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    Your wiring room??

    Hello everybody.
    In another my thread (What kind of TiVo to buy??) Jeff (CF-guy) posted a link to his webpage that contains some pictures and description how he wired his HA stuff together in his wiring room. Look here: http://www.c-website.com/wiringroom.asp
    Because I got tired of my "HA mess" in our bedroom (besides that bunch of wires DOESN'T increase WAF at all), I cleaned part of our closet and I'm ready to do major wiring. I know that wiring was discussed on this board in 100000000000 threads and I went thru most of them (at least those I was able to find) but there is not too much info when it comes to wiring rooms/ closets.
    So I thought that if you experienced seers/ master seers/ overseers/ anyseers would post some pictures with few words around it would be great benefit for us greenhorns/ newbies/ freshmen/ eleves/ ...

    Thanks in advance

    Marty

    #2
    I presently ran across these two stores that seems to have pretty good prices.

    http://store.yahoo.com/technicalconn...inc/index.html

    http://deepsurplus.site.yahoo.net/index.html


    Marty

    Comment


      #3
      Marty,
      I took a 3/4 inch piece of oak faced particle board as a "workspace". Then I screwed my Napco boxes, and some Leviton structured wiring empty boxes to the board (Home Depot). Wires come in from the top in bundles. Within the Leviton media boxes, I have punchdown blocks to terminate all Cat5 / alarm / phone / relay / 1 wire / connections. I also have a board for RG6 video distribution. And another box for IR distribution.

      It is tedious stuff to do, but needed for sanity. Take the time to mark each wire. I use a Dynamo labeler and then staple each label (not through the wire!) for added security. I use velcro cable wraps to bundle similar wires (RG6 / Cat5 / IR). I use power strips to route power to the WallWarts that power up everything. Put the 110 volt stuff on a side by itself to minimize noise.

      I have an 8 port gigabit hub in one of the structured media boxes for the LAN.

      Don't forget about good lighting and access to the closet as you will be spending a lot of time in there!

      Comment


        #4
        Brian Karas wrote an excellent series of articles on home cabling for "HomeToys". Go to the Hometoys Articles Library at (http://www.hometoys.com/articles.htm) and search for "karas". I think it was a 4 or 5 part series. Part 2 details laying out the wiring closet.

        Hope this helps,
        Ken
        "if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --Sir Isaac Newton (1675)

        Comment


          #5
          On my web site (www.the-gordons.net) there is a download available on an article that describes the home automation at my home. It is called "HA at the Gordons". In it I describe with pictures what I put into the storage closet as a rack. This rack has all of the HA "stuff".

          In addition there there is a wiring panel in the garage which has type 66 punch down blocks and terminations for cable, Satellite, LAN and phone. In addition it contains the Routers, cable modem, Satellite Multiplexor, RF antenna amplifiers, and cable amp. The entire board is encased in a 6 inch deep "cabinet" with two doors, and two whisper fans, one intake and one exhaust. Being in central FL it gets pretty hot in the Garage. the wiring panel has its own short term (500KW) UPS which powers all of the active gear. Not much of a load. When I get home tonight I will take some pictures of the wiring panel and post them.

          Since you live in FL, if you are not to far from Merritt Island (East coast, south of Daytona, north of Vero Beach) you are more than welcome to drop by for a visit.

          Comment


            #6
            This is pretty good article as well.
            http://www.swhowto.com/index.html

            Barry, what kind of amplifiers did you use for your room speakers?

            Marty

            Comment


              #7
              FWIW, I agree that there is a lot of excellent info at www.hometoys.com. The backer-board approach is good to help keep things organized and save your walls, and use LABELS, LABELS, LABELS. You may want to come up with your own jack and wall plate coding system.

              Also, you can find modular Cat5e wall plates and jacks at Radio Shack (along with phone and coax), and believe it or not, they are very competitively priced especially when compared to the home stores (in my area, anyway).

              Other tips:

              - LABEL EVERYTHING - can't stress this enough
              - get a small UPS for your wiring closet gear
              - have good lighting
              - have a free phone line/phone handy at the closet location
              - use a pair of family band radios or cell phones with earphones for communications between you and your helper during install and troubleshooting
              - always pull extra wiring to all locations even if you don't think you'll use it - eventually you will!
              - use a dedicated power circuit if you can

              If mine were neater, I'd post some pics... but it's a mess! ;-)

              - Gordon

              "Security is EVERYONE'S business!"
              |
              | - Gordon

              "I'm a Man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess." - Man's Prayer, Possum Lodge, The Red Green Show
              HiddenGemStudio.com - MaineMusicians.org - CunninghamCreativeMaine.website

              Comment


                #8
                The house has two sets of room speakers. The great room has 3 sets of music speakers all in the wall. They are the medium priced BIC units since it is just background music. Each bedroom and the kitchen area of the Great room use an inexpensive round 5-6" Ceiling unit since it is just Homeseer's wave files and voices. I got all of the speakers from Smarthome. The Homeseer speakers are mono, just a single speaker in each room, the music are stereo. Voice speakres are rated at about 25 watts, while I think the music ones are either the same or 50 watts per.

