Housebot, new construction

mangelsen · Post by **mangelsen** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:07 am

sounds good. the leviton course will probably just tell you how to use their stuff and not much about how to pull wire. That will work though if that is the stuff you'd like to use.

xport · Post by **xport** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:14 am

So you dont think the certification will do much of anything for me?

mangelsen · Post by **mangelsen** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:21 am

I'd say no. I have been to stuff like that and it's pretty much a big sales pitch. It does help with ideas, but it is more or less a sales pitch.

xport · Post by **xport** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:28 am

Allright, so can you recommend a wiring box and which materials I should use?

I already have a box of about 800-850 ft of pvc cat5e. any reason not to use that?

mangelsen · Post by **mangelsen** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:42 am

I have used leviton, open house, channel plus, and on-q. I like on-q. I would run all the category5 into a network interface and run the video into a video interface module and patch to the desired services. Depending on how much wiring and what your putting into the panel, I would recommend a 28" panel.

As far as the wire goes, I would use multi colored wires for easy identification. For instance, I use white cat5 for data, grey cat5 or phones, and black and white rg6 for coax runs. I also use leviton's snap modular outlets and use color coded snap in modules to match the wire colors. This just makes configuring simple and fool proof. The wire will be the cheapest part of the job.

When you get into it remember you will also need to pull service entrances: phone, cable, and satellite tv to a southwest eve. I always put an antenna into the attic also.

If you tell me what you'd like to do as far as how many phone lines, dsl, or cable internet, sat or cable tv, I can put something together for you. My e-mail is [email protected] if you'd like to send me an e-mail.

xport · Post by **xport** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 1:27 pm

Well just spoke to the buidler and he is giving me a weeks notice to go in and run the wires i need to. He seems pretty skeptical to let me run the cat5 on my own, but he doesnt really seem to know much about cat5 or network wiring.

Looks like i need to do some shopping for the wiring boxes and the like, thanks mangelsen for the links and time you took to help me.

Crashless · Post by **Crashless** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 2:16 pm

If you're running it now, run Cat6 instead of Cat5e. It'll be more future-proof.

xport · Post by **xport** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 2:43 pm

Whats the difference in expense, spending so much on the house I am on a fixed budget.

Crashless · Post by **Crashless** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 2:45 pm

Not that big, but when I posted, I missed that you already had a bunch of cat 5 already. Forget I mentioned it.

mangelsen · Post by **mangelsen** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 3:59 pm

good luck xport. remember not to kink the wire and don't pull too hard - it will affect the data transfer speeds. As far as the wire goes, cat5e is just fine. cat6 is better but all the residential applications as far as termination point and so on don't support it so you'd have to go commercial for the most part and it would get spendy.

xport · Post by **xport** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:42 pm

Should I run cat6 or cat6e?

Crashless · Post by **Crashless** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:48 pm

If you have a bunch of cat5e already, don't worry about it. If you are buying new cable, and don't have any already, go with cat6. It will work better with a gigabit network.

That said, a quick google search:

http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.asp

yielded a nice comparison, and do's&don'ts for you.

Take a look, it should help you make an informed decision.

xport · Post by **xport** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:52 pm

Well I have some, but the price of that cat5e box is negligable if there is a clear advantage to running the cat6/6e

Crashless · Post by **Crashless** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:32 pm

Oh damnit. The first time I read your post I saw "6 or 5e." Not "6 or 6e".

I gotta read slower. I don't know what the difference is really. I'd imagine that it is just manufatured to a higher standard.

You'd have to dig up some benchmarks to see if it really justifies the cost.

I've been told that the biggest advantage to 6 vs. 5e is it's bandwidth is better for gigabit ethernet. That's the extent of my knowledge on this subject.

mangelsen · Post by **mangelsen** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:36 pm

5e is just fine if pulled correctly.