Installing Communication Wiring

Installing Cat-5 and coaxial cable for Internet, reckoner, telephone and other uses.

Time

Multiple Days

Complication

Advanced

Cost

$501-one thousand

Introduction

Set up your home for communication wiring. We'll bear witness you how to install Cat-5e and RG6 coaxial cables to update the telephone, TV, Internet, and other communications. It'southward easy to install and the expense is pocket-size when you do it yourself.

Tools Required

Materials Required

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

Advice Wiring Overview

The Two Fundamental Cables

CAT-5e telephone cable and RG6 coaxial cable will have care of all your future communication needs.

You lot may not recall you'll ever need an updated communication organisation, but with the increasing digitizing of our society, you lot will. The need is now. Within a few years, digital TVs volition be the but evidence in town, and the high-speed links to the Internet will exist more than necessary and affordable. More and more, electronic components will need to "converse." And your former phone and cable wires simply won't be upwards to the task.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel to experience intimidated by all the electronic jargon. However, for now, all you need to know is that your phone, TV, Net and other communication needs tin all exist handled by running but two types of cable—all headquartered in a central distribution system y'all can install yourself. It's as easy as line-fishing in a new phone line, except that you'll need 4 cables (2 telephone and two coaxial) to each jack to do the chore right.

Nosotros'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 old cables and jacks. Existing phone lines and jacks can coexist with your new arrangement.

We recommend that y'all initially install new cables and jacks to rooms just where they're needed, and upgrade the arrangement with new jacks and lines every bit your electronic needs modify. The beauty of the installation organisation shown in this article is that it will be easy to reconfigure, enhance or expand it in the hereafter. Eventually you lot'll exist able to connect whatever compatible devices simply past "jumping" cable or telephone lines in the distribution box (much like former-time telephone operators used to do in the kickoff half of the 20th century).

Information technology's easiest to install the system when you're remodeling, adding on or building a new dwelling. The walls are open up and it'south simple to route the cables to every room. But in nearly cases, y'all can also retrofit your existing home (although it'll take a little more endeavor line-fishing cable and sometimes cutting and patching walls). We'll show you some strategies that'll assistance.

Capabilities of a New Communication System

Family Handyman

Communication cable outlet

  • One DVD, VCR, and cable or satellite TV receiver volition be able to transmit to any television in the business firm.
  • Computers can be networked to share files or estimator peripherals like printers and scanners.
  • Remote airtight-circuit Tv set cameras can be hooked up to televisions anywhere in the firm, and security-system hookups are a breeze.
  • You lot'll accept enough telephone-line chapters 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-house sound systems can be routed over the same cables.
  • Depending on the system, integrated domicile controls tin can be coupled with "smart appliances."

Plan the distribution panel location and cable routes

The key to an upgradable organization is to place the main distribution console in a location where it'll be easiest to fish boosted wires and jacks to the rest of the house. In the example home (Fig. A, beneath), we prove the laundry room as the logical place for the distribution box. From in that location, wires tin be easily fished to the basement and to the cranium and then on to selected outlet locations anywhere in the house. But the best location for the distribution panel may exist different in your home—a furnace room, garage or fifty-fifty a closet.

Y'all'll as well demand to create an access into the stud infinite in a higher place and below the panel. For easiest access, position the console in an open stud space so you can fish new lines into the panel. We evidence you how to practise this with a panel that unscrews from the wall (Photo 18).

Next, plan your cable routing paths. Attics, basements, crawlspaces, garages and even closets offering the easiest unimpeded routes. Then you tin can commonly drill holes through top or lesser plates and fish the cables in without opening upward finished walls. But middle floors that are sandwiched betwixt finished floors can be more challenging. Routing to those rooms by surface-mounting cables through closets is one adept strategy, simply sometimes cut and patching holes in finished walls or even ceilings to run the wires is inescapable.

Here we show you the most useful jack configuration: two cable jacks and two telephone jacks, all in the same cover plate. (A single comprehend plate will handle four unlike lines.) And a cable jack will handle video- or cablevision-based Net.

