Telephone/Ethernet/IT topic

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rkrieger

rkrieger

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With many homes today being wired with Cat5e cabling and good quality coax like RG6U Quad, can anyone refer to a good source of "how to" information for termination of phones, computers and TV's into a single distribution unit usually located in basement. Leviton calls these "Structured Media Centers" but where they are displayed, there are no "how to" books. Leviton's website is primarily "sales" based. I know this equipment gives tremendous flexibility for in home networking, sharing of a printer by more than one computer, etc, etc. Is there a book and/or resource on basics, wiring techniques, equipment,etc.????

Thanks in advance.

RLK
 
stickboy1375 said:
Most low voltage guys hate those so called structured media cabinets....
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Everything homerun to a single cabinet is nice. However, those punchdown phone panels are a pain in the rear. Nine times out of ten I'll bolt a BIX block to the back of the panel for all the phone wiring, and put RJ45 modular plugs on everything else. I'm partial to Leviton boxes myself, as they look somewhat presentable on the outside, yet not astronomically priced, plus many other brands are "Leviton compatible." I never use hubs, or structured-media branded switches. A lot of the cheap switches will lock up a couple times a year. I use D-Link and Netgear ProSafe. Buy unpopulated mounting plates and zip-tie the gear on. Leave an extra one for the Cable/DSL modem.

Any more than 8 ethernet runs and it's better to look at a 19" wallmount rack and 'normal' CAT5E patch panels. Any decent network switch of this size is going to be rackmount anyways.
 
i recently installed cat-5e in my retirement home and used a media cabinet for my phone-cat-5-t.v. systems. the satellite people were pleased to see the setup and gave them a lot of flexibility for my needs. now, i have a router ordered that will extend (up to four additional) internet capabilities throughout my house with no additional monthly service fees. i provided cat-5 cabling and phone to all the t.v. outlets which in the future i feel will be utilized.

i wired my buddy's house the same way and he questioned the cabling and media panel, but now realizes how flexible it makes everything. his wife wants some type of computer monitor in her kitchen -- it is touch screen operated and interacts with her internet --it holds all her recipes, mail and phone information, autodial, photos, etc..
 
the satellite people were pleased to see the setup and gave them a lot of flexibility for my needs.

In every instance those "structured media panels" are a waste of money. Either your "needs" are very basic or those guys were not very experienced. Any cable or sat people I have ever seen throw all that junk away and install their own. Telephone guys do likewise.

If you want to learn how to do this kind of work learn how each system works then build your own with industry standard components. If you want a box Hoffman makes really nice ones.

Structured wiring systems are "plug and play" for people with limited or no knowledge of how these systems operate and will necessarily be designed to cover only a limited number of situations.

-Hal
 
The large leviton box, (The small ones are useless IMO) and never use any of the crap that would go inside one - standard 66 or 110 blocks with a self-tapping screw to mount them. Quality CATV splitters, and a few strips of velcro to mount powered componants.

Hal may have seen this before: (it's a little 102 page phone class I did a while back)
http://www.markhellerelectric.com/phoneclass.pdf
I too think that the leviton site is 'sales based' although I did commondier a few things from their site when putting that class together.

There are also some books available out there - but I have found that some are much better than others - but most do not really cover actual installation issues in a comprehensive way IMO.
 
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hbiss said:
In every instance those "structured media panels" are a waste of money. Either your "needs" are very basic or those guys were not very experienced. Any cable or sat people I have ever seen throw all that junk away and install their own. Telephone guys do likewise.

If you want to learn how to do this kind of work learn how each system works then build your own with industry standard components. If you want a box Hoffman makes really nice ones.

Structured wiring systems are "plug and play" for people with limited or no knowledge of how these systems operate and will necessarily be designed to cover only a limited number of situations.

-Hal
Click to expand...

stickboy1375 said:
Most low voltage guys hate those so called structured media cabinets....
Click to expand...

See, I told you... ;) :grin:
 
my needs must have been too basic ----- i have two remote travel trailer sites and a separate garage and a "summer kitchen" and a mother-in-law's quarters to service phone-data and t.v.. this "too basic" panel set up is in a hall way in my home that i walk by every day--and don't even know it's there. could have saved myself a hundred bucks-------screw a scrap piece of plywood up and mount the exposed blocks to handle everything---throw a few tyraps on that mess and i'd be good to go!!!
 
