Wiring Mess

[goombadave]

I am moving into a new home and it is prewired with Cat 5 cable to all the rooms. The central panel, a Leviton Integrated Networks, is wired into the master bedroom closet. First off, can someone help me understand why the white wire from the top is split into individual strands to the "hub"? The blue cat 5 cables are labeled and run to each room in the house. It is not immediately obvious to me what is going on with the wiring.

Second off, the bedroom closet unfortunately is not ideal for me to mount my planned equipment rack. What are my options for moving or running cables into the garage instead? Should I place a switch in the bedroom closet and run one cable to the garage where the other equipment will be located? (Server, Router, Modem, etc.) I cannot put all that equipment in the master closet... Is getting it moved expensive? (electrician) Can I do it myself? Worthwhile? Etc

Thoughts?

 

[MtnGoat]

The white cable may be phone. Need to ring that out to the outside panel.

Since all the house wiring is terminated in your closet you can;
1. rewire the house with the terminations in the garage.
2. setup a switch in the closet, then a single run to your garage.

I believe that #2 is a no-brainer.

 

[goombadave]

The white cable may be phone. Need to ring that out to the outside panel.

Since all the house wiring is terminated in your closet you can;
1. rewire the house with the terminations in the garage.
2. setup a switch in the closet, then a single run to your garage.

I believe that #2 is a no-brainer.

Yea I think that would be the easiest...or run at least two to the garage for LAG

 

[Ronv42]

I don't know what area you live in but be careful of garages with all the possible temperature extremes along with humidity. I had RJ11 and RJ45 terminations that weren't glassless and you start to get corrosion on the connectors. Not to say putting the home runs to the garage is bad you just need to account for environmental conditions.

Lately I have been seeing a lot of home runs to the basement closet under the stairs since it is central in most new construction homes in the last 15 to 20 years.

 

[fistv]

Geeze, don't they build houses with demarcs anymore ? my cable and phone come into a 4x4 3/4 inch plywood panel right next to the breaker panel in the cellar. Why would anyone with half a brain put that kind of stuff in a bedroom closet.
If it was me I would get that box out of there and put in a normal patch panel then vertically mount a switch above it, ports facing down to eliminate dust collecting around the ports then run the two lines to the garage. In the garage I would put in an enclosed rack with lock for the other hardware.
The garage though would not be my first choice though, no temp controls, hot in summer, cold in winter, wild humidity swings, dust and dirt. I guess the WAF or PAF comes into play here. For that if you can put it somewhere in the house you might want to look at http://www.lashenelectronics.com/p-2424-middle-atlantic-mfr-series-mobile-furniture-rack.aspx

I just got my deep wall mount rack and 3 rack shelves yesterday plus some 6" patch cables so I'll be neatening up my wall in the cellar this week so I can get rid of the 'this will work for now' mess.

After looking at those pics I gotta say my 14 yo daughter and 16 year old son did better work when they were helping me do cable jobs.

 

[goombadave]

Thanks for the ideas. As for the garage, I am in Southern California, its warm right now but never gets too hot or cold. Dust might be an issue, though I plan to enclose a shelf in the garage for the equipment.

The wiring in the bedroom is awful, and I don't know why that room was chosen. Regardless, it seems that either running all the wires to the garage or adding a switch to the existing panel is the way to go.

But if I do run new cable to the garage I may as well run all the cables down there...I think. Need to figure out what that would cost if I can't do it myself.

 

[azazel1024]

Figure between $50-100 per wire/LAN drop. That seems to be roughly the typical price electricians charge. Figure a minimum of $200-300 "service charge" if even doing one, but probably the $50-100 figure if doing many LAN drops at once.

Size/construction and materials used will impact that price. It might be as much as double that if the construction makes it difficult to run the wires (like plaster and lathe).

I'd just opt for a small switch in that current wiring panel and then run a pair of cat6 to the garage for LAG support. Plenty of 8 port semi-managed switches out there for fairly cheap as it doesn't look like you've got many wires running in there. If you need more I'd just double up the switches instead of a 16 port (unless you can find a desktop semi-managed 16 port switch, rack mount is going to be too big to fit in there).

For garage, just make sure you look at the environmental ratings of any gear. Generally you are looking at ~32-104F as a typical (sometimes 40-94F or something). Garages tend to run around +10F warmer than the outside in the summer time, especially if uninsulated with a darker roof. So if you get temps in the high 90's ever, it might be more like high 100's or even in to the 110's on a particularly sunny, hot day.

Doesn't mean it'll kill the gear. In my experience equipment can generally do +10 over and -10 under its environmental rating, no worries, so long as it isn't in a poorly ventilated space (IE in a box with no holes or something). I mean, I'd try to avoid that, and it might shorten the expected life of the gear somewhat, but it would probably be just fine. Beyond that, I wouldn't trust it.

 

[goombadave]

Figure between $50-100 per wire/LAN drop. That seems to be roughly the typical price electricians charge. Figure a minimum of $200-300 "service charge" if even doing one, but probably the $50-100 figure if doing many LAN drops at once.

