Operation Home Run

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Project Phase: Running Cables
Slated Start time: Tuesday August 12th

Well folks, it's time for me to start another project this time. Hopefully, unlike Project Pink, this one will actually be completed within a reasonable amount of time. This project is going to be re-wiring the phone cables & coax cables in my home. Currently, my house has TERRIBLE 4 pair phone wiring that allows me to NOT get DSL sync in my office, so I have to use the jack in the spare bedroom right next to the office. The coax is another horror, 90% of it being run on the OUTSIDE of the house, and I wouldn't doubt it is probably original with the house from back in the 70's, which would explain the bad Picture quality on all the Tv's other than the 65" in the basement (since that coax run is the ONLY one that is 100% indoors).... Sometime in the VERY near future (being hopeful here), AT&T's U-Verse TV will be rolled out in my area, and if I am all re-wired by then, all the tech has to do other than plug & play the TV boxes is to run the cables from my server rack (or I should say the spot where the rack WILL BE) to the telco NID on the outside of the house). I'd really rather not run cables outside the house... let the telco do it. The last reason is that while wireless LAN is NICE to have, it certainly isn't wired..... right now, I have TWO PS3's connected in the home via wireless, and I am pondering the possibility of a laptop purchase in the semi-near future, as is my roomie. Right now, I have done some tests, and I can stream the same video at the same time to both of my PS3's from my NAS box without any issues, which I have to admit, I didn't expect to happen. problem is, I randomly get lose connection to the router while playing online on one of the PS3's.

Basic layout of how this will work is that I have a small 'crawl space' under the stairs that is finished, and I use it to get behind the big screen. There is a small door in the wall, looks kinda funny. That is where the server rack will be, and all the cabling int he house will be a home run from there to each wall plate. The dining/unused room, office, master bedroom, roomie's bedroom, and garage will each get 1 wall plate with 3 ethernet hookups, and 1 coax hookup. The little entertainment cubby for the big screen will get 2 wall plates, with 2 coax and 6 ethernet hookups between the two. Coax will be unused (once I get rid of Comca$t, and AT&T U-Verse will be using Cat 5, so Coax is going in as a 'just in case' type of deal. If U-Verse has problems, or I just don't like it, Coax is there to fall back on, and for when I sell the house. With each wall plate in all of the rooms, I figure there will be the coax to fall back on, a port for a TV box (Cat 5), a port for a computer or game console, and a port for a phone. The Garage is getting a run, pretty much only because I want to put a phone out there, but with 3000 feet of Cat 5 cable, I might as well give it the luxory of expansion, for a small PC out there and tv box hookup, since thats where my workshop is (well, WAS, lot of JUNK in there now, need to clean it badly).

There are a few reasons that I purchased so much bulk cable, and the PRIMARY reason is that I can run 1 wall plate at a time this way... Tape 3 cat 5 cables and a coax cable together, and BOOM, run an entire wall plate in 1 run, as opposed to running 4 separate cables to the plate. Also, each box of cable is a different color, which will make termination of the cables much easier.


If you have been thinking about doing something like this, just know that it is NOT cheap.... I have a cost breakdown at the bottom, of this post, and this is going to be DIY. I couldn't IMAGINE what labor on top of this cost would be.....

Hardware being used:

RJ-45 crimpers (have had these from a while ago, not figuring them into the price)

1000 Feet Cat 6 cable
500 Feet Coax
Coax cable Stripper
Coax cable crimper
100 RJ-45 cable ends
Cable Fish (100-200 feet)
110 punch-down tool
(Got from Home Depot about 6 months ago, ~$300, have to find reciept)

7 x White Keystone Flush Wallplate 4 port - $6.16
7 x White Co-ax F Coupler Keystone - $8.75
21 x Cat 5E Keystone Jack - $48.93
($10.70 shipping)

