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New house being built 1
- Thread starter mkstang
- Start date
- Status
If the walls aren't covered yet, consider running a 1/2" conduit back to your telecom closet area from each room where you want a PC. I did this on my house which was pre-cat5 and it saved me a lot of work. Maybe fibre to the desk will be common soon? This leaves you open to upgrade.
Norm
Norm
-
1
- #3
If you have the money in your budget. Run CAT5e to not just the three bedrooms but also your kitchen, living room, garage, den, home office, family room. In other words, every room should have at least one network drop, save maybe the bath and laudry. In rooms where you know your going to be installing PC, PRINTER, SCANNER, DSL/CABLE Modem, put in 3 drops were your PC will be. Route all these cables to a central location, close to where your phone and cable service enter the house and setup a true wire cabinet. On place where PHONE, CABLE, INTERNET coming into the house are distributed to all the connections you've 'PREWIRED' as above. This way if you want to add, move, upgrade. It's all in one place and you don't have to rip out walls.
Most of all, cable is cheap compared to labor once the walls are up.
Most of all, cable is cheap compared to labor once the walls are up.
Anyplace there is going to be a TV needs 2 cat5 and 2 RG6 coax.
Phone locations get 2 cat5 and possibly a 14/2 or 16/2 for remote power of cordless phones. Remote power decreaces surge related damage from lightning strikes.
Home theater / media room needs at least 2 times a TV wiring (4 cat5 + 4RG6) and speaker wiring for the rear surrounds.
If you are going to have distributed audio you need to get in some 14/4 or 16/4 to the volume control locations then to to the speaker locations. You might want to run a cat5 to the volume control location for flexibility (kustom or russound systems)
All wires run back to a central location (wiring closet) as home runs (no junctions or drops). If you are going to use the home theater rack as your wiring closet be sure you have easy access to the back of the components - it can get out of control real fast...
Be SURE to label all wires in the wiring closet!
1/2" conduit is a waste of time run at least 3/4 if not larger. The conduit does not have to run back to the wiring closet it just needs to get to a place where you can grab the wire (attic/unfinished basement).
Phone locations get 2 cat5 and possibly a 14/2 or 16/2 for remote power of cordless phones. Remote power decreaces surge related damage from lightning strikes.
Home theater / media room needs at least 2 times a TV wiring (4 cat5 + 4RG6) and speaker wiring for the rear surrounds.
If you are going to have distributed audio you need to get in some 14/4 or 16/4 to the volume control locations then to to the speaker locations. You might want to run a cat5 to the volume control location for flexibility (kustom or russound systems)
All wires run back to a central location (wiring closet) as home runs (no junctions or drops). If you are going to use the home theater rack as your wiring closet be sure you have easy access to the back of the components - it can get out of control real fast...
Be SURE to label all wires in the wiring closet!
1/2" conduit is a waste of time run at least 3/4 if not larger. The conduit does not have to run back to the wiring closet it just needs to get to a place where you can grab the wire (attic/unfinished basement).
fatcodeguy
Programmer
This might sound stupid, but what exactly is a cat5 and rg6?
i would recommend running Cat5E for data and Quad Shield RG6 for the video. make sure the RG6 has been sweep tested to out to 2.2ghz. that way if you ever setup satellite, you wont have any picture problems, that you might get with the standard 1.0ghz coax. CATV only uses up to 900mhz-digital sat (DSS/Dirct TV) is in the 2ghz range.
Matthew Masi RCDD/LAN spec
Matthew Masi RCDD/LAN spec
PhoneFixer
Technical User
One of the greatest ideas I ever saw was a new home owner had run 1" pvc tubing (with pull cord)from his basement to each room in the house while it was being built. His reason was he didn't know what he would need wirewise in the future for TV, PC, Phone or the next mavelous gadgets. The pvc's all terminated at one wall in the basement where all the utilities terminated. (Wish I had been that smart!)
