Building/wiring a home network - a little help please

[JohnStitch]

Dont mean to hijack this thread, but I am thinking of doing something very similar, and have a couple of questions. I'm refurbing the upstairs of my house in September (floors up, plasterboard taken off walls, some ceilings down etc). So I also want to get some cabling in. Guess the difference with mine is that my router (BT Homehub) is in my study downstairs, and I was planning on running a single Cat6 cable from the router, up to the loft and into a gigabit switch, with a NAS and Wireless AP connected. From this switch I want to then drop Cat6 cables down into each of the 4 bedrooms (2 per room), and both the kitchen and dining room downstairs.

So, to my questions:
1) I am wondering if running the single cable from my router downstairs up to the switch in the loft is going to cause me any problems? I wouldn't expect it to be any different to plugging the router into a switch in the same room, but want to ask, just in case there's a fundamental flaw in my thinking.

2) I keep seeing mention of patch panels etc. Do I need one of these, or can I just plug all cables straight into the switch? What benefit would I get from a patch panel?

3) Cable-wise, do I actually need Cat6 for what I'm doing? Would I be better off just going with Cat5e? The last thing I want to do is install it all, then find out I've got the wrong type. So is something like this one okay? http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-bulk-cable/59-ca...

4) I've seen this switch on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000Q6BQ6U/ref=wl_it_dp...
Seems to be a lot cheaper than any others. Will this suit my needs? Not sure if I need a managed or unmanaged one.

5) Then, other than the neccessary RJ45s, crimping tool, sockets, is there anything else that would be needed?

Edited by JohnStitch on Friday 22 August 13:32

[papercup]

JohnStitch said:

Dont mean to hijack this thread, but I am thinking of doing something very similar, and have a couple of questions. I'm refurbing the upstairs of my house in September (floors up, plasterboard taken off walls, some ceilings down etc). So I also want to get some cabling in. Guess the difference with mine is that my router (BT Homehub) is in my study downstairs, and I was planning on running a single Cat6 cable from the router, up to the loft and into a gigabit switch, with a NAS and Wireless AP connected. From this switch I want to then drop Cat6 cables down into each of the 4 bedrooms (2 per room), and both the kitchen and dining room downstairs.

So, to my questions:
1) I am wondering if running the single cable from my router downstairs up to the switch in the loft is going to cause me any problems? I wouldn't expect it to be any different to plugging the router into a switch in the same room, but want to ask, just in case there's a fundamental flaw in my thinking.

2) I keep seeing mention of patch panels etc. Do I need one of these, or can I just plug all cables straight into the switch? What benefit would I get from a patch panel?

3) Cable-wise, do I actually need Cat6 for what I'm doing? Would I be better off just going with Cat5e? The last thing I want to do is install it all, then find out I've got the wrong type. So is something like this one okay? http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-bulk-cable/59-ca...

4) Then, other than the neccessary RJ45s, crimping tool, sockets, is there anything else that would be needed?

Edited by JohnStitch on Friday 22 August 13:26

Quick answers:

1. That's fine.
2. No, you can just plug into the switch. The problem comes when you have more wires that ports in the switch. A patch panel makes it easy to decide which ports to make 'live'. But to save costs, I've seen offices without patch panels and cabinets, and just a bunch of numbered cables, and not all of them plugged in...
3. For the difference in price, just use CAT6.
4. Not that I can think of. But I haven't had lunch

[theaxe]

JohnStitch said:

2) I keep seeing mention of patch panels etc. Do I need one of these, or can I just plug all cables straight into the switch? What benefit would I get from a patch panel?

See shtu's post above. It's not ideal to be crimping RJ45 connectors onto solid core cable which is designed for punch-down termination. I think patch panels are ott for a domestic install so I just use faceplates of they type I linked to above.

Ideally you want:

Device (eg. router) <-> Patch lead <-> Faceplate/Patch Panel <-> Fixed cable <-> Faceplate/Patch Panel <-> Patch lead <-> Device (eg switch)

[scottri]

JohnStitch said:

5) Then, other than the neccessary RJ45s, crimping tool, sockets, is there anything else that would be needed?