2 x 1U 24 Port Cat 5e RJ-45 Patch panel - $72.49
1 x 1000 feet Grey Cat 5e cable - $55.95
1 x 1000 feet Purple Cat 5e cable - $55.95
($20.69 shipping)

1 x 2U 24 Port Blank Patch Panel - $23.17

12 x F connector wall plate insert (for Coax patch panel) - $20.15

1 x D-Link DGS-1024D - 24 Port 10/100/1000 Switch - $196.36

Cost thus far: $819.30

Still need:

POSSIBLY more Coax, not sure if 500 feet will cut it
Coax & Ethernet cable tester
19" Server rack to mount patch panels, switch, and Network Attached storage boxes, minimum of 10U rack needed


Estimated End Cost $1200.00

Stores used:
Home Technology Store
Sewell Direct
FireFold.com
LAN Shack
Newegg
Micro Center

[Fat.Clown]

wow...
sure does cost a lot
I read most of it but I lost you after "crawl space" I kept thinking about Mak213
lol

have fun :P

[Tkey]

Originally Posted by Fat.clown

wow...
sure does cost a lot
I read most of it but I lost you after "crawl space" I kept thinking about Mak213
lol

have fun :P

Naa, Ethereal's craw space is much cleaner than Trotter's

Sounds good, how you concealing the cable?
You got void space to run it through or you putting ducting in?

Cheers,

~ Tkey

[Ethereal_Dragon]

No ducting or conduit, just going to be running this through the walls to the attic, and drop down to each box from there.

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Well, setting up the pool last week took longer than I accounted for, so Operation Home Run has been delayed until Tuesday August 12th. It will be started that morning, and I HOPE to have all the cables pulled in that one day. That would be phase 1 of the project. Phase 2 is doing all the punch-down connections. After that, there is only implementation. Testing will be performed at the same time as phase 2.

Phew, first post from my iPhone 3G.

[Trotter]

Actually, my crawl space is completely empty. If I store anything in there it would mean that I would have to crawl back in and get it eventually. That's the whole reason I bought a 10'x16' storage building.

Depending on how easy it is to get into, running the cables under the house could be easier. If your honey is game to use the fisher, she could drop it down through the hole you drill from underneath and pull the line back up. You'd get to hang out under the house drilling holes and feeding cables.

If the crawlspace is inaccessible, or you don't have one (slab construction), the attic will work. Attics are usually a lot hotter than crawlspaces, though.

[Mak213]

Trotterm

The reason they talked about your crawl space is because of my location.

E_D,

Glad to see you at least have a date set to get the project going. Most of the projects i try to start never get off the ground.

Cheers,
Mak

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Well, the house doesn't have a crawlspace under it, only small cubby under both sets of stairs. That's where the equipment will be. My girl friend won't be helping... She doesn't live with me, and she has to work. Hopefully, I can at least get a PS3 wired tomorrow for when she comes over for dinner and movies after work. Gonna be workin in the attic, hopin to shed a few pounds while I am up there. Hopefully, madden 09 doesn't keep me and my roomieup too late, so I can get an early start.

[Ethereal_Dragon]

The project has started...... Will update later and post pics

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Oye.... having issue with my camera right now, so no pics.... but I really got NOTHING done Tuesday.... clean out the closet to get into the attic, which took a little while (closet is in my room mate's room). Then after 10 minutes in the attic, I ran to Menards, and bought a hole saw, a mouth & nose mask (for insulation dust), a good set of knee pads (6'3" in the attic is rough), and a flood light (there are no lights up there). Also got a set of knit gloves that had the palms coated in latex, they ROCK. I was able to locate where the 2 phone cables run down the wall from the attic to get to the office & room mates room, and I drilled a hole right next to the existing one. I then ran the cable fish (200 foot) from the office, into the wall, up to the attic. Now, I am at the stage where i need to figure out HOW and WHERE to run the cables to the main collector spot in the basement. This is the most challenging part. Punching down all the cables and testing will be time consuming, but not as bad as the running of the cables. Will post pics when I can, and will keep you updated.