>One of the greatest ideas I ever saw was
>a new home owner had run 1" pvc tubing
So he spent a pile of money and had nothing but empty conduit? I have been known to put conduits in to difficult locations where we knew the needs would change. But to do the whole house? Seems a waste. I bet his wife was happy when they moved in and the phones and TV's didn't work because hubby "couldn't figure out" what wires to run.
It is not impossible to get additional wiring to most places in a finished house. Most people would be best served to do a correct pre-wire on their new house and be done with it. Just like the rest of the electrical.
BTW - quad shield is a waste of time and money. Most current foil and braid cables have more than sufficient shielding. The quad shield is going to hurt your fingers.
BTWW - you don't need a pull string in an empty conduit, just use a vacuum cleaner and a wad of paper towel to suck one through.
>a new home owner had run 1" pvc tubing
So he spent a pile of money and had nothing but empty conduit? I have been known to put conduits in to difficult locations where we knew the needs would change. But to do the whole house? Seems a waste. I bet his wife was happy when they moved in and the phones and TV's didn't work because hubby "couldn't figure out" what wires to run.
It is not impossible to get additional wiring to most places in a finished house. Most people would be best served to do a correct pre-wire on their new house and be done with it. Just like the rest of the electrical.
BTW - quad shield is a waste of time and money. Most current foil and braid cables have more than sufficient shielding. The quad shield is going to hurt your fingers.
BTWW - you don't need a pull string in an empty conduit, just use a vacuum cleaner and a wad of paper towel to suck one through.
daronwilson
Vendor
Huh, interesting opinion. Quadshield is possibly some hype, but certainly not a waste of money. I have people approach me who read about it in an automated home magazine and request (or confirm) QS coax. However, probably more important is the frequence range, making sure the coax is swept to 2 gig or so may be worth the money.
We wire about 20 homes a month, many custom homes. I concur with the conduit, one of the best ones I did had two cat5e and two Quad rg-6 to each location. Additionally, we ran 1" ENT (Flexible PVC) conduit from each box to the equipment room. It would be easy when the homeowner is ready to just about any cabling (fiber, etc). The cost is not very substantial since most of the expense is labor.
Many homes are not at all condusive to post-wiring. Many have slabs on the ground floor, vaulted ceilings and no real easy access to extend wiring. If one wants to be prepared and increase re-sale value, wire it right for current standards and prepare for what is next with a raceway.
Daron Daron J. Wilson
Telecom Manager
LH Morris Electric, Inc.
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com
We wire about 20 homes a month, many custom homes. I concur with the conduit, one of the best ones I did had two cat5e and two Quad rg-6 to each location. Additionally, we ran 1" ENT (Flexible PVC) conduit from each box to the equipment room. It would be easy when the homeowner is ready to just about any cabling (fiber, etc). The cost is not very substantial since most of the expense is labor.
Many homes are not at all condusive to post-wiring. Many have slabs on the ground floor, vaulted ceilings and no real easy access to extend wiring. If one wants to be prepared and increase re-sale value, wire it right for current standards and prepare for what is next with a raceway.
Daron Daron J. Wilson
Telecom Manager
LH Morris Electric, Inc.
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com
The shielding has nothing to do with the frequency range of the cable. Quadshield is the darling of the HA industry mostly because it used to be a sign of quality cable. There are many modern quality foil and braid cables with the same frequency charactistics as QS.
As far as retrofit work it depends on the location. Where I live the SOG (slab on grade) houses are mostly built for the LOW end of the market where they are lucky if there are three phone jacks in the house. However I did an estimate on 3 TV jacks (2RG6/2Cat5) and some inwall speakers in a SOG/vaulted house yesterday. 2 guys 1 day - not much different than a basement/crawl house. The drywallers will be there for some other work so the couple of extra holes won't be a problem.
Conduit - Remember the NEC specifies that there cannot be more than 360 degrees of bends between pullboxes. While you may not have to comply with the NEC (depends on location) there is a reason for the requirement which has to do with friction.
