Panel for CAT5 cable

FrankGrimes

I'm renovating my house and I ran in a load of CAT5E cables all over the place (planning on getting Windows Media Centre and the advice I was given was to put loads in as you'll never know what you'll need it for).

The hub for the network is going to be the spare bedroom and as a result I have 24 CAT5E cables coming out of the wall at one point there (its a stud partition wall).

I have a mate who can get me the individual front plates for each cable that I will use around the house for next to nothing but I don't want, and it would be pretty hard to do actually, to install 24 separate plates in the box bedroom. What I need is some form of panel that will allow me to put 24 face plates on it. Problem is even with my mate's discount I was quoted €300 for this - does anyone know of a cheaper solution I could go with?

blorg

Try eBay, these things are generally designed to go into a 19" rack but I presume there would be ways of wall-mounting them.

Nukem

Check the F/S hardware forum as well for stuff like that. Comes up every now and then

Nukem

jjmax

A patch panel should cost very little, and I think it's what you're after.
around €70 would be plenty for this.
Have you considered getting a small cabinet to house the panel, switch, etc...
Check http://www.comms-express.com/index.html

FrankGrimes

Thanks for the replies folks - yep it looks like a patch panel is exactly what I need.

I'm a novice at this and it'll be the weekend before I get to ask my mate about it so can I just check to make sure: as long as I make sure to get a patch panel that matches my cable type (think its UTP) I will be able to plant that on the wall and connect the 24 cat5e cables to it - I don't need any other equipment at that end (the other ends in the other rooms will have their own face plates)?

Pity the 24 port panel is 19inches wide as the joists in my stud partition are at 16" centre to centre spacings. Suppose I could go for 2 smaller panels to make up the 24 ports.

One thing though - does anyone know how deep the panels are - the 24 port one is 19" wide, looks about 2" high but how deep is it? This will have an impact as the stud partition wall is only about 3.5" deep.

Ebay does look like the right place to go for this gear as prices seem way cheaper, thanks.

I hadn't considered a cabinet as the ones I have seen look way to big but if anyone knows of a nice shallow cabinet, possibly one in which I could mount a 24 port panel vertically, I'd be glad to see it.

Thanks again,
Grimesy

Stephen

I don't need any other equipment at that end

Well, you're also going to need a switch at the same location as the patch panel, and a bunch of patch cables to connect whichever wall ports you're using (I hope you labeled them on both ends!) from the patch panel to the switch. oh, and a krone tool to connect the cables to the patch panel. (Although 1 or 2 of the patch panels on ebay there have RJ45 ports on both sides, which is a bit ... weird.)
You won't need a 24 port switch or anything, just something with enough ports to handle however many devices you're going to have simultaneously connected to the network.

FrankGrimes

Hi Stephen,

I have a wireless Linksys router with 4 wired ports. Initially I will have 3 devices connected to the network so I reckon this router should do me fine and then I can just loop in something else (do I need another router or a switch, not sure on the difference) when I am adding devices to the network.

I can’t say I’ve noticed any but yeh I can’t imagine why some of the ebay panels might have RJ45 connections on both sides. Pretty sure this one doesn’t have it though: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/24-Port-Category-5e-UTP-PCB-Patch-Panel-Rack-Mount-New_W0QQitemZ5794585002QQcategoryZ40990QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That panel actually looks quite deep so wouldn’t fit in the wall – don’t suppose you know of any suitable cabinets or even what the correct term for them is so I can search for them?

Stephen

Comms cabinets are all fairly deep, they're designed to contain full size 19" rack mount switches and stuff. Your linksys router will do fine. If you need more capacity in future, you could buy a cheap switch and connect it to one of the ports on the linksys box.

this patch panel looks very shallow: http://cgi.ebay.ie/Sapphire-Enhanced-Cat5e-RJ45-Patch-Panel_W0QQitemZ5795579179QQcategoryZ28025QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

TimTim

Those cabinets/server racks/whatever you want to call them are pricey.

Place like Dell do them. I'm sure other networking places do them too.

The Real B-man

can we have a lan in your gaff?

Miley

Those Comms cabinsts can be pretty pricey. Paid 700euro last week for a very basic one