Edited by JohnStitch on Friday 22 August 13:32

A tester so you can find dodgy connections. I got one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-40420-LAN-Tester/dp...

[JohnStitch]

theaxe said:

Ideally you want:

Device (eg. router) <-> Patch lead <-> Faceplate/Patch Panel <-> Fixed cable <-> Faceplate/Patch Panel <-> Patch lead <-> Device (eg switch)

Ok, maybe I'll just get a patch panel and a bunch of patch leads then (don't want numerous faceplates up in the loft). Looks like I can pick one up pretty cheap from Amazon. What about that switch I linked to in question 4 of my original post - Seems a lot cheaper than any of the others, but not sure why, maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks for the answers chaps

[WinstonWolf]

JohnStitch said:

theaxe said:

Ideally you want:

Device (eg. router) <-> Patch lead <-> Faceplate/Patch Panel <-> Fixed cable <-> Faceplate/Patch Panel <-> Patch lead <-> Device (eg switch)

Ok, maybe I'll just get a patch panel and a bunch of patch leads then (don't want numerous faceplates up in the loft). Looks like I can pick one up pretty cheap from Amazon. What about that switch I linked to in question 4 of my original post - Seems a lot cheaper than any of the others, but not sure why, maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks for the answers chaps

That's a 10/100 switch, not a Gig one.

[JohnStitch]

Ah, in the 'ease of use' section it says it's a Gigabit switch. Oh well, will go for one of the others then

[WinstonWolf]

JohnStitch said:

Ah, in the 'ease of use' section it says it's a Gigabit switch. Oh well, will go for one of the others then

So it does, that's wrong

You don't need management, a bum basic gig switch will do the job just fine.

[megaphone]

John, I would just terminate the cables with an RJ45 and plug straight into the switch, it will be fine, done it hundreds of times, nothing wrong with it especially with small amount of cables.

[WinstonWolf]

Bodger

[Who me ?]

scottri said:

JohnStitch said:

5) Then, other than the neccessary RJ45s, crimping tool, sockets, is there anything else that would be needed?

Edited by JohnStitch on Friday 22 August 13:32

A tester so you can find dodgy connections. I got one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-40420-LAN-Tester/dp...

And on the same Amazon page there's the correct insertion tool ,which punches down the wire into the connector and ( most importantly ) cuts off the excess ( so no possibility of short circuits). Although it shows Draper, I think you'll find the trade prefers Krone. Other than that ,don't skimp in numbers of cables, keep the bends in cable shallow ,avoid too close to power cables for any length. And limit runs to 100m. Every decent box of cat5 has length markers on the sheath.

[Mojooo]

If I ran CAT6 'solid' cable within the walls then

a) when I get into the room shoudl I conenct them to faceplaces/punch down and then use RJ45 connetors/wires to connect onto that
b0 when the soild core wire gets back to the 'hub' again should it be in a form of punchdown (switch or whatever) rather than an RJ45 that plugs into something directly.

[JimbobVFR]

In general, although you can get them, rj45 plugs aren't designed for solid cable so yes the structured cabling in the wall should be terminated in punch down accessories, either patch panels or sockets. You'd then use patch cables made from stranded cable to connect from the panel or socket to your devices/router/switch.

As I said you can get RJ45 plugs specifically for solid cable but bear in mind solid cable is designed for in walls and permanent installations, it isn't made to be flexed about once installed.

[WinstonWolf]

Even more so with Cat6, you have to be more careful with the bend radius.

[Mojooo]

I udnerstand CAT 6 doesnt bend as much but if you bend it i presume the wost you do is lose performance (i.e the cable wont snap)?

For my home network i might just sue sokid cat6 everywhere

is there anyway i can tets what speed i can achieve from each wire once they are in?

[WinstonWolf]

Yes, but it's bloomin pricey kit to buy/rent. Just follow the installation practices and you should be fine.

[14-7]

Get one of these.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/rj45-cutter-crimper/2279...