Size/construction and materials used will impact that price. It might be as much as double that if the construction makes it difficult to run the wires (like plaster and lathe).

I'd just opt for a small switch in that current wiring panel and then run a pair of cat6 to the garage for LAG support. Plenty of 8 port semi-managed switches out there for fairly cheap as it doesn't look like you've got many wires running in there. If you need more I'd just double up the switches instead of a 16 port (unless you can find a desktop semi-managed 16 port switch, rack mount is going to be too big to fit in there).

For garage, just make sure you look at the environmental ratings of any gear. Generally you are looking at ~32-104F as a typical (sometimes 40-94F or something). Garages tend to run around +10F warmer than the outside in the summer time, especially if uninsulated with a darker roof. So if you get temps in the high 90's ever, it might be more like high 100's or even in to the 110's on a particularly sunny, hot day.

Doesn't mean it'll kill the gear. In my experience equipment can generally do +10 over and -10 under its environmental rating, no worries, so long as it isn't in a poorly ventilated space (IE in a box with no holes or something). I mean, I'd try to avoid that, and it might shorten the expected life of the gear somewhat, but it would probably be just fine. Beyond that, I wouldn't trust it.

Thanks for the advice. It rarely reaches 90 where I am, so that would be an occasional 100 degree day as far as the equipment is concerned. I plan to make a well ventilated box with fans and a screen/filter. I will call some electricians and see what they quote, but before I do that I will play with some wires and see if there is anything I can do on my own first.

 

[grey17]

I will call some electricians and see what they quote, but before I do that I will play with some wires and see if there is anything I can do on my own first.

If the existing cables are accessible (attic / crawlspace) you may be able to use the existing cables to pull new wires (down / up) through the walls. It simplifies getting new cables to the jacks. If the cables are stapled to the studs or make sharp turns inside the wall it won't work, but it might be worth a try.

You can attach the new cable to the old cable with electrical tape. Wrap 6-12" of the old and new cables tightly together. Make sure the end that goes in is tapered so that it won't get caught on anything inside the wall.

-- D

 

[goombadave]

That would work for running New cable using the existing cable runs but routing them from the bedroom to the garage is the main hiccup.

 

[fistv]

Thanks for the ideas. As for the garage, I am in Southern California, its warm right now but never gets too hot or cold. Dust might be an issue, though I plan to enclose a shelf in the garage for the equipment.

The wiring in the bedroom is awful, and I don't know why that room was chosen. Regardless, it seems that either running all the wires to the garage or adding a switch to the existing panel is the way to go.

But if I do run new cable to the garage I may as well run all the cables down there...I think. Need to figure out what that would cost if I can't do it myself.

Don't do an enclosed shelf, get an enclosed wall rack, most have provisions for adding a fan and even filters, you can even fancy it up with a chrome air filter from K&N or Mr Gasket.

 

[azazel1024]

Depending on the setup of your house, it might not be too terrible to run it. Is any of the attic over the garage? Even if not, what you might be able to do is run it in the attic so that you have it over an exterior wall ajoining the garage, drill down through the outer wall header. Then inside the house, cut a small hole, probably 4x4" or so to fish the wires down and a similar sized hole (or a little bigger) at the base of the wall to drill down through the next header.

Fish the wires down through and then out in to the garage. Then patch the two holes using the drywall you cut out. Just use something like a paint stir stick or 2x4 (or 1x4). Make the wood 2-3" longer than the patch on both sides. Stick the wood in the hole, drill through the dry wall in to the wood, then put dry wall screws through those holes to anchor the wood behind the hole. Then place the patch/cut out piece of dry wall in to the hole. Drill again, use drywall screws to attach to the wood to secure the patch. Then spackle, sand and paint.

 

[goombadave]

Don't do an enclosed shelf, get an enclosed wall rack, most have provisions for adding a fan and even filters, you can even fancy it up with a chrome air filter from K&N or Mr Gasket.

That sound like a great setup, any links to something like that?

 

[fistv]

That sound like a great setup, any links to something like that?

Here is the high end http://www.lashen.com/vendors/map/racks/wall_mount/dwr-xx-pd.asp
I've also used these quite often, http://www.lashen.com/vendors/map/datatel/wm-x-xx.asp
With these I use corrugated plastic sheet I get from home depot in different colors, same stuff they make those election and for sale real estate signs from you see in peoples front yards. It comes in colors, 48 last time I looked.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbrande...Plastic-Cardboard-10-PACK-WC4896-10/202489118

I just cut to size and use velcro to stick them on the sides, front, top and bottom. If I put a fan bar in like these http://www.lashen.com/vendors/map/rack_accessories/fan.asp#QFP
I use a piece of either sheet steel or 1/2" ply on the surface I want to mount the air cleaner on. I've even made plastic doors out of plexi to really seal the front and still be visible.
I've installed this stuff in alot of automotive shops with supermicron servers so I learned about dirt pretty quick and how to seal them.
Almost forgot the finishing touch
http://www.cjponyparts.com/air-clea...ign=shopping&gclid=CNWKusSOjsECFUMF7AodGHQAhw