Cat5e Home Network

[AlexMasters]

Hi,

I am about to start on installing cat5e cabling throughout my house.

I've got the modules, backboxes, patch panels, switches etc together, but am struggling to find good information about how to install the back boxes. I want to put the faceplates flush on masonary walls without removing all of the skirting boards (they will be difficult to replace if damaged), if possible.

I assume that you need to cut a chase down to the level of the skirting, but not sure how best to route the cable behind the skirting, assuming that the cables are coming from under the floor. Any tips from the sparks, or pointers to how-to guides to allow me to do this with the least collateral damage .

Regards,
Alex

P.s. I have found it difficult to get a 110 and Krone IDC punch-down tools at a reasonable prices. I ended up using www.Wiselan.com as they do a nice Krone tool for a tenner that also trims ends. Unfortnately I also needed a 110 tool for the patch panel - £15 from Maplin.

P.P.S. Cat5e is more than sufficient for Gigabit networking for runs up to 100m. CAT6 is more expensive, inflexible, subject to damage during installation, and is no faster unless you want a 10Gbit LAN.. in which case you need CAT6e anyway..

Black box seem to be very cheap for CAT5e cable, at around £25 for 300m. It is specified to 350mhz, which is above the baseline CAT6 requirements and is cheaper.

Don't forget that the installation isn't CAT6 rated unless patch panels, leads, keystones etc are CAT6 rated, and you closely adhere to installation requirements.

Cable rods are about £15 from Screwfix - seems to be a good timesaver.

 

[Chri5]

I assume that you need to cut a chase down to the level of the skirting, but not sure how best to route the cable behind the skirting, assuming that the cables are coming from under the floor. Any tips from the sparks, or pointers to how-to guides to allow me to do this with the least collateral damage

What are your walls made off? and what underfloor access have you?

For brick walls,

Swiss cheese the back box footprint with a masonry bit (SDS is quickest, although a standard hammer will do it)with tape set to 3mm over the depth of the back box. Then chop out the back box area, either with a cold chisel, SDS chisel or anything that gets a clean hole.

Offer up the back box and then decide which of the back box holes (that will take a rubber grommet) is going to receive the cable. Drill a line of holes between that point and the skirting edge, chop a chase to this point.

Now the fun starts. Get a 10-12mm wide masonry or better still a mixed use drill and slowly drill down the line of the chase. Due to angle issues caused by access problems the drill line will end up 10-15 degrees out.

Now either your find a cavity (older houses tend not to have plaster all the way to the floor behind the skirting) or be forced to continue drill down.

If the skirting is 6", obviously an 8" depth will be down to sub floor level.
Under the floor, there won't be a hole due to the 10-15 degree deflection the drill has to take.
You now need to imagine the area where the drill line would go, and either chisel or drill in to the wall below the floor to create a route. Hey presto you now have a cable route between the sub floor void and the back box.

Middle house sub floors can be nicer places to route cables up internal walls due to use of wall cavities created by plaster board / plaster and lath.

A mixed use drill such as this allows you to easily drill both plaster and wood, sometimes floor boards can't be lifted or even the sub floor joists can get in the way.

Not sure if your running 2 x cat5e, 1 x cat5e, 1 voice + 1 data or what. Chase and drill size will depend on cables run in.

I'd think about voice to varying locations, and co-ax for TV at the same time

 

[jpdw]

Thanks for the advice.

Get some cable rods (from approx £15) - makes life so much easier

I'm not sure what cable rods are, although I can imagine. Can you name a suitable supplier (or better still a web-link)?

Cable rods... are rods that help pull cables... ! Without them you'll probably end up using a wire coat hanger, string and lots of cursing.

example
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/89981...ans-Tools/Cable-Access/Cable-Rod-Tool-Box-Kit
(though I'm sure many other suppliers do them etc)

You say you are running some automated lighting set-up ... depending on what technology you are using and/or any future plans, consider running cat5 the rear of (deep) switch plates .. again, even if coiled up. Note though you must use cat 5 with mains-rated insulation for this (google for 'c-bus cabling') (this is because some HA systems use cat5 for signalling to/from switchplates)

Are you suggesting that I run cable to the switch-plates just in case? I'm not sure why you suggest this. And is your comment that it must be mains-rated insulation is that it would be routed alongside mains lighting cable? I plan to fit the JCL FlexiDim system and it uses cat5 cable to the electronic switch-plates.

