Basic lesson in cat5 cables please?

JOel_2

A patch panel is where you terminate all the connections from the sockets, you then "patch" the socket you want to connect from the patch panel into your router. You then plug your computer into the socket at the other end of the cable run.

Some guides and information here

Joel

aliasojo

evilgoose wrote: »

1. The heat from the hot pipes may effect the insulation round the cable, I'd only really be concerned if the cable is in close contact with the pipes.

There would be about 3 or 4 inches between them and some loft type insulation too.

5. Why not use the CAT5 for your phone?

I didn't know I could.

:beer:

..............

arealhighlander

Run fibre optic cable while youre at it

aliasojo

Ok.

Why? What can I use it for?

evilgoose

My apologies if you are joking about the fibre cable! - Although fibre optic could be run - I dont think you need to + it's not that easy to do. You really have to get a company in to do it, which will be expensive, and then to use the stuff the equipment would have to have fibre cards, which pushes up the price. At risk of teaching gran to suck eggs - fibre cable is glass, it's now where near as robust as cat5/6, admittidly though, FO wont suffer from EMI from adjacent power cables. But it can crack, you have to keep it at specific radai at bends, terminating the stuf requires special tools (polishing and the like). It is very, very quick though, not limited to 100m runs.

You can run all sorts of things through cat5, have a look for structured cabling. TV, audio as well as your telephone and data.

DCFC79

Go with cat5 it would be cheaper,

aliasojo

Thanks guys, I am sticking with the cat cable.....I think the fibre optic might be a bit OTT for our needs.

When I first started thinking about this, I didn't appreciate how 'multi useful' the cat cable could be iyswim. I wish I'd thought about this 6 months ago when most of my plasterboard was off. I could have rigged the whole house so easily then. :rolleyes:

Reggie_Rebel

Put the patch panel somewhere easily accessible

aliasojo

I was thinking the cupboard under the stairs, as it is the most central point.

tobybowes

evilgoose wrote: »

If you are going to go to the trouble of running a cable - always run a pair of them, the extra cost is negligible compared to the effort in running the stuff. and gives you extra flexibility and in a worst case, it gives redundancy incase a cable gets cut.

When i run in cables, especially in walls i try to get then through pastic tubes (just like the small drain pipes) to protect them and i run a piece of rope through to aid future proofing (which is kinda like running in a second cable but let you be a little more felixble if you want a different cable.

If running under floors with power cables and pipes always go for shielded cables (although its not necessary it'll cut down "dropped packages" and make your connection more stable). Remember all cables and some earthed pipes (aswell as other things like microwaves and mobiles) emit EMI (Electro Magnetic Interferance), the more EMI hitting the cable the worse the connection.