As far as ENT let me relate a "real life" experience. I show up at a customer's house where the previous installer had been trying to run DirecTV over RG59(it worked ... sometimes). The customer said I would have no problems rewiring since all the 59 was in "conduit". NOT SO. The previous installer had put the 59 into the ENT before installation then run it all over the place. No amount of pulling would budge the RG59 so out with the drywall saw for the one box we could not get to in a conventional way. The method of installation was arrived at by questioning the homeowner.
Moral of the story. Flexable conduit + bunch of bends + friction = wiring just like it was fastened to the studs.
YMMV
As far as retrofit work it depends on the location. Where I live the SOG (slab on grade) houses are mostly built for the LOW end of the market where they are lucky if there are three phone jacks in the house. However I did an estimate on 3 TV jacks (2RG6/2Cat5) and some inwall speakers in a SOG/vaulted house yesterday. 2 guys 1 day - not much different than a basement/crawl house. The drywallers will be there for some other work so the couple of extra holes won't be a problem.
Conduit - Remember the NEC specifies that there cannot be more than 360 degrees of bends between pullboxes. While you may not have to comply with the NEC (depends on location) there is a reason for the requirement which has to do with friction.
As far as ENT let me relate a "real life" experience. I show up at a customer's house where the previous installer had been trying to run DirecTV over RG59(it worked ... sometimes). The customer said I would have no problems rewiring since all the 59 was in "conduit". NOT SO. The previous installer had put the 59 into the ENT before installation then run it all over the place. No amount of pulling would budge the RG59 so out with the drywall saw for the one box we could not get to in a conventional way. The method of installation was arrived at by questioning the homeowner.
Moral of the story. Flexable conduit + bunch of bends + friction = wiring just like it was fastened to the studs.
YMMV
daronwilson
Vendor
>The shielding has nothing to do with the frequency range >of the cable.
What I said was "However, probably more important is the frequence range, making sure the coax is swept to 2 gig or so may be worth the money." Without a EE after my name, I don't think I am armed to accurately explain the frequency response/design/composition of coaxial cable.
>As far as retrofit work it depends on the location.
Actually, as far as retrofit work it depends on the construction. The original question for this thread was 'what else should I run in my house?'. To that end, the guy wants to make sure he doesnt have to have the drywallers out if he decides to upgrade or add something. SOG is just one complication, we also deal with a fair amount of log homes, many multistory building built to earthquake standards, and some pretty picky home owners. Having a raceway in place means it wont take "2 guys, 1 day" to add a couple phone jacks.
>Remember the NEC specifies that there cannot be more than >360 degrees of bends between pullboxes.
Good point indeed. Experience has shown 180 degrees is a more reasonable figure, and one generally accepted. Depending on the construction, this can be easy or a little more complicated to meet. Also it is wise to oversize. 1" may seem large, but wait till you decide to pull an SVGA and video coax through.
The real life ENT story was interesting, and I'll spare you from thousands of mine.
When someone asks what they should wire in their house, I usually suggest the following:
1. Wire for your current and anticipated needs. Use the good quality cabling on the market now have an avenue for change if you need it.
2. Chose locations wisely (even if you dont want a phone in the living room, put an outlet there in case).
3. Think resale. Plan a wiring termination location, either a nice backboard area or a termination panel, there are plenty to chose from and the look much nicer than a rats nest of cable.
4. You cant anticipate everything. It is possible to overwire/raceway. It depends on the customers technical level and desire for geekdom. I've seen some very basic houses with a bunch of wire because the guy was a computer business at home type.
Finally, there are many products available today to meet the need of residential wiring. Almost every one can be installed incorrectly by untrained people. Any product should be installed according to the manufacturers practices and the applicable codes in your local area. Seek out a licensed, trained installer with experience in your type of installation.
Happy Wiring
Daron J. Wilson
Telecom Manager
LH Morris Electric, Inc.
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com
What I said was "However, probably more important is the frequence range, making sure the coax is swept to 2 gig or so may be worth the money." Without a EE after my name, I don't think I am armed to accurately explain the frequency response/design/composition of coaxial cable.
>As far as retrofit work it depends on the location.
