"Future-Proofing" Cabling

[deuceofsome]

Gents

As most of the suspended ceilings in my, otherwise concrete construction, flat are currently butchered for other projects I was considering installing a bit of “future-proofing” for telephone/computer/sound etc.
I envisaged running Cat 5 cable inside 20 mm round PVC conduit (so it is well protected and can be fed around bends etc.) to 6 or 7 locations from a central point.
Assuming that several of the cables could share conduit runs the materials cost would be small (less than £100 in total, without terminations) with a couple of days installation work.
Questions
– is this worth doing ?
– is Cat 5 the appropriate cable ?
– is crossing 240V lighting wiring (dimmed) within about 100 mm likely to create problems ?

ta

 

[PompeySparks]

If you're trying to 'future proof' then type 'CAT 6' into google!

Edit: Also when running 230v & Cat 5e I have always used a 50mm minimum distance apart rule of thumb - it has never caused me any problems!

 

[plugwash]

– is this worth doing ?

yes, for all the marketing wireless still sucks particularlly if its in an inner city area and as usage increases performance will onlyl get worse so wired network infrastructure is still as good an idea as ever.

Also if you are going to use conduit you wan't plenty of openable boxes to avoid having to pull through too many bends in one go (you will probabbly wan't to replace the cable eventually). You neeed to think about how you can conceal theese without making them too inaccessible

– is Cat 5 the appropriate cable ?

For phone and network use yes but may as well use the slightly higher spec cat5E. I'd bring the incoming phone line to your central wiring point as well, then you can put it through an ADSL filter there (if you use ADSL for your internet) and then route the filtered signal out over the structured cabling.

For piped audio use i'd use a totally seperate system, if you wan't to route line-level signals (for amplifying at the speaker location) then use screened audio cable. If you choose to distribute speaker level signals interference is not an issue but loss is so use nice thick speaker wire.

– is crossing 240V lighting wiring (dimmed) within about 100 mm likely to create problems ?

i can't imagine so as long as you keep the crossings at right angles and keep a decent distance on the rest of the runs.

 

[supersparky]

cat 7

thats future proofing,

whilst your at it run 1 radial per light, socket and any other circuit back to a central location, run cat 5 to all your lightswitches and build a room for the star point

 

[JohnD]

No, mate, just define an IP address for each lamp or appliance and put them all on one circuit.

 

[supersparky]

"I bus" system

 

[deuceofsome]

Many thanks for the straight stuff (pompey and plugwash), we’ll put the rest down to posting on a Friday night !!

While the higher spec of Cat 6 would give more future insurance at small incremental cost the ‘fragile’ nature of the cable concerns me. Due to the convoluted routes the cable will have to be pulled thro some lengths and around the odd bend hence Cat 6 probably not a good idea – looks like 5e.
Crossing info also appreciated.

 

[Steve]

cat 5 aint exactly robust to SWA or twin and earth standards

 

[deuceofsome]

I'll be gentle with her