[mythtv-users] OT: Wiring a new construction home for A/V, Ethernet, etc

[Jeff Walther]

> Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:23:25 -0800
> From: David Brodbeck <gull at gull.us>
>
> Oh, one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet.  Maybe this goes without
> saying, but LABEL EVERYTHING.

> There are two ways to identify cables, so you know what goes where as
> you terminate them.  You can keep track of them as you pull; I find
> writing on the jacket with a Sharpie works better than masking tape,
> which can get stripped off as the wire is pulled.

Adding a little of my experience to the above important advice...

It is worlds easier if you label each end of the cables before/while
pulling so that you know what went where.   I kept two Sharpies in my
pocket, one black and one red.   Black was 0 and Red was 1.   Then I made
a pattern of stripes on the cable which represented a binary number.   The
first cable had six black marks on each end.  The second cable had five
black marks followed by one red.  The third four black marks, red, and
then black.  Etc.

Of course this can be a little challenging.  You can label one end of the
cable when you start pulling a run, but then you must wait until you've
pulled the needed length out of the box before labeling the other end.  So
keeping track of which label goes with which cable, when pulling multiple
cables simultaneously, requires some organization.

Oh, if you can, when you buy your Cat6 cable, get different colors.  That
way, if you pull two cables together, you'll know which is which without
trying to remember, "Gee, did I give the cable coming out of the righthand
box #6 and the one in the lefthand box #5 or was it the other way around. 
Just give one color the lower number and the other color the higher number
and stick with a system.

I had a box of light gray and dark gray and pulled two colors at a time. 
Then when it was obvious I'd need more cable my final box was blue.  The
colors were an accident in my case, but it sure made cable identification
easier when I was pulling multiple cables simultaneously.

As I was punching down the cables, I made a careful chart of what jacks on
the patch panels connect to which jacks in the house.   I used a
combination of room descriptions and pictures.   I numbered the jacks on
the patch panels (1 - 48).  Then I'd draw a picture of four squares for a
wall plate with four jacks.  Label it something which isn't going to
change, such as "West wall of Master" or "North wall of West bedroom" and
then put the appropriate number in each box.   The page with all the
pictures goes in a clear page holder on the door of the wiring closet.

That way there aren't any labels on the wall plates.  It's a matter of
preference, but I wanted just pure white wall plates and jacks, without
any markings.

BTW, the jacks and wall plates are available in various colors too.   So
if you're planning a color scheme in the house other than variations on
white, you may wish to consider coordinating the colors of your jacks and
wall plates with the room.   However, the plastic colors are much more
limited than paint colors, of course.