Home wiring (non-electrical)

   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #1  

shade2u2

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Jun 11, 2000
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Location
Ohio
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NH TC33D
<font color=blue>Feeding off the “House” discussion, {maybe this should stay there Mo?} >here I go… <font color=black>I am also going to be running speaker, phone (data) lines & cable video lines (maybe basic security) while our new house is being constructed this spring. As always, you experts are providing a lot of useful info for me-> “Mr. NonTechno”. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Thanx a bunch /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I have some questions to help me better understand this stuff. I will be running 8 phone & 8 cable jacks & a few speaker jacks.
<font color=red>Re: cable> <font color=black> I’m going to try to get by with just an antenna for TV. If it does not satisfy the family, I may need to go to Satellite-dish for which it appears that I should run 2 coax cable lines to each jack – is this right? Is plain RG6 like at Lowes (500ft @ $38) sufficient for main line from antenna &/or through the house? Is Radio Shack a decent source antennas, amps, splitters, junction boxes, etc? They have their top antenna on sale for $50 (reg=$100). I was considering buying 2 antennas & pointing 1 west & 1 east rather than having a rotor. Would this work? I did find Starkelectronic.com, that has a wealth of info re antennas.
<font color=red>Re: phone> <font color=black> I’m not needing a network now (I have 1 computor-1 user), but maybe should for future.? We do not have DSL or Cable Internet svc yet. Do I just run 2 lines to each jack for that possible future need? Should I use cat5 instead of standard phone line? Is cat5 = what some may call “twisted pair”? I may have a source of free phone line vs. cat5 @ $.10/ft at Radio Shack. Can you use phones with cat5 & RJ45 sockets? What is a “110 punch down block or tool”?
<font color=red>Re: speakers><font color=black> What gauge is sufficient for home use? (all runs @ basement & 1st floor)
<font color=red>Re: security> <font color=black> I picked up a camera with 25ft A/V cable that I’m going to aim at our front porch that I plan to tie into all TV jacks somehow. Any hints?
<font color=red>Disclaimer: I’m frugal (wife says CHEAP) & of my current TV’s, VCR’s & 1 DVD, all have A/V, but not "line-in' or "s-cable" on all. My <font color=orange> Sunsui/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif <font color=black>stereo rcvr is 20 yrs old!/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #2  
I am no expert at the wiring questions you pose but I have learned some tough lessons on the TV situation you should consider.

1. Prepare for a dish...someday you might want one and it's relatively cheap to prepare.
2. For the dish, you'll need a line to the outside. Prepare an outdoor weatherproof box to hook up to.
3. If you suspect you might want two TV's hooked to the satellite, prepare for that. If you want them to have their own receivers so they can watch different channels, the wiring will also be different.
4. Consider a digital antenna. They are not much more expensive and will put you in position for the future. They will also receive conventional analog signals. Digital Programming is available now in many areas and moving fast. You'll need a digital capable TV to take advantage but that's the way everything is going now.
5. Think about putting the antenna in the attic if possible. Now is a great time to plan for that. If you plan it right, a rotor won't be a big deal and the whole shebang will be out of the wind and weather.

I am in the process of retrofitting a lot of this now. I wish I had a crystal ball 15 years ago when I built the house to avoid the headaches I'm going through.

Good luck!
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #3  
I'll toss out an opinion on the speaker stuff, kindof long winded, but...

Re: speakers>
Most folks put WAY too small a gauge of wire when they are putting it in.

Think of speaker wire like something your stereo stuff needs to breathe - e.g. it a lot easier to breathe through a 2" dia. piece of pvc than a soda straw. Also, the longer, the worse due to increases in resistance (think of how a really long garden hose has lower pressure at the nozzle when a short one has a much higher pressure) Add on top of that, the more power, the bigger wire needed (e.g. small wire will work like a "low flow" showerhead and won't let the power "out" of your stereo equipment.) All of this is a simplification, but what it boils down to is I'd put in the biggest wire I could afford.

16 ga is my absolute minimum. I have used 16 ga on runs as long of 50', but prefer to use 12 or 10 ga whenever I can. I generally use a company called MCM - (www.mcmelectronics.com). Pretty good prices and just about every gizmo you'd ever need.

The last catalog I got from them had a 250' spool of 12 ga spkr wire for $90. (A LOT cheaper than Monster Cable, which is good stuff, but overpriced by my book) 16 ga was $65 & 10 ga was $185.

I know it may seem like a lot of money, but in reality, it is a very tiny percentage when compared to your total investment and makes things a LOT more convenient. Not sure how much it could add to resale, but sure couldn't hurt.
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #4  
I think those networking centers in the basement handle security, audio and visual along with data.

The x10 module discussion from a month ago seems pretty cool.

Stay with 14-16 gage for speaker wire unless you upgrade that sansui to a surround receiver that has powerful amps for the surround channels then you might want to string 10ga? to the corners.

And anywhere you might want a satellite receiver also needs a phone jack.
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #5  
Hmmmm....

There are a few possibilities in cabling (wiring) a new home. A lot depends on budget and future needs. If the budget allows, shot for the moon. If not, dedicate some money to prepare for the future.

