Wiring Diagram - Need advice

[lewisjd]

Hey everyone, first off I want to say THANKS to all of the fantastic advice on here. I am quite a ways out before we start building, but I wanted to get everything lined up beforehand because I will only have 2 weeks to do a lot of work, which includes wiring, drywall, hanging cabinets and then putting in the cans and terminating. So I'm getting started early.

Attached is a pdf of our layout. I'm looking for ideas on what I'm missing or any tricks/tips. Basically this is a ranch and we will not be finishing the basement right away. All of the wiring will be pulled in the basement and then routed up at the proper locations. I'm assuming I will need 2 cans.

KEY:
Purple Circle - Speaker
Orange Circle - Video
Red Circle - 22/4
Blue Square - Motion
Green Square - 2x2 Cat5/RG6

Most drops will have atleast 2x2, more likely 4x4 cat5/rg6 just in case.
Not sure about how much cabling I'm going to need, but I'm going to go overkill just because who knows. I'm 27 and I will be in this house for many many years.

I'm pretty set on an ELK system, so if you have ideas on add-ons I should get, please contribute there as well. Thanks again!

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Make sure you check out our wiring guide for items you might have missed or may want in the future.

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

 

[Photon]

Nice plan. I wish I could have gotten into something like that at your age.

In general, I suggest you reevaluate the green squares. Unless you have a specific use for all that cat5 and RG6, it seems to me like you will have a lot of wall acne you will never use. Since you have a basement, it is relatively easy to pull cable up when you need it. I had our builder install one empty box with conduit to the basement roughly centered on each room's outside wall(s) so I could get wire in later without disturbing the insulation or vapor barrier. So far it has served my family well. I've had no problem adding boxes on inside walls after we see where the furnishings actually end up.

I like magnetic switches better than ball switches, so I would move all the little red dots from the hinge side to the latch side of the doors. I am not convinced that switches on the window frames serve any useful purpose once the system is armed. Our windows have pairs of latches that are far stronger than the vinyl frames. An intruder would almost certainly have to break glass to get inside, and the switches might never open. I look at the window contacts as a last check that we closed all the windows before we arm the system. I have motions and glass breaks to detect an actual intrusion. I would add both to the bedrooms and maybe the garage. Speaking of the garage, I would place a magnetic contact switch on the attic scuttle.

If the purple dots are Elk speakers, I would redistribute those. I have just one in our master suite, and I can hear it just fine either in the bedroom or bath. Maybe not during a shower. One is enough to serve the kitchen/dining/great room. I'd add one inthe garage, and another in the hall outside the doors for BR2&3. Also one inthe basement. I don't see a dot for the Elk's outdoor speaker(s), and I also use a strobe. Those would be easier to install during the build.

Don't forget to take a trip through the wiring guide per BSR's comment. Enjoy the build!

 

[Ed Nelson]

Hey Jeff;

A couple of thoughts:

1. Do you plan to have a central wiring closet?
: Such a closet will allow you to not only house the Elk Controller and all add on modules, but you could have all set-top boxes and audio sources in this closet
: If you do go with such a closet, I recommend you have your electrician install 2 20amp drops in the closet, preferably on opposite sides of the close to assist in power cord distribution
2. I would recommend at a minimum that such a closet have an exhaust fan in the ceiling, but to be honest, I am finding that I am going to wind up
installing a BreezeAir Unit to cool my closet.
3. To be honest, I don't know what type of drops you need, but I would consider a run from the front porch to support a Doorbell Detection to the Elk
4. You may want to have Cat5e drops on key perimeter points for surveillance cameras
5. You may want to have at least one Cat5e drop for external thermometers back to the Elk
6 You may want to drop 6 to 8 RG6 runs from the roof into your wiring point.
: 4 DSB (e.g. DirectTV)
: 1. SatRadio
: 1 OffAIr Antenna
: 1 Standard Radio
: Spare
7. Are you considering a whole house Audio solution. If you, you may want to ensure you have a CAT5E drop at the appropriate height to support
the touch panels
8. You may want to consider dropping 1 or 2 CAT5e runs in the ceiling over the great room and Hall #2 to support in ceiling Wireless Access Points


Finally, I ran 16/2 throughout the house for speakers and I think you may want to consider is dropping a speaker pair in your garage
as well as a eye level Cat5E to support a touch pad to control the speakers from the garage. I have found that even for little cleaning
projects, having speakers in the garage is beneficial.

- Ed

 

[lewisjd]

Thanks everyone! And yes, I printed out the wiring guide and ran through it. I'm not sure how much my wife will allow me to get away with so i told her yesterday I am going to just wire to the hills and then we can install hardware as the years go by and i get further approval.


Photon-
Thanks! Thankfully the economy has been decent enough to us that we can consider this. Our townhome isn't selling (imagine that) so we are at a stand still now. But we will get it sold and then start building sooner or later. Hopefully sooner than later! I'm getting tired of not having my own yard and no basement.

As for the wall acne, I'm not going to be terminating all of the cables right away. most of it will be dropped in the wall just in case. if something comes up that we need, then I will terminate at the wall and hook into the elk/etc. that atleast elimates having to drop more cabling at a later date. if i'm wrong in this thinking, then please let me know. i could easily install pvc conduit instead. I like your idea of having a blank w/conduit on each outside wall just in case.

how will the PIR fare inside the bedrooms? I would hate to set off an all-out war with my wife just because our daughter shifted in her crib or whatever at 3am. i haven't looked into masking the PIR's so Im not sure how that works yet.

I'm not set on the speakers yet. I was looking at Dayton's from PartsExpress. That will all get figured out in due time. I will probably pre-wire ahead of time for a later install. I'm not sure how much this will add to the total cost of building, so some of it may have to come later.

Ed-
I will have a central "room" for this stuff. My wife agreed to give me certain space in the basement for our CrossFit (workout) stuff and a space for the cans/etc. I will probably just dedicate a storage area and include this stuff in it.

Regarding the set top boxes, I'm not completely sold on that yet. We only have 2 tv's, one plasma and one crt. The plasma is fed signal by way of a dish network dual tuner dvr, which goes to our receiver then to the tv. The bedroom tv is then fed off the 2nd tuner on the dvr. our daughter will NOT have a tv in her room. so really, with that limited of equipment, i don't think we will centrally locate the set tops/dvd etc. we have dvd players for the great room and our bedroom so modulating one to play throughtout isn't an issue. i will, however, send the satellite signal to the closet just in case.

since this will be housed in a larger (12x20) or so room, do you think ventilation will be an issue?

i would like a whole house audio solution, but not sure if the budget will allow it. maybe at a later date, so i will figure out some wiring for that so it's ready.

Thanks for all of your help everyone!

 

[Photon]

"how will the PIR fare inside the bedrooms? I would hate to set off an all-out war with my wife just because our daughter shifted in her crib or whatever at 3am. i haven't looked into masking the PIR's so Im not sure how that works yet."

You configure the Elk, and I assume most other systems, so the PIRs are not active in "Stay Mode."
No need to be concerned about the little one moving around. Elk also has a night mode where designated interior zones not likely to be visited during sleeping hours are active. For example, in our walk-out basement, the PIRs and interior doors are active when we are asleep, but not when we are home, but likely to go down there. When the system is armed in "Away Mode," all the sensors are active.

 

[lewisjd]

Elk is just full of complete awesomeness isn't it? Thanks again!