Installing Communication Wiring

Installing Cat-v and coaxial cable for Net, computer, phone and other uses.

Time

Multiple Days

Complication

Avant-garde

Price

$501-1000

Introduction

Set your habitation for communication wiring. Nosotros'll testify you how to install True cat-5e and RG6 coaxial cables to update the phone, Idiot box, Internet, and other communications. Information technology'southward piece of cake to install and the expense is modest when you do it yourself.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Cable staples
  • Low-voltage remodeling boxes
  • PVC cement
  • PVC conduit
  • PVC conduit male adapters/ 1-ane/2 and 2-in.

Advice Wiring Overview

The 2 Key Cables

CAT-5e phone cable and RG6 coaxial cable will take care of all your future advice needs.

You may non think you'll ever need an updated communication system, but with the increasing digitizing of our society, you lot will. The need is now. Within a few years, digital TVs will be the only bear witness in town, and the loftier-speed links to the Internet will be more than necessary and affordable. More and more, electronic components volition need to "converse." And your former phone and cable wires only won't be up to the task.

It's easy to feel intimidated past all the electronic jargon. Yet, for now, all y'all need to know is that your telephone, Idiot box, Net and other communication needs can all be handled by running just two types of cablevision—all headquartered in a central distribution arrangement you tin install yourself. It'southward as easy every bit fishing in a new telephone line, except that you'll demand four cables (ii phone and two coaxial) to each jack to do the job right.

We'll bear witness you how to run the wires, install the proper jacks and hook upwardly the central distribution box. The new system doesn't mean you have to scrap your former cables and jacks. Existing phone lines and jacks tin can coexist with your new organisation.

We recommend that you initially install new cables and jacks to rooms only where they're needed, and upgrade the system with new jacks and lines equally your electronic needs change. The dazzler of the installation system shown in this article is that it will be like shooting fish in a barrel to reconfigure, enhance or expand information technology in the time to come. Eventually you'll exist able to connect any compatible devices simply by "jumping" cable or phone lines in the distribution box (much similar old-time telephone operators used to practice in the first half of the 20th century).

It's easiest to install the organization when you're remodeling, adding on or building a new home. The walls are open and information technology's uncomplicated to route the cables to every room. Simply in most cases, you can also retrofit your existing domicile (although it'll take a little more effort fishing cable and sometimes cutting and patching walls). We'll show y'all some strategies that'll help.

Capabilities of a New Communication System

Family unit Handyman

Communication cable outlet

  • One DVD, VCR, and cable or satellite TV receiver volition exist able to transmit to whatever goggle box in the house.
  • Computers can be networked to share files or computer peripherals similar printers and scanners.
  • Remote closed-circuit Telly cameras tin be hooked up to televisions anywhere in the house, and security-system hookups are a breeze.
  • You lot'll have plenty telephone-line capacity to run the Pentagon.
  • Your home will be rigged for either cable- or telephone-based loftier-speed Internet service.
  • The necessary lines will be in place to handle the inevitable switch from analog to digital Idiot box.
  • Whole-firm audio systems tin be routed over the same cables.
  • Depending on the system, integrated home controls can be coupled with "smart appliances."

Plan the distribution panel location and cable routes

The key to an upgradable organization is to place the chief distribution panel in a location where it'll exist easiest to fish boosted wires and jacks to the residuum of the business firm. In the example home (Fig. A, below), nosotros evidence the laundry room as the logical place for the distribution box. From there, wires tin be easily fished to the basement and to the cranium and then on to selected outlet locations anywhere in the firm. But the all-time location for the distribution panel may be different in your habitation—a furnace room, garage or even a cupboard.

You'll as well demand to create an access into the stud space above and below the panel. For easiest admission, position the console in an open stud space so you tin can fish new lines into the panel. We show you how to do this with a panel that unscrews from the wall (Photo xviii).

Next, program your cable routing paths. Attics, basements, crawlspaces, garages and fifty-fifty closets offering the easiest unimpeded routes. Then you lot can usually drill holes through top or bottom plates and fish the cables in without opening up finished walls. But eye floors that are sandwiched between finished floors can be more challenging. Routing to those rooms by surface-mounting cables through closets is one good strategy, but sometimes cut and patching holes in finished walls or even ceilings to run the wires is inescapable.