1) Put as much cable in as possible - Cat 5 minimum. There are some newer cable types but I'm not sure of their cost as I haven't investigated them.

2) If you are building a two story house, plan on some kind of conduit between floors so that you can easily run cable. Trying to fish cable without conduit can be a real pain. If you plan on building an outbuilding close to your house and wish to run utiltiies to it, stub out some buried conduit for later use, at least two. One for electrical, one for voice/data.

3) At most home improvement stores, you will find a centralized cable management system which is modularized. It may be made by Belkin, not sure on this. Regardless, it allows you to create a centralized box with modules to attach, route, and control different cable systems throughout the house (voice, data, multimedia). These systems can also be found at your local electrical supply stores. For new construction, I would recommend this. I am looking into installing one into my house but have postponed it due to other priorities (CFO has different ideas!! /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif)

4) Depending on the size and use of room, install one or two empty utility boxes with pull stringx insuring that you have access to them from the basement or attic space. You can cover them with blank faceplates which allows you to use them for whatever you wish in the future. We did this in every room of our house when we build it and it save us a lot of pain an aggrevation later on. Each empty box was only $5 to install from the builder. What will it cost to have someone do it later on $$$$$$? Or how much effort on your part to find a stud, drill all of the holes, etc.

5) Find a electrician who understands voice/data/multimedia. When pulling fiber optic and data cables, the installer needs to know how to do the job correctly. Fiber strands can break if they're incorrectly pulled. Data cables are usually twisted pairs and must not be stretched or you can loose impedence (I believe the correct term) which translates to slower data rates.

These are some high level general guidelines which I hope can help you in your decision making.

Terry
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #6  
Hi Shade,
I'm no expert, I'll just talk about the antenna. Winegard makes a very good antenna. I
bought mine from Radio Shack about 12 yrs. ago & it is starting to fall apart. I would have
bought the Winegard had I known about them then. Also I think you would be better off
with a rotor instead of two antennas. Some stations need just a little tweak to come in
clearer & a rotor will provide you that. RG 6 is a must & I also would suggest a booster or
pre-amp. Winegard also sells them & I think they are better than the Radio Shack ones. The
one I have cost about 100.00. One part mounts on the antenna & the other part is at the
end of the antenna wire before the splitter. That part will need to plug into an outlet. Try
to use the least amount of coax as you can. You can accomplish this by using splitters. I placed
one splitter & the pre-amp (booster) in the attic & then went to the rooms from there. Altho splitters
will result in a little loss of reception, the booster will help out with that. They also have gold connectors
that are supposed to have less loss also, but I didn't know about them then & can't say if they
are that much better. I know they cost more. Hope some of this helps.
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #7  
Hey Shade,
Just looked at your profile. I thought I remembered you my fellow Buckeye fan. There
is a place in New Philadelphia,Oh. that is very good. They specialize in antennas etc. especially
for us non cable/dish guys. I have a phone number, toll free too, at home. I think they are
called tv specialties or something like that. They are real good. After I talked to them, I
went home & changed a whole bunch of mistakes that I made when I installed my coax./w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif I
am leaving for the week-end but I'll try to remember to post the phone number when I get
home today. If I forget, I'll post it Monday. BTW one of my visits is going to be to a friend
from Adena, Oh that now lives 6 miles from Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. OSU & Mich. play
basketball Sat. & we may take in the game. If nothing else, I will ride by the Stadium & give
it the hex./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif We can use any help we can get./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #8  
Having done this myself recently, I'd parrott most of what has been said already.

Phone: I would run Cat 5 or better and run INDIVIDUAL lines to each location. ME?? nope. I ran a loop for each floor and just about 2 weeks ago, wife putting some "beaded board" on the kitchen wall, drove finish nail right into phone wires which killed entire house. Since I had other pair to use, I was able to make it work without tearing out drywall, but if I'd had "home runs" it would have been MUCH MUCH easier for what I had to do. Bigger pain to run initially yes, but much easier to have fixed.

Richard
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical) #9  
Richard,

Look at it this way... it's was your finish carpenters fault!! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Home runs aren't that hard if you DO NOT have drywall installed. Once you have to work blind, all bets are off...

Terry
 
   / Home wiring (non-electrical)
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Hey Moler,
Thank you for the lead & other info. We go to New Philly once in a while to visit our best friends. I will look into the company. I found Stark in Mass. who carry Winegard that have helped by email, but it will be great to be able to speak with someone face to face /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I want to plan this out well so that I can take in old WV ch's 7 & 9, but TV antenna sources are not abundent these days. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif
It would be great to take the final league game & watch the Buckeyes capture the Championship & against that team up north to boot. What a TEAM (definately with NO "I") Jim Obrien has put together. He's the best coach in the nation in my book. They are out-manned every game, but play the game as well as any... Hope you do get to go!/w3tcompact/icons/king.gif

Thanx to all for the info.
The RadioShack antenna (VU190) is ready for HDTV. Is that = "digital TV"? /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif
The X10 stuff is cool /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif , but pricie /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif
I probably wont worry about fiberoptics for we may not see it this century /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif
I will run the extra lines now, but probably not conduit...
 
 
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