Actually, as far as retrofit work it depends on the construction. The original question for this thread was 'what else should I run in my house?'. To that end, the guy wants to make sure he doesnt have to have the drywallers out if he decides to upgrade or add something. SOG is just one complication, we also deal with a fair amount of log homes, many multistory building built to earthquake standards, and some pretty picky home owners. Having a raceway in place means it wont take "2 guys, 1 day" to add a couple phone jacks.
>Remember the NEC specifies that there cannot be more than >360 degrees of bends between pullboxes.
Good point indeed. Experience has shown 180 degrees is a more reasonable figure, and one generally accepted. Depending on the construction, this can be easy or a little more complicated to meet. Also it is wise to oversize. 1" may seem large, but wait till you decide to pull an SVGA and video coax through.
The real life ENT story was interesting, and I'll spare you from thousands of mine.
When someone asks what they should wire in their house, I usually suggest the following:
1. Wire for your current and anticipated needs. Use the good quality cabling on the market now have an avenue for change if you need it.
2. Chose locations wisely (even if you dont want a phone in the living room, put an outlet there in case).
3. Think resale. Plan a wiring termination location, either a nice backboard area or a termination panel, there are plenty to chose from and the look much nicer than a rats nest of cable.
4. You cant anticipate everything. It is possible to overwire/raceway. It depends on the customers technical level and desire for geekdom. I've seen some very basic houses with a bunch of wire because the guy was a computer business at home type.
Finally, there are many products available today to meet the need of residential wiring. Almost every one can be installed incorrectly by untrained people. Any product should be installed according to the manufacturers practices and the applicable codes in your local area. Seek out a licensed, trained installer with experience in your type of installation.
Happy Wiring
Daron J. WilsonTelecom Manager
LH Morris Electric, Inc.
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com
>Having a raceway in place means it won't take
>"2 guys, 1 day" to add a couple phone jacks.
It would if the raceway didn't go the the correct location. My point had to do with the fact that it is not that difficult run wiring in a existing building - even if it is SOG and vaulted ceilings. I have done wiring in a 150 year old log cabin and while it was a PITA it got done and looks nice.
>1. Wire for your current and anticipated needs
>2. Chose locations wisely
>3. Think resale.
>4. You can't anticipate everything.
Well put! Number 2 is the most difficult IMHO to get the homeowner to come to grips with.
Many times I over-react a bit. Two items get a knee-jerk out of me. One is quadshield cable, the other is "future fear". QS is stiff, heavy and a pain to terminate without any real upside. "Future fear" is the concept that there are technologies "right around the corner" that will somehow negate the value of a proper prewire. The 1" conduit being a "great idea!" struck me as just that. The cost of doing the conduit all over the house would easly be more expensive than a proper prewire with marginal benefit in the future. My opinion is wire for now, add in the future as needed. There is a lot of bandwidth in 2 RG6's and 2 Cat5's.
>"2 guys, 1 day" to add a couple phone jacks.
It would if the raceway didn't go the the correct location. My point had to do with the fact that it is not that difficult run wiring in a existing building - even if it is SOG and vaulted ceilings. I have done wiring in a 150 year old log cabin and while it was a PITA it got done and looks nice.
>1. Wire for your current and anticipated needs
>2. Chose locations wisely
>3. Think resale.
>4. You can't anticipate everything.
Well put! Number 2 is the most difficult IMHO to get the homeowner to come to grips with.
Many times I over-react a bit. Two items get a knee-jerk out of me. One is quadshield cable, the other is "future fear". QS is stiff, heavy and a pain to terminate without any real upside. "Future fear" is the concept that there are technologies "right around the corner" that will somehow negate the value of a proper prewire. The 1" conduit being a "great idea!" struck me as just that. The cost of doing the conduit all over the house would easly be more expensive than a proper prewire with marginal benefit in the future. My opinion is wire for now, add in the future as needed. There is a lot of bandwidth in 2 RG6's and 2 Cat5's.
daronwilson
Vendor
Points well taken indeed. It is a tough decision choosing how much to put in the house. I wired mine almost 10 years ago. I'm rewiring now with Cat5e and RG6 QS (ok I know, but I have a lot of ham radio antennas, QS can't be bad for the cable). Also I tend to think that everyone wants as much wiring in the house as I do. Not so. Few houses I wire have 7 computers on a LAN as well as wireless, etc. I agree that post wiring isnt so tough, we do it all the time. If I am talking with the homeowner, and they really have no grasp for how to do it but want to be prepared, I certainly will suggest raceway.
