Bought a house, want to run cat6 cable..

[Dashers]

Go for Cat6A as a minimum as that is rated for 10Gbps over 100m providing you some future proofing.

As above, don't bend the cable too tight, but in a domestic environment, you don't have to worry too much about getting it spot on. Try to avoid running data cables in parallel to power lines, if you have to, put some distance between them to reduce interference.

Stick with UTP in a domestic environment. Shielding brings its own problems and has to be done completely end-to-end to work.

As above, don't limit yourself to one cable, whilst you have the walls open, run as much as you can squeeze in. I've got four to my lounge and I've already utilised all those up. Sure you can run switches, but that's extra electricity you have to burn up and if you want to get a bit more advanced with security, expensive when you have to upgrade multiple switches.

[Russ]

Russ

Welcome back my friend

hi buddy


Thanks all, to answer some of the questions/assumptions..

Plan was to run multiple to some rooms and one to others - i.e. my bedroom 1, kids bedrroms 2, office 4, lounge 4 etc.

I have bare brick and an empty house to work with so im not constricted with space so will bear in mind about bends and keeping away from electricity cable.

[peterb]

I'd run a minimum of two to any location. Lounge you could easily use 6, and possibly 6 for the office. The don't all have to be active if you use a patch panel at the central point, you just connect the ones you need if your switch doesn't have enough ports. Putting the wiring in at this stage is a doddle, adding local switches later (if you run out of connections at the distant point) is possible or you can fall back to wireless, but if you can run sufficient cable now, then why not?

[Russ]

I'd run a minimum of two to any location. Lounge you could easily use 6, and possibly 6 for the office. The don't all have to be active if you use a patch panel at the central point, you just connect the ones you need if your switch doesn't have enough ports. Putting the wiring in at this stage is a doddle, adding local switches later (if you run out of connections at the distant point) is possible or you can fall back to wireless, but if you can run sufficient cable now, then why not?

that makes a lot more sense... guarantee i end up going wild and putting 48 in each room

[peterb]

that makes a lot more sense... guarantee i end up going wild and putting 48 in each room

Well, lounge - TV, couple of set top boxes, Apple/chrome box, DVD player - that is between 4 and 6 straight off!

Office - couple of computers, server, couple of printers - that is 5 - of course if the star point is there, it makes life easier, or you could but the star point in an attic/basement with a server - it depends on the layout of the house, but work out how many you think you need and then either double it or at least add 50% if you want wired to be the main distribution method.

[watercooled]

Depending on the age of the building, but there should be rodent guards over ventilation bricks etc. If its really a problem, you could put the cable in plastic conduit, if its a significany problem use steel conduit or SWA cable - or better still, get a pest control company in and eliminate the problem completely!

Crossing at right angles is good practice, but unless the mains cable is carrying a large current >100A, and/or powering heavy duty electric motors, the risk of interference is minimal. You should not run data cables in the same duct space as mains cable though - you can get multi part ducting, one section for power cables, one for data. This is as much to avoid confusion rather than for interference reduction and isn't likely to be necessary domestically. There is an example here:

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Product...waAlFkEALw_wcB

This is an example of three part ducting - mains goes in the centre section, data goes in the top and/or bottom. This sort of installation is quite common in industrial/office situations (I'm not suggesting you use it at home!) but the separation distance is only a few inches, and so I don't think interference is a significant problem in domestic environments.

I agree with peterb and depending on what lengths you're planning on going to to install it, you could run the lot in e.g. oval conduit and plaster over it which affords it some protection and means you should be able to, in theory, draw in replacement cable in the future provided you're careful with bend radii, inspection points, etc - attach a pulling line to the old cable, pull the cable out from the other end and you're left with a nice line to draw more cable in. Or in some cases you can even leave pulling line in the conduit for future use (often done in telecom ducting).

Also yeah, the wiring regs state that band I (e.g. data) and band II (mains) should be kept away from one another.

As for cable grade, it depends on whether you're aiming for 10GigE without rewiring, and going above Cat5e it gets stiffer and harder to pull (e.g. because of internal dividers).

586B is generally what's used (and what I instinctively do) but either will do provided you use the same on both ends. Having said that, it should work even if you swapped it with modern network interfaces!

[Zak33]

dont forget betgear switches are good and cheap
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-GS1...70_&dpSrc=srch

[Biscuit]

I actually have a few unmanaged switches (and an old "smart" D Link one) sat around in a box that I can sell on for cheap. PM me if interested and we can set something up on the sale forum.

[DanceswithUnix]

I'd run a minimum of two to any location. Lounge you could easily use 6, and possibly 6 for the office. The don't all have to be active if you use a patch panel at the central point, you just connect the ones you need if your switch doesn't have enough ports. Putting the wiring in at this stage is a doddle, adding local switches later (if you run out of connections at the distant point) is possible or you can fall back to wireless, but if you can run sufficient cable now, then why not?

I would be tempted more on the grounds of redundancy in case a cable stops working and you can just switch to the other. 5 and even 8 port gigabit switches are so damned cheap these days it is hard to justify the expense of running cables and putting in wall sockets.

