I'm in the process of building a new house and have been studying this forum as well AVS forum for a few months. I've prewired with multiple cat6's to almost every wall in the house as well as multiple rg6,cat6,and conduit to every tv location. Alarm prewire,whole home audio prewire, and POE camera prewire all to an equipment closet in basement. My question is what is my best route for terminating all the cat6 and rg6 for distribution later?
New house, prewired, suggestions on patch panels for cat6 and rg6 in equipment closet
- Thread starter cjpoole1
- Start date
drvnbysound
Senior Member
Personally, I prefer to do all of my terminating in structured media enclosures, such as the ones from Leviton:
http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=37730&minisite=10251
For example:
http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=37730&minisite=10251
For example:
fcwilt
Active Member
Depends, in part, on how many cables you have to terminate and your budget.
I have, in the past, used wall mount racks.
Here is a selection:
http://www.middleatlantic.com/enclosure/main.htm
Here is a low cost model:
http://www.middleatlantic.com/dcm/wall/hpm.htm
For patch panels I use Leviton:
http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=38098&minisite=10251
You can use "110 style" panels which come with jacks installed and you punch them down from the back.
There is also the "quick port" style where you punch down each cable to a jack. Then you snap the jack into a hole in the panel.
I have, in the past, used wall mount racks.
Here is a selection:
http://www.middleatlantic.com/enclosure/main.htm
Here is a low cost model:
http://www.middleatlantic.com/dcm/wall/hpm.htm
For patch panels I use Leviton:
http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=38098&minisite=10251
You can use "110 style" panels which come with jacks installed and you punch them down from the back.
There is also the "quick port" style where you punch down each cable to a jack. Then you snap the jack into a hole in the panel.
Neurorad
Senior Member
I also prefer enclosures, in a closet, but approach using patch modules hanging on plywood has its advantages.
If you will need components, I suggest a 19" rack, floor standing or swing-out wall mount.
Small wall-mount open rack, as FC Wilt linked, are great for plywood. This thread describes the process nicely http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/13756-my-1927-bungalow-home-structured-wiring-project/
If you will need components, I suggest a 19" rack, floor standing or swing-out wall mount.
Small wall-mount open rack, as FC Wilt linked, are great for plywood. This thread describes the process nicely http://cocoontech.com/forums/topic/13756-my-1927-bungalow-home-structured-wiring-project/
pete_c
Guru
Yup; here used Leviton for the 42" Leviton can and standard outside of the can on Plywood. In another home used a small closet and just two autonomous stacked cans almost from ceiling height to a bit above the floor. Everything is in the cans except for a wireless AP.
I have seen a residential Control4 setup with everything in a movable closed rack with the cables kind of flopping to the wall in a utility room.
In one commercial set up (girls dormitory - school combo building) with a small closet it was an open rack floor to ceiling sort of in the middle back of the room with cabling et al running on ceiling height trays. Nothing else really and nothing on any of the walls. Very easy to get to everything. Everything was mounted on the open rack with the UPS rack mounted on the bottom.
Helped a friend with his new construction LV wiring stuff a couple of years back. Everything went to a sort of large "closet" like section in his unfinished basement; which was a bump out in the cement under the side entrance of the main house. We used a Leviton 42" panel there. I did the HV electric and only connected some of the network to the inside of the can Leviton patch panel and the satellite cables. Rest remained bundled and over to the side of the outside of the panel. Its still like this. Think its been some 3 years now.
I have seen a residential Control4 setup with everything in a movable closed rack with the cables kind of flopping to the wall in a utility room.
In one commercial set up (girls dormitory - school combo building) with a small closet it was an open rack floor to ceiling sort of in the middle back of the room with cabling et al running on ceiling height trays. Nothing else really and nothing on any of the walls. Very easy to get to everything. Everything was mounted on the open rack with the UPS rack mounted on the bottom.
Helped a friend with his new construction LV wiring stuff a couple of years back. Everything went to a sort of large "closet" like section in his unfinished basement; which was a bump out in the cement under the side entrance of the main house. We used a Leviton 42" panel there. I did the HV electric and only connected some of the network to the inside of the can Leviton patch panel and the satellite cables. Rest remained bundled and over to the side of the outside of the panel. Its still like this. Think its been some 3 years now.
tmbrown97
Senior Member
Those wall mounted relay racks are kinda standard issue for small offices; I even have a few floating around in my garage. WIth a dedicated room, they're a clean way to go. If you have a lot of that type of stuff, the next step up is a full a-frame or relay rack - just a 2 post rack since that's what works best for network equipment and patch panels. A step up from that would be the MiniRaQ - I love it because it lets you position your switch right by the patch panel to keep things easy.
