Tidy way to bring 4x network cables through external wall?

[Donkmeister]

I'm going to be installing a CCTV system for my FIL soon. The cameras are PoE units, so I need to run 4 Cat5 cables through an external wall.

My plan is to drill a 14 mm hole through the (cavity) wall, with a weatherproof box on the outside for cable exit via glands. I'll seal the box onto the wall with silicone, and also fill the 14mm hole with silicone around the Cat5 cables.

However, for the inside I'm a bit stumped... the obvious solution is to fit a surface box and glands, but is there a tidier way to have multiple cables coming through the wall in the same place?

(To avoid blowout I will of course drill a smaller hole through the wall and then use a 14mm bit from the outside on the exterior skin, and from the inside on the interior skin.)

 

[flameport]

Flush metal box with a brush plate on the front.
Or a plastic blank plate with the lower edge cut out so the cables exit flat against the wall. If you want a metal plate, get a plastic spacer frame, cut the bottom part out and put that behind a metal blank plate.
Perhaps a cooker outlet plate with the terminals inside removed.

A 14mm hole seems extremely small for 4 cables.

 

[rsgaz]

Just fit a 4 port cat5e socket into a flush metal box and use patch leads.

 

[ericmark]

I would use brushes, LAP grid range from screwfix do a brush single socket size, I have aerial and dish cables enter living room with one, agree sockets are a better job, but then you need double socket size. I cut plaster and mounted surface box on brick and re-plastered up to it, saved cutting brick.

 

[SimonH2]

Just an FYI - you can fit 4off Cat5e network cables through 20mm conduit. Cat6 should also fit but it'll be a bit tighter. Some ticker ones might be problematic. You do need to keep then "in formation" as allowing them to switch places (ie, cross over themselves) increases the overall size and they jam.
So on the outside, you could consider a 20mm conduit box (an end box, the one with just one side entry) and have the four cables just exit downwards. A short bit of conduit through the wall and a bush into the back of the box will avoid problems with the cables snagging in the cavity - as well as strictly speaking being a requirement for the wiring regs
Inside, I'd agree with the brush plate it nicking out the bottom edge of a blank plate suggestions. We used brush plates at a mates house - and before there were cables in them, he was able to persuade a few visitors that they were "foot ticklers", demonstrating how you can put your toes into the double ones