Not to start yet another long and useless debate on this topic, there is nothing wrong with installing everything in a cabinet. As I said, Hoffman and others make nice ones. You can even use an empty Leviton cabinet, just don't use the junk that they push for use with it. You don't have to mount everything on a backboard, although that is the method of choice where the systems can be located in a utility room or basement much like a service.

-Hal
 
Top shelf in a closet...it's the only way to go. I'm going to have my telephone termination in there, Cat6 networking (got the cable free from a data guy I was on site with), Gigabit switch, 1TB worth of network hard drives, ADSL modem, wireless router, the whole shebang. It'll be pretty nice, and have 2 inline switches to the plugs to power the whole mess, so you can remotely reset the equipment from either the office upstairs or the office downstairs (in the suite). It'll be pretty awesome (Y).
 
I would be careful about putting all the electronics in a small unventilated space like the closet. They will over heat easily. I have had two friends put their cable converter boxes in a closed entertainment center, and they over heated.
 
CAPS said:
I would be careful about putting all the electronics in a small unventilated space like the closet. They will over heat easily. I have had two friends put their cable converter boxes in a closed entertainment center, and they over heated.
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I'm sure they didn't stack their components either... :grin:
 
Do any of these media cabinets support linking with smoke detectors and security systems. Like a 911 dialer if alarm goes off? I have a customer who wants me to install a media center for ethernet, phone, cable, CCTV. He wants his security and smoke detectors to to hook up in the cabinet as well. Any suggestions?
 
The basic theme here is

The basic theme here is

A home run back to a central location from every room getting equipment and you can build anything from there. Never any problems and have been doing it that way for over 20 yrs. No splitters no ground loops no callbacks just charge accordingly. the customers who complain are the ones who are going to complain anyway about any thing. just dump them. In my area about 99$ per hr cat5 or rg6 quad shield. not a bad gig in aopen framed house.
 
Rampage_Rick said:
Everything homerun to a single cabinet is nice. However, those punchdown phone panels are a pain in the rear. Nine times out of ten I'll bolt a BIX block to the back of the panel for all the phone wiring, and put RJ45 modular plugs on everything else. I'm partial to Leviton boxes myself, as they look somewhat presentable on the outside, yet not astronomically priced, plus many other brands are "Leviton compatible." I never use hubs, or structured-media branded switches. A lot of the cheap switches will lock up a couple times a year. I use D-Link and Netgear ProSafe. Buy unpopulated mounting plates and zip-tie the gear on. Leave an extra one for the Cable/DSL modem.

Any more than 8 ethernet runs and it's better to look at a 19" wallmount rack and 'normal' CAT5E patch panels. Any decent network switch of this size is going to be rackmount anyways.
Click to expand...

I completely agree here. We mainly use Leviton Media Centers in our loft-renovation projects. Pretty easy to use and cheap. I think the only thing I don't really like about them are the limited openings at the top of the can. Personally I wish it was a single long opening at the top. But that's just me.
 
I haven't used the Leviton boxes yet but I would imagine that the overall results and appearance will depend greatly on the workmanship of the installer, be it you or someone else. Whatever you decide to do, be sure to allow plenty of space for mounting hardware and access to a GFCI 120VAC outlet(s) on it's own circuit for power. You may decide at some point to have a UPS unit mounted to the wall for any plethora of networking devices. As telcos slowly convert to fiber-to-the-home, the network interfaces and UPS' will very likely require AC power too. Also keep in mind where your telephone/cable services are mounted and follow codes for grounding and bonding.

After a few years of retrofitting houses with CAT5e/6 wiring and installing IPTV networks for my telco I can say that having home runs to a central point is definitely the way to go. I would even go so far as to run 1" or 1.5" conduit to jacks (depending on the amount of cable to comply with conduit fill codes) with pull strings to facilitate upgrades in the future. Keep your CAT5e cable lengths under 295ft and label everything clearly. e57's PDF file is a great read! (Kudos!)
 
Fyi

Fyi

elvis_931 said:
Do any of these media cabinets support linking with smoke detectors and security systems.
Click to expand...

It's worth noting that some security systems use a polling scheme where each device (contact motion smoke) has an address and all devices are common to a single buss. These polling loops can play heck on a subscribers ADSL service if run in the came conduit or cabinet with the Telco cables.

Wayne
 
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