Home Install.. Need advice on wiring schemes. 5

[Drake12]

Medium sized new home installation. Used cat5e for the data and phone, RG6U for the dish tv, also have a multi conductor cable for the camera's. 4 conductor wire for the security system. All these cables come to a central location. I have a standard data cabinet that I plan on using for patch panels, hubs, and whatever else I need. I need some help though on terminating the cat5e to the patch panels and terminating the wall jacks. I have made plenty of straight through cables and Xover cables, but never really punched anything down to a patch panel. I have a punch down tool. Hopefully there are some informative sites that you guys can give me that walks through these steps. Also what is the best solution for the phone system? Should I mount a punch down block inside the data cabinet or just stick one on the wall where the phone system will be mounted? Probably have 5 incoming lines so I have a couple cat5e cables running from the Dmark to the data room already. All the cat5e and rg6u is in EMT.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[InnoTech]

the punching down of the patch panels really depends on the brand and model of them. they can punch down differently so, if you could let us know they make and model it would be helpfull. as for the phoone lines, i would mount a block on the wall next to the system like you said. thats usually how its done. "Jack of all trades. Master of none."

 

[jaklilu]

Punch down is really simple. Both the patch panel and the modular jack is color coded. Just follow the color code. e.g on the Orange pin, start with White/Orange, then Orange. then blue, then green and etc...

 

[MasterRacker]

This is 66 Block wiring but there is also jack wiring and 110 block info as well as a ton of other info onwiring systems here:

http://www.celticrover.com/bgtt/66block.asp

Jeff
If your mind is too open your brains will fall out...

 

[Drake12]

Well I have not chosen any brand of patch panels yet. I need to terminate around 32 cat5 cables and 18 video cables. Ortronics or Leviton seem to have decent products. I do not need anything top of the line for this installation just some decent hardware. The quicktype connectors might work best I am thinking. If you order a cat5e type patch panel does it normally come with all the cat5e connectors already installed or do you order them separately? Any advice on this line of thinking would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[jeffmoss26]

The 110 panels have built in jacks. Leviton makes panels that you can get all kinds of jacks (quickport) and they snap into the panel. So you could have UTP, fiber, video, audio etc in one panel. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[Drake12]

Well Leviton surely seems like a nice solution. I like the quickport modules. Where is the best place to buy leviton products? Has anyone seen a rj11 quickport module? I cannot seem to find one listed anywhere. I see voice modules , but they look like rj45's to me. I was planning on putting rj11's out in the field for phone.

Now on the wiring schemes. What is the difference between 568A and & B , and which one should I use?

Thanks

 

[daronwilson]

If you have a Home Depot they usually have most of the leviton line. Otherwise, you are probably best going to an electrical wholesale house if you can to get the products. Yes, they have RJ-11's in mulitple colors, no problem.

According to the EIA/TIA standards for residential wiring you should terminate in 568A style. The only real difference between the two styles is the colors of wire placed on particular pins, either termination style will work. In many home structured wiring products, the patch panels are configured for 568A to meet the standard. Another similar solution with more variety at the panel end is OnQ technologies, now owned by AMP. I personally like the way their panel lays out a bit better than leviton, and they have a complete lighting and security solution that is pretty clean.

Now, you have quite a few cables, so it may be a bit crowded in just one of the panels. In larger installations where we drop the security panel and/or lighting panel in, we just put two cabinets next to each other and hub them together. Then phone/data goes in one, and video/security/etc goes in the other cabinet.

Good Luck! It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[InnoTech]

drake, just to let you know and for you to keep in mind. it sounds like everyone has given you good advise. you do however need to remember, if you start with one standard (568a or 568b) stick with the scheme with ALL products you purchase (panels, mods, jacks ect.) also everyone has there own personal opinion about what brand is easiest to terminate on. you can decide which is better for you when purchasing because personally i like ortronics and other posters have said they like leviton. "Jack of all trades. Master of none."

 

[daronwilson]

For home use, the particular brand is usually not a real big concern. I'm Ortronics certified but we rarely use it, and it's almost all personal preference reasons (and some cost issues). We have done some commerical installs with it, and it is a solid product, but having to thread wire through the faceplate and then put the jack on never really made sense to me. When we do custom homes, it is important that the data/com jacks match the rest of the receptacles. I've really gotten stung on this a couple times, because for the most part we trim out the house in leviton (and often decora) electrical products. I have found that allentel ivory for example does not match leviton ivory. We've had the same issues with white, some are flat, some are glossy, some are slightly off white, etc.

