data system questions and advice for my house

zzvyb6 · Mar 1, 2013

Consider running an extra CAT6 or two for future use with security video cameras. I'm running well over 600' in several lines to get camera views out at my front gates, at the barn and up on a windmill tower. For video, you need CAT6 + power. I bought several spools off of ebay already with connectors, so I never cut them. One is a 1000'. I needed to kick the voltage up from 12v to 15v for the newer HD cameras which have 60' of night vision illuminators.

Just a thought for you to consider. We have a separate wireless laptop running the camera monitor system 24/7. I also hardwired it into the HDTV via the U-Verse router so with a quick flick of the remote, I can see what the dogs are all barking about.

BobRip · Mar 1, 2013

After doing the wiring, but before putting up the Sheetrock, take pictures of all the walls. This should include the walls with no wiring or pipes. A friend did this for me and it was very helpful when I needed to add wires. Pull some spare 12/2 w ground wires from the panel to the active and basement/crawl space.

buckeyefarmer · Mar 1, 2013

I use 2 sets coax, one for OTA (over the air) signal, one for SAT TV distribution. I amplify the OTA signal, then into splitter. If you have cable TV, you can just use one cable. Use splitter from a central location.

For data it starts with ISP modem into router (wired/wireless), then I use multiple 4 port switches. You can use less cable by one run to an area of the house, like the office and then putting all devices in that room on 1 local switch. If buying new switches, I would get a POE switch in case you add future IP cameras.

My security cams are analog with coax/power combined cables. I just installed an IP based system elsewhere, and if you don't have a camera system yet, get a digital one with IP cameras, and just run CAT5/6 cables from a POE switch. I can view individual IP cameras from my smartphone directly, without going thru the NVR. with DDNS, I can monitor my house from anywhere with my phone.

I did just found out the hard way, you can't remote into a verizon LTE USB modem because it's NAT'd and ports inbound are blocked. Apparently not a problem with their 3G modems, I'll soon find out. I am setting this up as a remote IP camera at a location without internet access.

I'm getting ready to set up multiple zoned speaker system, with each zone having it's own inwall volume control.

MossRoad · Mar 1, 2013

One thing you may run into is long and short runs in coax. Then, when you amplify it up for the longest runs, the short runs are overamplified. If you make all the runs the same length, you can get away with one amplifier no attenuaters.
Of course, digital signals won't get overamped, but you may need to amplify your antenna to get it to the farthest run.

Also, consider running two coax cables to each location. One is an inny and one is an outy.
You feed the inny's from the head end.
You feed the outy's from VCR's, DVD players, cam corders, Sat boxes, etc.... back into the head end on channel 3, 4 or get a modulator that is tunable to any other channel.
Then you can watch any device on any TV in the house just by tuning it to channel 3 or 4, etc....