There is certainly plenty of bandwidth in the 2 coax 2 UTP plan. Lack of bandwidth won't be the reason we need to rewire. Good ole coax had a huge amount of bandwidth, we could do cable, internet, phone, etc all on one coax. What will dictate change is whatever the masses decide to support. Currently it is UTP for voice and data mostly, with coax for broadband, video, rf, etc.
I believe the best approach is a good solid prewire (2 utp, 2 coax) to all general purpose outlets. If you expect to expand etc, run some conduit where you think you will be adding. I find that if I talk to the homeowner in the early stages, we many times add a complete weather station with a remote or two, an intercom system, speakers, volume controls, camera and modulator for the front door, etc. Another common one seems to be video and audio cabling from the bedside in the master bedroom to the TV. Folks are into putting the VCR beside the bed so they can change tapes, so many times I will pipe that run if they think they might to it.
It really is our job as designers/vendors/installers to help guide the homeowners into getting the best they can for their money. Sometimes they don't even think about all the options until it is already built.
Happy wiring, lots of good ideas.
Daron J. Wilson
Telecom Manager
LH Morris Electric, Inc.
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com
There is certainly plenty of bandwidth in the 2 coax 2 UTP plan. Lack of bandwidth won't be the reason we need to rewire. Good ole coax had a huge amount of bandwidth, we could do cable, internet, phone, etc all on one coax. What will dictate change is whatever the masses decide to support. Currently it is UTP for voice and data mostly, with coax for broadband, video, rf, etc.
I believe the best approach is a good solid prewire (2 utp, 2 coax) to all general purpose outlets. If you expect to expand etc, run some conduit where you think you will be adding. I find that if I talk to the homeowner in the early stages, we many times add a complete weather station with a remote or two, an intercom system, speakers, volume controls, camera and modulator for the front door, etc. Another common one seems to be video and audio cabling from the bedside in the master bedroom to the TV. Folks are into putting the VCR beside the bed so they can change tapes, so many times I will pipe that run if they think they might to it.
It really is our job as designers/vendors/installers to help guide the homeowners into getting the best they can for their money. Sometimes they don't even think about all the options until it is already built.
Happy wiring, lots of good ideas.
Daron J. Wilson
Telecom Manager
LH Morris Electric, Inc.
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com
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silly question maybe, but im a bit of a n00b...
i have just bought a new house.. (new to me) its a 1950's house.. with next to no plasterboard walls, just stone walls.. the power cables from sockets and light swithces go thru "tubes" to the first floor and the thru to the garqage where the mains is..
so my question is.. how badly are cat5's affected by power cables? i want to wire up my house.. 2+ cables to living room.. 2 to kitchen and one to each of my bedrooms.. with my adsl entering in my office..
thanks..
i have just bought a new house.. (new to me) its a 1950's house.. with next to no plasterboard walls, just stone walls.. the power cables from sockets and light swithces go thru "tubes" to the first floor and the thru to the garqage where the mains is..
so my question is.. how badly are cat5's affected by power cables? i want to wire up my house.. 2+ cables to living room.. 2 to kitchen and one to each of my bedrooms.. with my adsl entering in my office..
thanks..
you must keep at least 6" of space, per standards, between the power & data cables, or any other low voltage cabling.
I actually try to make it at least 12" to be safe. I just had one yesterday where the cabling contractor tye-wrapped the data to electrical cords that feed some portable building in a warehouse. The runs are 280' long, and when you moved the data cables away from the electrical cords, the link light on the NIC would come on. Move them back the link light dissapears.
