Self Build Cabling ideas, security cams, cat6 cable etc

skywalker_208

Hi,

Just thought I would get your views on the above. Thinking of putting cat6 cable thoughout the new house and possibly terminating in the attic. I was also thinking of maybe putting a couple of external cameras (possibly network cams - that I could connect via the cat6 to the same network) ?

your thoughts and views would be much appreciated.

ballystephen

We are currently installing cat 5 in our place.We were talked out of cat 6 because apparently its a lot easier to damage the cat 6 cable. We are putting cat 5 in every room going to a router/hub in the hallway and in cat 6 underground throgh ducting into the server in the garage.
Regards
Bally Stephen

frankie2shoes

have heard about cat v+ from afriend of mine which seems to be a best of both solution. would imagine its cheaper too:D

duleekboy

run 2 lengths to each room at least this will give you broabband connection in every room and a computer network to enable to share files/folders thru out house, in main tv room bump this up to 3or 4(i have 2 and both are used one for media pc for broabband other for networked dvd player for streaming video)

another good option would be to run cat 5/6 to all light sockets as well and route back to central point these can then be used at a later stage to incoporate automated lighting and/or IR control panels for media

while your at it run some cat 5/6 alongside your alarm cable to all window you never know you may want to automate these at some time in the future

leave plenty of slack on both ends

another thing is to run coax cable ct100/125 alongside your cat5/6 to all rooms this is a much better/reliable way to distributetv/sat/fm thru the house than cat 5/6 at the moment(the connection equipment for cat 5 distribution for tv/sat isnt very cheap but this will change), run at leat 4 lengths of ct100/125 to main tv point, 2 for sky plus,one for terrestial tv, the other for freeview or future(i ran 6 only one is spare now). hook this all up to a loftbox and u will have tv/sat/fm distribution thru out your house

the cabling is cheap get it all in now when you can.

nearly forgot telephone cable this is cheap as chips run this to all the main rooms alongside the cat5/coax cable as well in particular think about sky plus location and sky multiroom locations these will all need a telephone point

that should do it

oh speaker cable:D

De_man

duleekboy wrote:

another thing is to run coax cable ct100/125 alongside your cat5/6 to all rooms this is a much better/reliable way to distributetv/sat/fm thru the house than cat 5/6

Just a real stupid question here..why use CT100/125 throughout the house?

Okay i'd agree run the CT100 from the dish to your hub/amp...but the freqs are so low from the dish (around 27mhz? if i remember rightly), the losses will be very low using "normal" coax.

Upon completion of my roof (1week) i'll be starting the wiring and i can't justify using CT100 throughout the house especially when it's a good bit dearer....and i'll be wiring the house, windows etc etc for the windows media system/X-10

It's been a while since i was at college studing this stuff:D

do we really need to use CT100/125 throughout the house?

skywalker_208

thanks for the replies. some great ideas. I presume you will be suppling your own cable and getting your electrician to install it De_man? Would this be the best/most cost effective option?

Tenshot

duleekboy wrote:

another good option would be to run cat 5/6 to all light sockets as well and route back to central point these can then be used at a later stage to incoporate automated lighting and/or IR control panels for media

Presumably you mean the light switches rather than sockets? This is where you'll likely want to mount control panels etc.

nearly forgot telephone cable this is cheap as chips run this to all the main rooms alongside the cat5/coax cable as well in particular think about sky plus location and sky multiroom locations these will all need a telephone point

Don't waste time on this - run CAT5E instead. Only slightly more expensive and hugely more flexible in terms of what you can do with it.

oh, speaker cable

Definitely! :-) Run speaker cable to left/right ceiling locations, loop both cables through a (blanked off) socket beside the light switch, so you can install a volume control or panel display, and then run the cables back to a central location where the master amplifier can live. Multi-room audio is really nice, and doesn't have to be expensive at all.

beolight

Just a real stupid question here..why use CT100/125 throughout the house?

yeah just buy the cheapest coax cable you can get your hands on and then in a few years time when you have everything connected you will realise your penny pinching folly:(

i.e when the sky connection/digital keeps dropping its signal or when the guys installing/repairing your sky/ntl /digital install point out that your cheap coax cable is the problem and not the dish/lnb or anything to do with their install

you might be lucky and get an installer who refuses to use your coax as he knows he will have to deal with all call outs for the first year(duration of warranty) and then proceed to lash the cable over your roof , done your newly plastered wall and into living room/kitchen etc with cable clipped on to skirting boad.

actually sky do insist on minimum rg6 but not a lot of their installers care

ct125 is premium if you can afford it get it costs 1 euro a metre for 100 metre roll
ct100 better than cheap rg6 costs about 60 cents a metre for

why thru out the house?

why not??

how many televisions have you got now?how many pcs? how much more hassle will it be to install this cable as a retro fit

why not go for whole house tv distribtion alongside your networked cabling? run it all together, this is essentially all that smarthomes crowd do with fancy cabling covers to make it look techie and charge you a small fortune for it

you can can get snap in f connector modules as well as cat5/6 modules

Okay i'd agree run the CT100 from the dish to your hub/amp...but the freqs are so low from the dish (around 27mhz? if i remember rightly), the losses will be very low using "normal" coax.

a 100 metre roll should be more than enough to get all your rooms done,do you propose just buying 20 metre of ct100 and get caught out by having too short a length go on buy the 100 metre roll and see how far you get if run out go buy the 18 euro cheap stuff 100 metre roll and use this for the rooms you have some misgivings about

your call spend an extra 100 odd euros now while you can or be kicking yourself a few years down the line

just wondering are you a self builder or a builder building for profit of course the later will buy a 300 metre roll of the cheap stuff for 34 euros and use that for the whole housing estate, one cable to the living room and 1 to bedroom

another consideration might be to consider now if main room is reorganised and furniture repositioned is it worth running the cable to other corners in the room as well

skywalker_208

beolight wrote:

just wondering are you a self builder or a builder building for profit

Just to answer this - im a self builder, so this is it - my house for life so gona try and put the best of everything (that I can afford) into it

This whole thing will probably end up being a bit of a hobby of mine

beolight

best of luck with it skywalker_208:)

i wasnt having at pop at you, i was responding to De_man post

@De_man not having a pop at you either;) just trying to play devils advocate

skywalker_208

I know beolight thanks to both of you for the advice. its a real eye opener!

skywalker_208

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to buy any of this stuff?

De_man

beolight wrote:

best of luck with it skywalker_208:)

i wasnt having at pop at you, i was responding to De_man post

@De_man not having a pop at you either;) just trying to play devils advocate

i'm a self builder up to my eyes in serious debt, roof just about finished
first fix wiring/plumbing starts when the windows go in next week:D .

I must do some further research, one of the lads is now suggesting CAT167 alongside the CAT5E!! you're right it's crazy to penny pinch at this stage in the game...;)

ballystephen

Hi Lads
Cant you control the central server/amps from the cat 5 sockets in the room?
ps. Self-building myself. will be slabbing as soon as everything is wired.Would prefer not to chase anymore!
Regards
Steve