Here nosotros show you lot the most useful jack configuration: two cable jacks and two telephone jacks, all in the same cover plate. (A single embrace plate will handle 4 dissimilar lines.) And a cable jack will handle video- or cable-based Internet.

The extra 2 telephone and coaxial cables will handle "interhouse" networking. Y'all probably won't need all these lines right away, but pull the wires in anyway. Yet, yous don't accept to hook them all upward. Merely adhere the jacks and snap them into the cover plate and coil the actress lines neatly inside the distribution box.

All four of the lines from each outlet go back to the distribution box. That calls for a lot of wires, but wiring and jacks are relatively cheap. If you know that you lot'll only need one cable or one phone jack, merely run single lines and apply a different encompass plate.

Figure A: Typical Working Plan

Typical wiring plan: Locate the panel where there's piece of cake access to the attic, basement and/or crawlspace. The cables are low voltage and not hazardous.

You tin can download Figure A and impress it. Become to 'Additional Information' below.

Project step-by-step (21)

Step 1

Mount the distribution panel

Cut open a stud space

Utilize a drywall saw to cut out the drywall between two wall studs. Finish the cuts at the top plates at the ceiling and 2 in. above the baseboards at the floor. (Cutting a small inspection hole first to locate wires within the wall to foreclose damaging them.)

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Pace 2

Mountain the distribution console

Screw the distribution box to the sides of the studs at a comfortable working superlative. Brand sure the box projects past the drywall i/2 in. to allow for the thickness of the access panels (Photograph 18).

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Step four

Add together PVC conduit

Install one-ane/2 in. male adapters with locknuts. Cutting ii 12-in. lengths of 2-in. conduit and cement ii-in. male person adapters to one end. Driblet one from the attic and poke one upwardly from the basement (Photo 6).

Photos ane – 4 evidence how to cut out a stud space and mount the distribution panel. Nosotros opened upwardly the stud space within a few inches of the ceiling and floor to mount the distribution box and to fish the cables (Photo 2). Just that stud infinite has to remain accessible for running new cables later on as your system grows.

A handsome cover panel fabricated from painted MDF (medium density fiberboard) screwed through the drywall into the studs makes access only a matter of unscrewing information technology from the wall (Photo eighteen).

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Pace v

Run the cable

Cut outlet openings

Hold a low-voltage remodeling box against the wall betwixt two studs so the center of the box is 12 in. above the floor (or match the heights of other outlets in the room) and depict around the box and belongings wings. Then cut out the opening with a drywall saw.

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Stride vi

Particular of cablevision staples

Utilize special staples that hold the CAT-5e cable, but won't vanquish or crimp it.

Following your plan, position and cut holes for the depression-voltage remodeling boxes (Photo 5) and run the cables (Photo 6). When you lot fish wire from the jacks, label one cable of each pair with an "in" and the other with an "out." It's like shooting fish in a barrel to go confused once all of the lines take been run. Employ colored tape effectually both ends (Photos 7 and fourteen) of the cables and identify the outlet by writing its room location on the tape at the end you feed into the wall earlier you fish it. To keep everything direct, practice the same on the outlet stop after it's cut to length.

We used orange tape to designate "in" and blue tape for "out." Retape and marking the ends as you cutting the cables to concluding lengths within the distribution box for hookups (Photo 16).

Handle CAT-5e cable with care. CAT-5e cablevision is made to exacting standards with specially designed twists between each private pair of wires. For all-time performance, follow these wiring guidelines:

  • Make sweeping, gradual bends of no less than a ii-in. radius, not abrupt bends.
  • Gently pull phone cables when angling, with no more about 20 lbs. of forcefulness (about the tension y'all'd apply for practiced, tight bootlaces). Don't jerk or yank on the wires or pull them effectually sharp corners.
  • Never crush True cat-5e with staples or other fasteners like bent-over nails. Instead, parcel information technology or strap it to framing with loose loops of Velcro and then use special cablevision staples after all the cables are run.
  • Cantankerous whatsoever existing electrical cables at xc-caste angles to avoid electric interference. Never run them side by side unless there'south at least a 2-in. separation.