There is no way those would pass a Category anything cable certification test. Apparently doing things to the standards has become highly overrated. Sorry I vent sometimes. Matthew Masi RCDD
I actually try to make it at least 12" to be safe. I just had one yesterday where the cabling contractor tye-wrapped the data to electrical cords that feed some portable building in a warehouse. The runs are 280' long, and when you moved the data cables away from the electrical cords, the link light on the NIC would come on. Move them back the link light dissapears.
There is no way those would pass a Category anything cable certification test. Apparently doing things to the standards has become highly overrated. Sorry I vent sometimes. Matthew Masi RCDD
Some comments on YMMV's responses:
"The shielding has nothing to do with the frequency range of the cable. Quadshield is the darling of the HA industry mostly because it used to be a sign of quality cable. There are many modern quality foil and braid cables with the same frequency charactistics as QS."
This is both true and false. Shielding is just that: shielding against EM bleed from both within and against external sources. This "bleed" is cumulative in an RF plant such as a cable company, and is both regulated and checked (by the company, whose head-end plant efficiency increasingly depends upon minimizing such feedback into its broadcast sources). The higher the shielding, the less likely that EM will be a problem. As for frequency ranges: most cable companies are now going with a 750 MHz system, which brings broadband access and additional signals (for goodies such as digital TV) to market. RG59 should be called "RG-five-point-nine", because it is a measurement. I have always prefered at least RG6, as do all cable companies for their drop lines, but a consultation with your cable company may indicate that RG11 would be a more appropriate choice for drops in certain locations within your property, especially if the distance between the premise distribution center and the end of the drop passes beyond a certain distance (say, out to another building on the property). You should check with the cable company regardless, since they can provide you with important information and all of the standards you will ever want or need.
"Conduit - Remember the NEC specifies that there cannot be more than 360 degrees of bends between pullboxes. While you may not have to comply with the NEC (depends on location) there is a reason for the requirement which has to do with friction."
Whether you wish to adhere to code or not, you'd better heed this excellent advice by YMMV! Let me be more specific: I strongly advise you against placing any bend in the conduit of more than 45 degrees. 90 degree bends can be a real bear to pull through, even with greased cabling. Another handy tip, and a great rule of thumb for all future jobs: Make each conduit twice the diameter you think you will ever need; ie, if you think 1/2" will do, then use 1". This is because once you have a wire in the conduit, you risk damaging that wire when trying to run fish tape or wire through for a second feed. Damage can be caused not only by abrasion, but also by stretching the cable by pulling too hard.
When installing the PVC conduit), think from the inside out. Since the cable runs inside the conduit, it is the smoothness of the conduit interior that maters most. This means getting really clean joints. Cable can hang up on any joint, so the fewer joints you have and the cleaner they are, the easier you will find the task of pulling cable. With PVC, these joints are directional if you use the conduit with flared ends. On angles obviously this does not apply. Avoid flexible conduit with ridges at all costs! You might also consider setting up the coax wire runs intoa series of intermediate junction boxes, so that you have multiple pulls of minimal length instead of minimal pulls of maximum length. This also makes for a heartleap instead of a heartache when you need to repair or replace wiring. These junction boxes can be any electrical junction box (I use plain octagonal boxes and terminal adapters (TA's) to fasten the conduit to the boxes) to accomplish this, and place the junction boxes at the most convenient but out-of-sight locations.
As for Cat5 and shielded coax: if you use a high-quality Quad-shield cable you can easily and reliably run Cat5/5e adjacent to it. If you do anything else, this certainty diminishes rapidly.
When trying to decide how to place the ends on the cabling (this procedure is called "cable termination", remember these tips:
1. Don't do it yourself unless you have the right tools and are fully qualified. Have the cable company do it for you. Often this will be offered as a free or very low cost service by the cable company, because it will save them future truck rolls to your location for maintenance or to correct poor quality craftsmanship. Remember that only the cable company guarantees the quality of their signal.