With plywood on the wall, you can use some D Rings to route cables and secure the wires.
For coax, you can also get the patch panels like this and mount them on a wall rack and route to a multiswitch or whatever you're distributing.
With plywood on the wall, you can use some D Rings to route cables and secure the wires.
For coax, you can also get the patch panels like this and mount them on a wall rack and route to a multiswitch or whatever you're distributing.
pete_c
Guru
Here I just switched from unmanaged Gb to managed 24 port Gb TP-Links. Run very cool; have one inside of a Leviton 42" can and one outside. Tiny but they come with brackets for rack mounting.
http://www.tp-link.com/lk/products/details/?categoryid=2878&model=TL-SG1024DE
http://www.tp-link.com/lk/products/details/?categoryid=2878&model=TL-SG1024DE
tmbrown97
Senior Member
Pete - I thought of you the other day when I was installing some cameras along with TPLink 8-port POE (well 4 POE ports out of 8) switches to drive some cameras. It was for a non-profit organization to which the cams and switches were donated for a particular project so I was just repurposing them.
For day to day, Netgear is my go-to, but I must say, these switches that were about the price of a single POE injector worked very well - I'm sure I'll be buying a bunch more.
For day to day, Netgear is my go-to, but I must say, these switches that were about the price of a single POE injector worked very well - I'm sure I'll be buying a bunch more.
pete_c
Guru
Yup; here tested similar TP-Link 8 port POE switch for the home stuff (well and also purchased other ones).
Settled on a managed Tycon mid stream 24 port injector. These are 19" rack sized though.
For the little Atom based touch tablets have moved from using the Tycon POE power splitters (5VDC POE injector) to TP-Link these days.
Yup; once you go to the standard 19" mounted switches; your choices / monies are endless.
Probably want to look for something efficient and quiet and manageable and fitting within a budget.
Here came from always (never different) Cisco switch environment in the commercial world (since the late 1990's); to home stuff being everything; (including Cisco); trying this and that.
The "home" environment has changed a bit over the years relating to number of networking devices; et al type stuff.
Settled on a managed Tycon mid stream 24 port injector. These are 19" rack sized though.
For the little Atom based touch tablets have moved from using the Tycon POE power splitters (5VDC POE injector) to TP-Link these days.
Yup; once you go to the standard 19" mounted switches; your choices / monies are endless.
Probably want to look for something efficient and quiet and manageable and fitting within a budget.
Here came from always (never different) Cisco switch environment in the commercial world (since the late 1990's); to home stuff being everything; (including Cisco); trying this and that.
The "home" environment has changed a bit over the years relating to number of networking devices; et al type stuff.
tmbrown97
Senior Member
Many rack mount switches let you turn the brackets 90-degrees so they become wall-mount brackets - this lets you securely attach them to the plywood backboard and often provides a little bit of space off the wall for airflow.
Another solution that I've used in some wiring closets is something like this: http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/Wallmount_Rack_V_Series.asp - It lets you hang a rack-mount switch with the ports facing up so it's not that deep - of course you should be mindful about not letting things fall in the holes, but I've used them even in nasty environments without consequence on my switches.
I've said this in a few places today, but I still tend to fall back to the Netgear Prosafe Plus switches - they're not as complex as a fully managed switch with CLI, but they are quite flexible. Today you can just use it like a dumb switch, then tomorrow you could turn on VLANS and QOS right off the GUI when you have a need. Plus they're generally compact and quiet.
Another solution that I've used in some wiring closets is something like this: http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/Wallmount_Rack_V_Series.asp - It lets you hang a rack-mount switch with the ports facing up so it's not that deep - of course you should be mindful about not letting things fall in the holes, but I've used them even in nasty environments without consequence on my switches.
I've said this in a few places today, but I still tend to fall back to the Netgear Prosafe Plus switches - they're not as complex as a fully managed switch with CLI, but they are quite flexible. Today you can just use it like a dumb switch, then tomorrow you could turn on VLANS and QOS right off the GUI when you have a need. Plus they're generally compact and quiet.
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