So it might be worth it to you to look at the brand of electrical receptacles and trim and consider matching that, or at least bring home a couple samples of what you intend to use and make sure it matches. I have also really struggles with Pass and Seymour (either ortronics makes thier stuff or they make ortronics stuff) but they have a complete line of 'trademaster' plugs, switches, etc. Wonderful thing is that the cover plates are about 3/16" taller and wider than everyone elses cover plates. One house the electrician trimmed out with this product, I showed up to do the phone and data and had to go order all the Pass and Seymour parts because colors didn't match and cover plates were just different sizes.

Custom homes are wonderful and if you do a bit of research before selecting your product it will likely save you some headaches later.

Good Luck It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[jeffmoss26]

Ortronics and Pass and Seymour are owned by the same company, along with Wiremold. jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[seniorserver]

I agree with InterNETech. It is totally up to the installer on what brand of product to use as long as you know your choices and how to use them. In an application like this where the certification of the cabling is not so important but the presentation and functionality is above all required, one should know the basics and make a personal decesion of what they would like to begin with (more than likely changing by job's end). The most important thing to know for someone that is NOT experienced in network cabling is, the brand doesn't matter, by the time you finish the job(s) you will have made that opinion for yourself.

With that bit of info to remember and everyone here in this forum to guide you, no networking/cabling job will be overcoming. As far as your original questions, the placement of the cabling and devices ARE relivant however only for convenience and voltage reasons. Also I'm not for sure if you knew but when you were making those x-over cables you were terminating in both 568a and 568b if color coding by the 568 standard. I hope I have "shined some light" on your project and good luck!

David

 

[Drake12]

Thanks guys for all the helpful information. Gets me headed in the right direction. I do have one other question about phone connectors out in the field. I do not see where actual rj-11 is mentioned on leviton's website , just Voice Grade QuickPort® Snap-In Connectors in 6 and 8 conductor. I thought a rj11 was 4 conductor? I am sure I am missing something here , yet it seems a little confusing. Just trying to get all the leviton part numbers together for priceing and such. Since the house will be finished out with all leviton wallplates for electrical , hopefully and surely the colors will match up easily. :-}

Thanks for all the help!

 

[jeffmoss26]

The Leviton 6 pin jacks work great for 1 pair voice. I use them all the time.
Just for your reference:
RJ11-1 pair voice
RJ14-2 pair voice
RJ25-3 pair voice
jeff moss
jeffmoss26@adelphia.net

 

[seniorserver]

You have the option to use Cat3 or Cat5 connectors for voice keeping in mind that you will be useing one color code the whole time. Remember with phones all you need is the one pair ('tip and ring'). Cat3 connectors are cheaper most of the time so i'd stick with them. If you are going to use leviton here are some links to thier Cat3 jacks you can use.

http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/connectorswallplates/category3connectors.asp

http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/connectorswallplates/voicegradeconnectors.asp

http://www.levitonvoicedata.com/connectorswallplates/type105flushmountjack.asp

Either will work for you. I see that on thier site you have MANY colors to choose from, you won't find that much in stores. "Sure, I'll fix it!.... That's what you're here for"...

 

[daronwilson]

There is often confusion about the RJ designation, often the 8 pin modular jack is refered to as an RJ-45 for example. Actually the RJ designation determines how many wires and in what configuration they are attached to a specific modular jack.

As you are probably aware, there are basically 3 sizes of modular plugs/jacks you would deal with (excluding the 10 pin modular plug which is rather obscure). The small 4 position one is used for handset cords, they are narrower than the next size which is actually a 6 position body with either 2,4 or 6 pins depending again on the RJ configuration you are going to terminate them with. After that you step up to the 8 position modular jack/plug often referred to as an RJ-45 though it may be wired any number of different RJ configurations.

I have had very limited success getting a handset cord to stay in a 6 pin jack and make a solid connection. I've had very good luck getting a 6 pin body to fit in and make connection with the center pairs in an 8 pin jack. Ideally, you should mate the plug and jack with the same size so the fit is secure and solid.

Good Luck! It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com