Network Cabling

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 08:27

Hello all,

I am thinking of wiring my house with Ethernet cabling, but I am undecided as to whether to use Cat5e cable or try and future proof myself with some Cat6 cabling, I know both cables can do 1Gb speeds, but has anyone else done this??

Also can anyone recommend a wall mountable patch panel as well, I have found some on the Internet, but I would rather get something that someone is using at the moment.

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers

Andy

chiller15 · 04/06/10 - 10:18

CAT5e would suit the needs of any home network. You probably would not notice the difference between CAT5e and CAT6. Just ensure you buy the right type of cable (cross over or straight through).

As for the patch panel...by that I assume you mean one of these? http://electriciansupplies.com.au/shop/images/patchPanel.gif, or do you mean something like this? http://shop.aktiscomputing.co.uk/ekmps/shops/aktisc/images/double-rj45-cat-5e-wall-socket-107-p.jpg

If you mean the first, then that is not needed in a home environment. They are only used in rack-storage methods for cable management. If you mean the latter, then they are cheap and very easy to install. Just get some cable trunking to hide other wires.

flagpole · 04/06/10 - 10:35

Cat5e should be able to handle your needs. However, have you looked at the cost difference? at a rough guess it's going to cost you an extra £20-£30 and by the time you've bought all the ducting and plates it's not a significant cost.

since you are only going to get the opportunity once I would go with cat6. who knows in 5 years time we could all have 10Gb lan nd that may need cat6.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 10:36

chiller15 wrote: »

CAT5e would suit the needs of any home network. You probably would not notice the difference between CAT5e and CAT6. Just ensure you buy the right type of cable (cross over or straight through).

As for the patch panel...by that I assume you mean one of these? http://electriciansupplies.com.au/shop/images/patchPanel.gif, or do you mean something like this? http://shop.aktiscomputing.co.uk/ekmps/shops/aktisc/images/double-rj45-cat-5e-wall-socket-107-p.jpg

If you mean the first, then that is not needed in a home environment. They are only used in rack-storage methods for cable management. If you mean the latter, then they are cheap and very easy to install. Just get some cable trunking to hide other wires.

Yeah I am swinging towards just going for Cat5e, it's cheaper and does 1Gb anyway, the patch panel I meant was something like this:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/87654/Electrical-Supplies/Data-Networking/Data-Routing/12-Port-Patch-Panel

I wanted to know if people are using something similar and which one to get.

All my wiring is going to be outside and running to the panel and switch in my conservatory, it's unfortunately the best place for everything.

Thanks for your advice on the cross over and straight through cabling, I will look out for that.

chiller15 · 04/06/10 - 10:36

flagpole wrote: »

Cat5e should be able to handle your needs. However, have you looked at the cost difference? at a rough guess it's going to cost you an extra £20-£30 and by the time you've bought all the ducting and plates it's not a significant cost.

since you are only going to get the opportunity once I would go with cat6. who knows in 5 years time we could all have 10Gb lan nd that may need cat6.

10Gb, Britain...are you mad?! :P

But yeah, I know what you mean, CAT6 is more future proof than CAT5e.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 10:53

It's unlikely that we'll all have 10Gb LANs inside the next 10 years. 1Gb has been around for a fair old while now, and still not particularly common.
I'd just stick Cat5e in there, no worries! Make sure you get yourself a decent crimping tool if you don't have one already, it makes getting good connections a breeze!

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 10:56

flagpole wrote: »

Cat5e should be able to handle your needs. However, have you looked at the cost difference? at a rough guess it's going to cost you an extra £20-£30 and by the time you've bought all the ducting and plates it's not a significant cost.

since you are only going to get the opportunity once I would go with cat6. who knows in 5 years time we could all have 10Gb lan nd that may need cat6.

Don't you need Cat6a cabling for 10Gb ?? or am I completely wrong.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 10:56

Joey_M wrote: »

It's unlikely that we'll all have 10Gb LANs inside the next 10 years. 1Gb has been around for a fair old while now, and still not particularly common.
I'd just stick Cat5e in there, no worries! Make sure you get yourself a decent crimping tool if you don't have one already, it makes getting good connections a breeze!

Any recomendations for a decent crimping tool??

flagpole · 04/06/10 - 11:23

bara03 wrote: »

Don't you need Cat6a cabling for 10Gb ?? or am I completely wrong.

Yes and no, the max length of cat6 on 10Gb is less than it is on 1Gb&100Mb (100m,) cat6a takes the maximum length back to 100m.

but in reality network cabling doesn't really work like that, it's fully error corrected, so for a given set up and protocol you will get given speed. you know if you go to 120m it doesn't kust stop working.

and a lot of other things can interfere with your speed, kinking the cables, bending them too tightly, environmental interference, incorrect termination etc. so better cabling can help mitigate this.

If at some point in the future you use a faster/different protocol it will be faster over cat 6 than cat5. even if that means your 100Gb lan runs at 50Gb instead of 5.

