Daisy Chain or Home Run CAT5E?

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fredmr

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I'm having a new home pre-wired...and I just found out that the CAT5E I was running to certain rooms is all daisy chained together. My intent was for home networking -- is CAT5E daisy chained of ANY use? If not, should I just save money use the standard CAT5 instead? Or are there any advantages to still using CAT5E rather than CAT5?

Again, I wanted to use this for home networking or FIOS or whatever the case may be...but it seems from what I've read that unless it is "home run", I shouldn't bother.

Thanks for any info!
 
I am closing this thread, in accordance with the Forum rules. This Forum is intended to assist professional electricians, inspectors, engineers, and other members of the electrical industry in the performance of their job-related tasks. However, if you are not an electrician or an electrical contractor, then we are not permitted to help you perform your own electrical installation work.


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Sorry, it appeared to me that you have been wiring as a DIY. Even though you have been an apprentice, you are not an electrician nor are you in the trade. As long as you are dealing only with CAT5, I will permit your participation unless one of the other moderators thinks differently.

For what it is worth, I worked in distribution engineering for most of my career. :)
 
NO

NO

I don't know that cat5 and cat5E are different in price. My supply house prices them both out at the same price so cat5E is what we would use.

As far as networking goes you are going to want all your data drops to be home run otherwise it is not going to work at all the locations.

You can not daisy chain network jacks unless you had a switch at every jack.


Edit to Add: My supply house now only carries cat5E or cat 6.
 
I'm having a new home pre-wired...and I just found out that the CAT5E I was running to certain rooms is all daisy chained together.

Care to explain that as a typo? I assume it was not you but somebody else running the cable. I would take issue with this by:

a) Making sure that person was not paid.
b) Making sure you are not paying for it.
c) Going after whoever was responsible with legal action (EC, GC) to make them pay to have it replaced. The only way to make these guys learn is to make them pay so much that they will never want to look at CAT5 again.

As to CAT5 vs CAT5e, CAT5 has been replaced by CAT5e so you shouldn't find any CAT5 around unless it's that cheap counterfeit Chinese stuff.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
I'm having a new home pre-wired...and I just found out that the CAT5E I was running to certain rooms is all daisy chained together.

Care to explain that as a typo? I assume it was not you but somebody else running the cable. I would take issue with this by:

a) Making sure that person was not paid.
b) Making sure you are not paying for it.
c) Going after whoever was responsible with legal action (EC, GC) to make them pay to have it replaced. The only way to make these guys learn is to make them pay so much that they will never want to look at CAT5 again.
Click to expand...


Hal that is a big jump to make without knowing the details of the job.

As far as we know the runs may have been just for POTS.
 
Hal that is a big jump to make without knowing the details of the job... As far as we know the runs may have been just for POTS.

Very true and that did cross my mind but even telephone needs to be home run. The OP's description is very confusing.

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
Hal that is a big jump to make without knowing the details of the job... As far as we know the runs may have been just for POTS.

Very true and that did cross my mind but even telephone needs to be home run. The OP's description is very confusing.

-Hal
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I don't see why phone cable can't be daisy chained.
 
Actually, data can. You just end up with a switch at each outlet. It is not very efficient and it is a royal PITA, but it can be done.
 
Yes, I agree - always do home runs. It is the standard, and for good reason. Among the reasons to do so are:

1.) Higher reliability. If one wire gets damaged for some reason, the whole loop is not lost.

2.) Greater flexibility. You can use those wires for more things. For example, if there were two jacks in a room, you could use one jack for data, and the other for voice. Can't do that if they are all daisy chained.

3.) Future Upgrades. Our communications infrastructure is ever changing, and you never know what the new standard may be. With VoIP getting so popular, many people may soon remove POTS lines altogether and simply use all wiring for data.

4.) Phone Systems. If the homeowner ever wants to install a phone system (You know, like business phone system with voice mail & extensions, etc) they will need each line to be a home run as well.


There are many other reasons too. Like the others have said, it is the datacom standard. Daisy chains are gone from the industry.
 
i had to wire partions for telemarketers one time i think 76 lines all together. they were only telephones and we pulled cat5 and split it into 4 seperate lines. worked out very well everything worked properly and saved on a lot of time and material
 
That is standart also, to split the CAT5 into four lines.

Blue Pair = Line 1
Orange = Line 2
Green = Line 3
Brown = Line 4.

By saying that you should run a home run for each jack, I'm not saying a home run for each line. 4 Lines on one CAT5 are just fine, that's why they have different twist ratios on each pair - to reduce inductive interference between lines (pairs).

Regardless of how many lines you are using, a unique cable should be ran from the jack location to the main distribution panel/location. (Ideally you would also use a panel - I hate when I see all the CAT5's wire-nutted together. Messy, and a pain to isolate the supply from the telco for line seizure.
 
smo said:
- I hate when I see all the CAT5's wire-nutted together. Messy, and a pain to isolate the supply from the telco for line seizure.
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Then you would hate my bosses house. Wire nuts are cheaper than a panel/punch down block is what he would say to you.:roll:
 
I agree, they are cheaper. Doesn't make them right though.
There is always a "cheaper" way to do things. Then there is the right way to do them. Both may work just as well. Then again, the right way may work better then the cheaper way.
 
MAK said:
Then you would hate my bosses house. Wire nuts are cheaper than a panel/punch down block is what he would say to you.:roll:
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Then ask what's cheaper: a more cable and a punch block or a couple of hours of troubleshooting time? :D

Just to be clear- you can daisy-chain CAT5/5e/6/whatever. You cannot daisy-chain twisted-pair Ethernet. And that being the predominant home network media suggests that the practice be avoided.

(says the person with CAT5 cables hung from door frames... I really need to climb under the house some day and pull cable.)
 
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