you are evaluating them, look at the cost of the keystone jacks too, they are more expensive than their Cat5e counterparts.

Wow...I've got some editing to do! Good inputs, all!

1) For capturing the doorbell signal....do I run wire to the doorbell button, or to the doorbell chime?
2) I'm leaning towards Cat5e over Cat6. I understood that terminating the cat6 was either more difficult or more expensive. Either way, I've got my bucket full of little rj45 connectors and a crimper, so I'm adept at those.
3) It's true, I didn't put in any phone. Truth is, I didn't even think about it, since we have only been using cell phones for several years now. Initially, I don't even plan to have them pull wire from the curb to the house (unless they WANT to). But it would be pretty dumb to forsake it altogether. So I'll just double up on cat5e PC connections for that. shoulda done that anyway.
4) I put one TV connection (so, 4 RG59) on the back wall of the house, expecting for a possible eventual satellite (since that's the south wall). But up in the attic is a good idea.

 

[WayneW]

For distributed video, I would recommend going with the RG59 like you have, or a unshielded RG6. You really don't want to use RG6QS for that because they tend to be copper clad steel and are very stiff and hard to terminate when you try to get 4 or 5 of them into a wallplate.

What the heck is unshielded RG6? Isn't all coax considered shielded, by definition?

 

[royalj7]

For distributed video, I would recommend going with the RG59 like you have, or a unshielded RG6. You really don't want to use RG6QS for that because they tend to be copper clad steel and are very stiff and hard to terminate when you try to get 4 or 5 of them into a wallplate.

What the heck is unshielded RG6? Isn't all coax considered shielded, by definition?

Ack, you are right of course. I should of said RG6/U with a double shield, something like a belden 1694. Just to stay away from quad shield for baseband signals.

 

[beelzerob]

I know in the guide they made a big deal about the QS coax....I'm just wondering if it'd really matter to me. I'm not a video or audio nut. I'm not sure I'd notice the difference in any of that. The video runs are primarily for secondary video viewing, not like in the home theater or the HDTV in the great room.

upstatemike----
As for the smoke alarms....I know the guide mentioned using fire-rated wire. But the wire runs I have going to the fire alarms are only for secondary notification of an alarm. The primary means will be through its tandem line to all other smoke alarms. Then, a relay in the alarm will throw and give me secondary notification through the 22/2 I run to it, and probably then into an Elk. True, I may some day use that as a notification to call a response center....but as long as I don't need it for code reasons, then I don't see a need to go fire-rated on those runs. (unless the cost is insignificant).

And I can't see the need for running 22/4 wire for future upgrading temp sensors. I mean....how much better will temperature sensing get?? Even still, there are other temp sensor systems out there, and they also use 2c wire, so I'll at least have options should I need to change out the system.

Great input everyone. Thanks so far!

 

[beelzerob]

Ack, you are right of course. I should of said RG6/U with a double shield, something like a belden 1694. Just to stay away from quad shield for baseband signals.

What's a baseband signal?

 

[upstatemike]

And I can't see the need for running 22/4 wire for future upgrading temp sensors. I mean....how much better will temperature sensing get?? Even still, there are other temp sensor systems out there, and they also use 2c wire, so I'll at least have options should I need to change out the system.

Some temp sensors are RS485 based and need 4 wires. Some are serial and need TX, RX, and ground. Some analog ones need V+, Ground, and Analog Voltage Out. Why skimp on a few feet of wire? If you ar buying cat-5e in bulk anyway just use that.

 

[upstatemike]

1) For capturing the doorbell signal....do I run wire to the doorbell button, or to the doorbell chime?

3) It's true, I didn't put in any phone. Truth is, I didn't even think about it, since we have only been using cell phones for several years now. Initially, I don't even plan to have them pull wire from the curb to the house (unless they WANT to). But it would be pretty dumb to forsake it altogether. So I'll just double up on cat5e PC connections for that. shoulda done that anyway.

4) I put one TV connection (so, 4 RG59) on the back wall of the house, expecting for a possible eventual satellite (since that's the south wall). But up in the attic is a good idea.

Homerun the doorbell buttons to your wiring closet. Homerun the chime wire(s) to your wiring closet. Hook them together there. When you are ready to automate them everything is right at your panel and you have all kinds of options. (Don't forget a dooor speaker to greet guests).

A couple of months ago I fired a guy from my project because his cell phone kept disrupting our conference calls and he did not/would not get a land line. (I have a very low tolerance for poor voice quality on a phone call). Not giving yourself at least the option for a land line could someday have serious career consequences.

Don't forget the OTA HDTV antenna, FM master antenna, CB antenna, etc.