What i'm really saying is that cabling up your house is not something you want to be doing too often and cat6 would seem to me to be a good compromise between cost and results.

chrisjr · 04/06/10 - 12:35

bara03 wrote: »

Thanks for your advice on the cross over and straight through cabling, I will look out for that.

If you are wiring between two fixed points, eg a patch panel in a central location out to wall plates in the various rooms you should always wire straight through.

Cross over only really applies to the leads you use to connect bits of kit together. For example you would use a crossover lead to plug two PCs together directly via their network ports. But use a straight through lead to connect the PC to a router/switch.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 13:17

chrisjr - absolutely correct, but remember that he's buying the cable on a reel, and will be terminating it himself at the patch panel & wall socket, so he'll be doing the pairing himself.

As for recommendations for a crimper, you really need to try a few out, and see what feels comfy in your hand. I use one of these: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=4233 but I've got fairly chunky hands.
Be aware that if you're terminating at a proper patch panel, you'll need a punch tool to get the cables into the block, the crimp is for putting the rj45 connectors onto the end (so going from patch panel to switch, and wall socket to equipment).

chrisjr · 04/06/10 - 13:32

Joey_M wrote: »

chrisjr - absolutely correct, but remember that he's buying the cable on a reel, and will be terminating it himself at the patch panel & wall socket, so he'll be doing the pairing himself.

I know, but the snip I quoted was the OP's response to the opening para of post 2 which mentioned buying the "right type of cable".

Fairly obviously there is not such thing as a straight through or cross-over reel. It is how the connectors are wired up. Think that a bit of confusion may have crept in between self installed cabling and ready made up cables.

I am also thinking that if the OP is wiring from a patch bay to fixed sockets he may need something other than a RJ45 crimp?

If the patch panel and sockets use bog standard IDC terminal blocks then something like this would do the job.

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/8pk-3141b-duratool/idc-hand-tool/dp/TL09782

Looks almost identical to the one in my tool kit but it's less than 1/5th the price!

:)

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 13:47

chrisjr wrote: »

I know, but the snip I quoted was the OP's response to the opening para of post 2 which mentioned buying the "right type of cable".

Fairly obviously there is not such thing as a straight through or cross-over reel. It is how the connectors are wired up. Think that a bit of confusion may have crept in between self installed cabling and ready made up cables.

I am also thinking that if the OP is wiring from a patch bay to fixed sockets he may need something other than a RJ45 crimp?

If the patch panel and sockets use bog standard IDC terminal blocks then something like this would do the job.

http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/8pk-3141b-duratool/idc-hand-tool/dp/TL09782

Looks almost identical to the one in my tool kit but it's less than 1/5th the price!:)

I might be able to borrow one of those from my work, we have some telephone engineers who have to repatch phones and I've seen them use these before.

So just need to find a wall mountable patch panel now.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 14:01

You're still going to need a crimping tool to go from the patch/socket to your equipment, unless you're planning on buying ready-made leads as well (which would be a bit pointless!)

As for a wall-mounted patch panel, try BlackBox http://www.blackbox.co.uk/, if they don't have one on their site, then give them a ring and ask them to give you a price.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 14:38

Joey_M wrote: »

You're still going to need a crimping tool to go from the patch/socket to your equipment, unless you're planning on buying ready-made leads as well (which would be a bit pointless!)

As for a wall-mounted patch panel, try BlackBox http://www.blackbox.co.uk/, if they don't have one on their site, then give them a ring and ask them to give you a price.

Found one on black box:

http://www.blackbox.co.uk/products/display.asp?id=0&doc=jpm083a-r3&tx=2&sx=2

A bit expensive, I might go for the screwfix one.

chrisjr · 04/06/10 - 15:18

bara03 wrote: »

I might be able to borrow one of those from my work, we have some telephone engineers who have to repatch phones and I've seen them use these before.

Just make sure you get it the right way round.

They trim the excess wire off as you punch down into the terminal.

I have on occasion ended up with the excess sticking out of the terminal block and the cable I've just spent the last hour or so running all over the place dangling free

flagpole · 04/06/10 - 15:25

chrisjr wrote: »

Just make sure you get it the right way round. They trim the excess wire off as you punch down into the terminal.

I have on occasion ended up with the excess sticking out of the terminal block and the cable I've just spent the last hour or so running all over the place dangling free

We've all done that.

[Deleted User] · 04/06/10 - 15:39

chrisjr wrote: »

Just make sure you get it the right way round. They trim the excess wire off as you punch down into the terminal.

I have on occasion ended up with the excess sticking out of the terminal block and the cable I've just spent the last hour or so running all over the place dangling free

Do they work with nose hair as well?

chrisjr · 04/06/10 - 15:47

bara03 wrote: »

Do they work with nose hair as well?

Yes but the business end is spring loaded and the recoil is a bitch. You end up looking like you've done ten rounds with Mike Tyson and lost.

Hey there!

Quick Links

Network Cabling

Comments