Edit: I use the plastic consumer Netgear switches: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFVB41S

[peterb]

I would be tempted more on the grounds of redundancy in case a cable stops working and you can just switch to the other. 5 and even 8 port gigabit switches are so damned cheap these days it is hard to justify the expense of running cables and putting in wall sockets.

Edit: I use the plastic consumer Netgear switches: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFVB41S

Cables are pretty reliable, so if you are running for redundancy you might use a different physical route. I agree about switches, but they need to be powered, and you are loading up the one line back. Given this is a bare brick and empty house, running in cables is much simpler than in a decorated and occupied house!

[Russ]

Just doing the shopping list. Only thing missing is cable..

I’ve found this http://www.cabling4less.co.uk/produc...llation_cable/
Assuming I’ll need at least 300m, has anyone used this previously or can they recommend something else?

[peterb]

I’ve used this

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-c...6-length-305mt

Which is a branded cable but costs a little more.

[badass]

Fibre has its place, but unless you are looking at very long runs, it probably isn't worth it domestically - cat 6 will do 10 Gb/s over (IIRC) 44 metres or so (provided it is installed and terminated correctly) so can be used for aggregated feeds. Fibre might be a bit easier to install than cat 6a (still sensitive to bend radius) but terminating can be difficult, as can fault finding if it isn't performing as expected. Fibre is good at lower data rates over long runs (> 250m).

The other advantage is that a fibre cable may have multiple pairs so with suitable (expensive) terminating equipment, you could have a 10,20, or 30 GB/s link - or split the traffic between two or more pairs (or ove a single fibre using multiplexing) but that is overkill for 99.99% of domestic environment.

If you need that sort of bandwidth, you will have fibre already!

(But if you want fibre - PM me )

Go for Cat6A as a minimum as that is rated for 10Gbps over 100m providing you some future proofing.

As above, don't bend the cable too tight, but in a domestic environment, you don't have to worry too much about getting it spot on. Try to avoid running data cables in parallel to power lines, if you have to, put some distance between them to reduce interference.

Stick with UTP in a domestic environment. Shielding brings its own problems and has to be done completely end-to-end to work.

As above, don't limit yourself to one cable, whilst you have the walls open, run as much as you can squeeze in. I've got four to my lounge and I've already utilised all those up. Sure you can run switches, but that's extra electricity you have to burn up and if you want to get a bit more advanced with security, expensive when you have to upgrade multiple switches.

Now for my obligatory lecture about Cat6a in a domestic setting.

Complete waste of time, effort and money.

Go Cat6. It's rated for 10 Gbit up to 55 meters or 44 meters in an electrically noisy environment. Forget future proofing unless you plan to convert your house to a mansion. Cat6a is worse than Cat6 for bend radius and more of a pain to terminate and it's no faster in a domestic setting.

peterb - I've just twigged. You've got your Cat6 and cat6a mixed up

However agree on all other points. Flood wire your house. Particularly the lounge. Minimum 2 ports per drop. My TV uses one (wireless=rubbish and always will be) and my steam box uses another.

[Zak33]

this thread is amongst the best we've had for ages. I'm learning loads again

[peterb]

Now for my obligatory lecture about Cat6a in a domestic setting.

Complete waste of time, effort and money.


peterb - I've just twigged. You've got your Cat6 and cat6a mixed up

I did! A rogue ‘a’ crept in! I’ve corrected it!

But I completely agree with you - 6a is overkill - in fact I’d say that for most people cat5 is sufficient and easier to install. However as Russ is starting from bare bricks in an empty house, he might as well do cat 6 as he can take the time to install it correctly without long pull through which can link the cable!

[ik9000]

this thread is amongst the best we've had for ages. I'm learning loads again

a quick 10p's worth then that may help running cables:

Timber joists - modification without requiring calculations:*

1) if depth between 100mm-250mm and simply supported (single span, one support each end only) you can safely notch them by 1/8 of their depth in the zone 0.07 to 0.25 of the span from the nearest support.

2) If depth between 100mm-250mm and simply supported then circular holes up to diameter<0.25x depth on the centre line of the joist are ok within 0.25x-0.4x the span from the nearest support, min spacing 3x (maximum hole) diameter.

3) Notches and holes should not be in the same zone - do not put both together. There should be min 200mm between any notch and nearest adjacent hole along the length of the joist

4) Vertical timber studs DO NOT NOTCH, all the hole spacing rules above apply, and also no holes with 150mm or 0.05x the member length of the end of the member (whichever is greater).

(All of the above summarised from PD6693-1 and similar to the old rules in BS5268).

I would also add that if you have any joists trimming (supporting other joists at 90 degrees) position holes away from the connections. If in doubt, ask.

Do not overcut notches - go slowly and make sure you don't compromise a joist by being too eager with an electric (or hand) saw.

*edit: with detailed calculation you might be able to do more, or in other locations but then you're having to get someone to do engineering checks, which is not ideal for the average DIYer.