Depends on what HA kit you are intending to use... If it's X10 then it just puts it's control signals over the existing mains wiring. Others like Rako use RF signals, so no control wiring needed. Still others (C-Bus & Idratek to name but two) require control wiring and cat5e is often used because it's cheap & easily available.

I'm also fairly new to the details of this stuff and had not heard of JCL kit, but a quick check of their e-brochure talks of cat5 to the switchplates ... which is similar in idea to C-Bus & Idratek (though dont be mistaken - these system will all talk differently over these cables!).

Yes... if you run cat5-like cable in the same conduit/drop as mains then you should use cable that has mains rated insulation... otherwise if using normal cat5, run it separately from the mains. I think this is more for safety but separation also helps reduce any EM effects from the mains cable. To my knowledge, the "c-bus" cable is the only mains rated cat5.

use UTP (U=unshielded) not FTP/SFTP (Foil-shielded) ... again, this helps keep down cost. Obviously this wont be as immune to interference -- just be more "sensible" with your cable route

Is cost the only reason?

Yes & no... The most common view is that FTP/SFTP will not give much/any real tangible benefit over the length runs likely in a domestic install. So you'll be paying extra for the cable but getting no benefit. This theory is for running ethernet over cat5e (it's most common use). However, the FlexiDim is unlikely to be running ethernet over the cable, but more likely it's own protocol & voltages ... so it's performance with/without the extra shielding of FTP/SFTP is likely to be different again. The e-brochure does say "Category 5 (unshielded)" on page 16 so you'd be wasting your money for sure on FTP/SFTP and it might not like it either.

If you are going down this road, then it might be worth you also joining the discussions on the Automated Home http://www.automatedhome.co.uk/vbulletin/index.php website, where you'll find a lot of info & advice from people that have been doing this stuff for years.

 

[jpdw]

Black box seem to be very cheap for CAT5e cable, at around £25 for 300m. It is specified to 350mhz, which is above the baseline CAT6 requirements and is cheaper.

I bought from Blackbox too . ... one reason being price.

A useful side-benefit is that the box I bought (their own brand cheapest I think) has a cable length marked every 2 ft. I hadn't appreciated the usefulness of it till I was pulling cables through:

Pros running, say, 6 cables will use 6 boxes simulataineously. An expensive option for DIY's doing homes where only 1-2 boxes are needed total.

With the cable markings, I ran 1 cable from the box, too the readings for both ends then new exactly the length used. I could then pull the rest of the cables needed for that run straight from the box and bunch them loosely together before gentle pulling them through the floor.

Result... Only having to pull cables through twice, yet getting 4 or 6 or... cables through... much quicker than doing each individually and much cheaper than buying 6 boxes....

 

[jpdw]

Not sure if your running 2 x cat5e, 1 x cat5e, 1 voice + 1 data or what. Chase and drill size will depend on cables run in.

I'd think about voice to varying locations, and co-ax for TV at the same time

(I seem to be playing catch-up with this thread )

Whether you are running for voice or data, you can run cat5 to all the locations. You can then decide later what sockets to put on the ends. If you're using module faceplates, you can even do 1xRJ45 (data) and 1 x BT (voice) on the same single-gang faceplate. Even with RJ45s you can use them for phones, but you'd need a dangly RF45-to-BT adapter - you've probably seen them in office where they do just this (run voice over structured cat5 cabling). Not as neat in my opinion, and extra cost, as compared to good selection of modula sockets (which you can change later anyway ... just a bit of re-punching effort).

 

[Dippy]

Cable rods... are rods that help pull cables... ! Without them you'll probably end up using a wire coat hanger, string and lots of cursing.

Hey! Have you been spying on me!

I have to admit I'm an idiot over tools. I try to manage without the right tool on account of the fact that I only intend to do the job a few times and so its not worth the price. I really should have bought a cable puller years ago.

Thanks a lot for the advice.

 

[Chri5]

Old fashioned cable rod

65p for 3m