Smart Home Wiring

[Hoosier_Daddy]

As far as boxes go, for more room use a 4x4 box and a plaster ring to make the opening 4x2. I ran 2 cable and 2 phone to each room when we remodeled. The idea was that if the bed and nightstand was on one side of the room then the TV would be on the other. And when the Lady decides to switch the room around I didn't have to hear her say, "can you move the Phone or Cable line". Also since all the phone lines terminated in the basement on 66 blocks I figured I could just unhook the kids phone lines to their rooms for punishment purposes. Then we got cordless phones. So much for that idea........

Then came the Cat5 stuff. I was glad I stubbed conduit out of each box into the basement.

What I would like to find is a good terminating box for the cable in the basement. Some kind of "apartment building" type bridge with a lot of connectors. Guess I will have to follow the Comcast truck around and hope one falls off.

And the #1 thing to remember " wire your family room for surround sound" I ran cable to all 4 sides of the room for 2 sets of speakers and bridged them together. No matter which wall she moves the TV, just plug back into the speaker jacks and the other 3 walls have live audio. Just plug each speaker into the jack for the channel you want...... Tom

 

[RobS]

I'm still kinda sore from it all but this weekend I pulled 1000 ft of RG6QS, 1000 ft of Cat5e and 750 ft of 14-2 speaker wire throughout our new house. I can't tell you how many times I went up and down various ladders /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif All went well and I thank everyone who provided advice. I did use the plaster rings for most of the locations. I'll do the basement later and I still need to wire some speakers in the garage (you'd think I would have done that first). I was thinking of doing the security system wiring but the wire type seems hardware dependant and I'm not ready for those decisions yet (mentally). Going to talk to the builder about having the security system put in by the pros.

Thanks again for the help everyone. I'll try to post a photo of my cable birdsnest tomorrow /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[budman72]

Rob,

I believe security companies will wire your house at little or no charge if you sign a one year contract. You ought to check it out.

Bud

 

[RobS]

My thoughts exactly Bud, thanks for the tip /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[RobS]

Here's a picture of the results of all my wiring efforts last weekend. Somehow, it looks more impressive in person. What isn't shown here is the speaker wires as I ran them to various entertainment center "zones" rather than a completely centralized system.

A quick tool review: Milwaukee "Hole Hawg" right angle drill is one kick a$$ piece of equipment. Good self-feeding bits are essential too /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

He He!!! I used the same labels on my wiring /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[RobS]

<font color=blue>He He!!! I used the same labels on my wiring </font color=blue>

Great minds think alike, eh David? Did you notice the highly sophisticated masking tape on some of the wires to differentiate dual runs to the same locations? Whatever works /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[MossRoad]

That's where we differentiated; I used one band, two band, three band of electrical tape. (we were probably out of masking tape) /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Chuck,

Is there anything like a Cat 5 combined with Romex in the same sheathing? I swear I saw something like this at the NAHB show in Dallas a couple years back but haven't seen it anywhere since. I know historically there was concern about interference between Romex and Cat 5 but thought maybe it had been solved.

I'm wanting to build with SIP's and making single runs with something like that would be wonderful. Thanks in advance for any insights you can share.

 

[Inspector507]

Gary,
They made a hybrid cable for awhile that included all the 110 volt wiring with the cat 3 or 5 and a couple of coax cables.
Don't know if thats still being used anywhere or not.