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Footstep vii

Fish in the Cables

Fish the cables from the openings into the distribution box in pairs of coaxial and Cat-5e. Mark the ends of the cables with colored electrical tape for the outlet location.

Run the fish tape down into the outlet stud cavity through a 3/iv-in. hole drilled through the plates from the attic, then tape both of the marked cable ends to the fish tape. Pull them upwards into the cranium and then push them down to the distribution box. Exit about 3 ft. of extra cable at the distribution box. Cut off the outlet cease of the cables about 12 in. by the openings and marking the ends with more than colored tape.

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Step viii

Wire the phone (True cat-5e) jacks

Pare back the outer insulation

Install the remodeling box, then cut into the end of the CAT-5e cable about an inch with the electrician's scissors and peel back the insulation. Pluck out the internal string and use it like a zipper to peel open up nigh 4 in. of cable.

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Step nine

Snip the insulation

Snip around the base of the insulation with the scissors to remove information technology. If you cut information technology with a pocketknife, y'all might nick the wires.

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Footstep x

Punch down the wires

Gently Untwist the colored pairs and curve them into the matching terminals. Piece of work from the front end of the jack toward the back, using the punch-down tool that comes with the jacks. Push them in until you feel the piffling snap that tells you the connector has bitten into the wire. Using the scissors, cutting off the excess wires affluent with the side of the jack.

Note: Y'all don't have to strip the insulation. The connector cuts through it when you lot punch information technology down.

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Footstep xi

Close-upward of CAT-5e modular jack

Parts of a Cat-5e modular jack. You'll use the 'A' color-coded wiring pattern.

Photos 7 – 9A testify you how to wire the True cat-5e jacks. It's easy to get confused by the "A" and "B" markings on modular jacks (Photo 9A).

The color-coded sticker on the side of the jack shows you where to punch down each wire. By and large, residential phone systems and telecommunication modules are designed for the "A" layout while commercial systems are designed for the "B" arrangement.

Tip: When you're installing jacks or punching down wires on the terminal board, untwist pairs carefully and punch downwards within 1/two in. of the outset of the untwist.

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Step 12

Wire the coaxial cable jacks

Strip the coaxial cable cease

Clamp the stripper tool around the coaxial cable with about five/eight in. of the cable projecting past the tool. Spin it effectually the cable several times until the sound of cutting metal stops, then remove the tool. You may need to conform the cutting depths of the picayune knife blades inside until it strips the cable every bit shown below right. Expose the three layers of the cable by stripping with your fingernails to reveal the inner signal wire, white insulation and metal shielding.

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Stride 13

Coaxial cablevision connector and jack

Gather these parts for the wall outlet (Photo 12).

Stripping Wire

Step fourteen

Crimp on F-connectors

Push on the F-connector until the white insulation is tight against the back of the connector, and then crimp information technology on with a crimping tool. Snip off the copper wire and so it projects 1/8 in. by the end of the F-connector.

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Step 15

Snap the jacks into the cover plate

Screw the F-connectors to the back of the F-jacks and tighten them with a wrench, then snap them into place in the cover plate. Snap in the modular jacks also, and then screw the cover plate to the remodeling box.

Photos 10 – 12 bear witness y'all how to attach the coaxial cable connectors and jacks and snap them into the wall outlets. You demand special tools for this functioning (Photos 10 and 11).

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Step sixteen

Wire the distribution panel

Footing the panel

Connect a No. 10 ground wire with a grounding screw to the bottom of the box (Photo xiv) and to the main basis line of the home service console with a split-bolt connector.

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Step 17

Organize the panel

Snap in the telecommunication module and cable splitter and organize the phone and coaxial cables within the box for piece of cake hookups using loose-fitting Velcro straps. Leave an extra loop in the main coaxial cable line from the street for a future signal booster. Route coaxial cables in from the top of the box for easier splitter hookups.

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Step xviii

Connect the main telephone and coax cables

Punch down the main phone line (from the interface box) into the telecommunication module. Crimp an F-connector to the master coaxial cable(from the cable company's hookup box) and tighten it onto the center splitter port.