2. When running the wires, follow the example of electricians: leave lots of extra wire trailing out of the box. I always leave at least one full foot, and install full-depth boxes to allow some additional spare inside when terminating. (yes, I worked for a cable company in a past life)
3. Since you will (should) have the cable company do this for you, don't be afraid to run quad-shield. You won't be sorry.
ThreeDots
"The shielding has nothing to do with the frequency range of the cable. Quadshield is the darling of the HA industry mostly because it used to be a sign of quality cable. There are many modern quality foil and braid cables with the same frequency charactistics as QS."
This is both true and false. Shielding is just that: shielding against EM bleed from both within and against external sources. This "bleed" is cumulative in an RF plant such as a cable company, and is both regulated and checked (by the company, whose head-end plant efficiency increasingly depends upon minimizing such feedback into its broadcast sources). The higher the shielding, the less likely that EM will be a problem. As for frequency ranges: most cable companies are now going with a 750 MHz system, which brings broadband access and additional signals (for goodies such as digital TV) to market. RG59 should be called "RG-five-point-nine", because it is a measurement. I have always prefered at least RG6, as do all cable companies for their drop lines, but a consultation with your cable company may indicate that RG11 would be a more appropriate choice for drops in certain locations within your property, especially if the distance between the premise distribution center and the end of the drop passes beyond a certain distance (say, out to another building on the property). You should check with the cable company regardless, since they can provide you with important information and all of the standards you will ever want or need.
"Conduit - Remember the NEC specifies that there cannot be more than 360 degrees of bends between pullboxes. While you may not have to comply with the NEC (depends on location) there is a reason for the requirement which has to do with friction."
Whether you wish to adhere to code or not, you'd better heed this excellent advice by YMMV! Let me be more specific: I strongly advise you against placing any bend in the conduit of more than 45 degrees. 90 degree bends can be a real bear to pull through, even with greased cabling. Another handy tip, and a great rule of thumb for all future jobs: Make each conduit twice the diameter you think you will ever need; ie, if you think 1/2" will do, then use 1". This is because once you have a wire in the conduit, you risk damaging that wire when trying to run fish tape or wire through for a second feed. Damage can be caused not only by abrasion, but also by stretching the cable by pulling too hard.
When installing the PVC conduit), think from the inside out. Since the cable runs inside the conduit, it is the smoothness of the conduit interior that maters most. This means getting really clean joints. Cable can hang up on any joint, so the fewer joints you have and the cleaner they are, the easier you will find the task of pulling cable. With PVC, these joints are directional if you use the conduit with flared ends. On angles obviously this does not apply. Avoid flexible conduit with ridges at all costs! You might also consider setting up the coax wire runs intoa series of intermediate junction boxes, so that you have multiple pulls of minimal length instead of minimal pulls of maximum length. This also makes for a heartleap instead of a heartache when you need to repair or replace wiring. These junction boxes can be any electrical junction box (I use plain octagonal boxes and terminal adapters (TA's) to fasten the conduit to the boxes) to accomplish this, and place the junction boxes at the most convenient but out-of-sight locations.
As for Cat5 and shielded coax: if you use a high-quality Quad-shield cable you can easily and reliably run Cat5/5e adjacent to it. If you do anything else, this certainty diminishes rapidly.
When trying to decide how to place the ends on the cabling (this procedure is called "cable termination"
, remember these tips:1. Don't do it yourself unless you have the right tools and are fully qualified. Have the cable company do it for you. Often this will be offered as a free or very low cost service by the cable company, because it will save them future truck rolls to your location for maintenance or to correct poor quality craftsmanship. Remember that only the cable company guarantees the quality of their signal.
2. When running the wires, follow the example of electricians: leave lots of extra wire trailing out of the box. I always leave at least one full foot, and install full-depth boxes to allow some additional spare inside when terminating. (yes, I worked for a cable company in a past life)
3. Since you will (should) have the cable company do this for you, don't be afraid to run quad-shield. You won't be sorry.
ThreeDots
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