                OOPS I just re-read your question. The amplifiers are all small 12 volt 10 watt units from Smarthome. If you look at the article on my web site the rationale for why is covered there.
                Just search smarthome.com for amplifiers, I am sure you will find them

                Hope that helps.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Marty,

                  If you have not yet started building - My home is built in a unique way (my way). There is a complete 2x4 house inside the concrete block structure which makes up most Florida homes. In effect from a wiring or picture hanging scenario there are no outside walls, but there are since the 2x4 walls that abut the concrete block, the perimeter walls, are fuly insulated, and the concrete block is insulated with insulation slabs.

                  The cost was very small I think $1000 for the whole house to add the additional framing, it was so many $$ per linear foot. I will check if you want me to. The advantage, the exterior walls have a very high R rating, are more soundproof (I play the theater rather load) and much easier to fish wire down when you figure out you did not plan for everything.

                  Architecturally very pretty. The window wells are deeper with deeper sills. All of my window sills are marble slabs 3/4" thick matching the floor marble. Same product just in slab, cut to spec with overlapping corners, rounded and bull nosed. as opposed to tile. Jill had an amazing design sense.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I found a Wire Staple Gun at Home Depot that has been a really big help in running wire. The staple has a round loop in it to fit around the wire. The gun is designed to fit over the cable.

                    Staple Gun

                    Wire & Cable Staple Gun Tacker
                    • Brand: Arrow
                    • Model: T75

                    Jeff Farmer
                    HomeSeer user since March, 2000
                    --
                    Jeff Farmer
                    HS 3, HSPhone
                    My HS3 Plugins: CFHSExtras, Random, Restart, Tracker, WeatherXML, PanaBluRay
                    Other Plugins In Use: APCUPSD, BLOnkyo, Device History, EasyTrigger, HSTouch Server, PHLocation2, Pushover, RFXCom, UltraGCIR3, UltraMon3, UltraPioneerAVR3, X10, Z-Wave

                    Hardware: GoControl Irrigation Controler, Schlage Lever Lock, Schlage Deadbolt, Way2Call Hi-Phone, RFXCom RFXrec433 Receiver, WGL 800, TI-103, Z-Net, Pioneer 1120, Pioneer 1021, Pioneer LX302, Panasonic BDT-110, Panasonic BDT-210 x2

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Barry,
                      Unfortunately my house was built ~20-30 years ago, so there is not too much I can do with walls.
                      I'll have to crawl in the attic and do some wires fishing....

                      CFGuy,
                      Good idea. I'll look for it when I'll go to home Depot.

                      So no one dares to post any pictures???

                      Marty

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Barry,
                        I overlooked your previous post. Actually to tell you the truth, I was already playing with an idea to mail you and ask you if I can stop by over your place. I live in Tampa bay area (Webster) so it is only across Florida. I'd love to see your setup and also my wife might be more understanding if she would see the "working" system.
                        On the other hand I have to say she is handling my first HA trials VERY well.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Come on Marty, I had to get home to take the pictures.

                          You are more than welcome to come visit, If you do it on a week end you can stay over. The house has a guest wing so you would not have to drive both ways in the same day. Hope you like oriental food, I ama fanatic and some of the best is where I live.

                          Be careful with the wife, it will be the kitchen not the HA system.

                          Pictures are attached
                          Attached Files

                          Comment


                            #14
                            By the way Marty, fishing wire is easy. Couple of principles to learn then it is a breeze. Much easier than EE. Few rules- Get the right tools; fish wires, chain, long drills - all at Home Depot. As long as the walls are painted, and you can match the paint one need never know. Wall paper is trickier but can be done. Just wait for the cool season.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Thanks for the invitation.
                              I'd love to see your house. It would be definitly over some weekend. I let you know at least 1 week in advance. I'd see it sometimes around the mid of October.
                              I'm going to some "fishing" this saturday so cross your fingers...

                              Thanks again!

                              Marty

                              Comment

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