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Step 19

Connect the other cables

Crimp F-connectors onto the 'in' coaxial cables and spiral them to the splitter terminals. Cap whatever unused terminals with terminating resistors. Strip the True cat-5e cables (Photos 7 and 8) and punch them into the terminals on the vocalization and data module, so prune off the backlog wires with the electrician's scissors.

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Step 21

Install a cover panel

Cut, rout and paint eighteen-in. wide MDF cover panels and screw them through the drywall into the studs with 2-in. drywall screws and cease washers.

The punch-down markings on the module in the distribution box also can exist confusing because the slots are marked with a colour just no stripe designation. You'll have to study the instructions that come with the module to make certain.

Usually the mostly white wire with minor colored stripes goes in the uppermost or uttermost left slots followed by the by and large colored wire with the thinner white stripe (Photo 16).

If you become either the module wires or the jack wires mixed up, your phones probably won't piece of work, so be sure to consult the directions earlier hooking up either one. To further alleviate confusion afterwards the system'southward installed, plan on using colored jacks, too (Photo 7).

Recollect to ground the system
Information technology's important to ground the distribution box (Photos thirteen and fourteen) before snapping in the telecommunication module. Even small static charges you introduce to the system from your body can impairment frail electronic components.

We show connecting a 10-gauge wire from the ground screw in the box to the main ground wire of the electrical service panel. Hook the new ground wire anywhere on that main ground wire. You lot can also attach the footing to your main water supply pipe within five ft. of its entrance point, if the pipe is metal.

Let the phone and cable companies do the main interface hookups
The phone and cable TV interfaces (the boxes where the lines from the street hook upward to your home lines) can be positioned either inside or exterior the business firm. It's upwards to you to get the lines from the distribution box to the interfaces. Run them to the interface locations and exit a couple of extra feet of cable. Phone call the phone and cable TV companies to take care of the actual hookups.

What Should I Buy?

You lot'll notice all the materials and tools y'all need for your wiring projection at well-nigh dwelling house centers in the telephone accessories department. The large-ticket items are the distribution box and its components. Later this initial investment, expanding the organization is cheap.

1. CABLES
Purchase your cable in bulk— it'due south much cheaper that way. CAT-5e telephone cablevision is sold in i,000-ft. spools. Information technology's made to extremely high standards and contains four twisted pairs of wires, so it'll carry upwardly to 4 different telephone lines per cable. RG-half-dozen coaxial cable is sold in 500-ft. spools.

two. DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
The heart of the system is the distribution box (Photo 2). If you recall yous'll merely need 6 or fewer outlets throughout the house, buy a small box. But if you want to leave room for expansion with lots of outlets and space within the box for networking, point amplifiers or other hardware, get a larger one.

Go to whatever electronics shop or home centre and y'all'll find enough of hardware designed to speed up, expand or improve your bones system. The space needed for this hardware is one of the main reasons we recommend going with the larger distribution box.

The telecommunications module (Photo fourteen) is the nervus center for phone jacks and jack-to-jack link-ups. Likewise included in the module is a coaxial splitter. The splitter distributes the cable connexion from the street and "splits" the bespeak to send it to any components yous claw upwards to information technology. You can add more than telephone banks or splitters as needed. A starter module volition accept care of your firsthand needs. You can snap in banks of jacks or even more modules as required.

3. JACK MATERIALS
At the outlets, you'll adhere modular telephone jacks that snap into the backs of the cover plates. Don't worry—they'll accept old and mod phone lines.

You lot'll find crimp-on F-connectors in packages of 10. Cease all coaxial lines with crimp-on male F-connectors, which then screw on to splitters within the distribution box or onto snap-on female F-couplings at the cover plates. F-connectors screw into these, which in turn snap into the back of four-port cover plates.

The four square holes receive either modular jacks or F-jacks in any configuration. In addition to buying the hardware, y'all'll have to buy these must-take specialty tools for working with communication wiring and fittings:

  • Coaxial stripper (Photo 10)
  • F-connector crimping tool (Photograph xi)
  • Electrician'southward scissors (Photo viii)
  • Plus, y'all'll need a right-angle drill (rental; Photograph 3) and a 2-ane/two in. pigsty saw (Photograph 3) to drill the wire-run holes.

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Boosted Information:

  • Figure A: Typical Working Plan

Originally Published: Jan 08, 2019