The actress two phone and coaxial cables will handle "interhouse" networking. Y'all probably won't need all these lines right abroad, simply pull the wires in anyhow. However, you don't have to hook them all up. Merely attach the jacks and snap them into the cover plate and coil the extra lines neatly inside the distribution box.

All 4 of the lines from each outlet become back to the distribution box. That calls for a lot of wires, but wiring and jacks are relatively inexpensive. If yous know that y'all'll only need one cablevision or one phone jack, only run single lines and use a different cover plate.

Effigy A: Typical Working Plan

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

You lot can download Effigy A and print information technology. Get to 'Additional Information' beneath.

Project step-by-step (21)

Step 1

Mount the distribution panel

Cutting open up a stud infinite

Utilize a drywall saw to cut out the drywall between two wall studs. Terminate the cuts at the top plates at the ceiling and 2 in. above the baseboards at the flooring. (Cut a minor inspection hole first to locate wires within the wall to prevent dissentious them.)

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Footstep ii

Mount the distribution console

Screw the distribution box to the sides of the studs at a comfortable working height. Make sure the box projects past the drywall 1/2 in. to allow for the thickness of the access panels (Photo xviii).

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Stride four

Add PVC conduit

Install 1-1/2 in. male adapters with locknuts. Cut two 12-in. lengths of 2-in. conduit and cement 2-in. male adapters to one end. Drop one from the cranium and poke one upwardly from the basement (Photograph half-dozen).

Photos 1 – four show how to cut out a stud space and mount the distribution panel. We opened up 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 after as your system grows.

A handsome cover console made from painted MDF (medium density fiberboard) screwed through the drywall into the studs makes admission just a matter of unscrewing it from the wall (Photograph 18).

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Step 5

Run the cablevision

Cut outlet openings

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

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Pace half-dozen

Detail of cablevision staples

Use special staples that hold the CAT-5e cablevision, merely won't crush or crimp it.

Following your plan, position and cut holes for the low-voltage remodeling boxes (Photograph 5) and run the cables (Photo 6). When you 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 become confused once all of the lines have been run. Apply colored tape around both ends (Photos 7 and 14) of the cables and identify the outlet by writing its room location on the tape at the end you lot feed into the wall before you fish information technology. To continue everything straight, practise the aforementioned on the outlet cease later on it's cut to length.

We used orangish tape to designate "in" and blue tape for "out." Retape and mark the ends as you cut the cables to last lengths within the distribution box for hookups (Photo 16).

Handle CAT-5e cable with care. Cat-5e cable is made to exacting standards with specially designed twists between each individual pair of wires. For best functioning, follow these wiring guidelines:

  • Brand sweeping, gradual bends of no less than a 2-in. radius, non sharp bends.
  • Gently pull phone cables when fishing, with no more than about 20 lbs. of force (near the tension you'd use for practiced, tight bootlaces). Don't wiggle or yank on the wires or pull them around abrupt corners.
  • Never vanquish CAT-5e with staples or other fasteners like bent-over nails. Instead, bundle it or strap it to framing with loose loops of Velcro and then use special cable staples after all the cables are run.
  • Cross any existing electrical cables at 90-degree angles to avoid electrical interference. Never run them next unless there's at least a 2-in. separation.

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Step seven

Fish in the Cables

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

Run the fish tape down into the outlet stud crenel through a 3/4-in. hole drilled through the plates from the attic, then tape both of the marked cablevision ends to the fish record. Pull them upwardly into the attic and then push them down to the distribution box. Go out near 3 ft. of extra cable at the distribution box. Cut off the outlet stop of the cables about 12 in. past the openings and mark the ends with more colored tape.

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Step 8

Wire the phone (CAT-5e) jacks

Pare back the outer insulation

Install the remodeling box, then cut into the stop of the CAT-5e cablevision about an inch with the electrician's pair of scissors and pare back the insulation. Pluck out the internal string and utilise information technology like a attachment to peel open about 4 in. of cable.

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Step 9

Snip the insulation

Snip around the base of operations of the insulation with the scissors to remove it. If you cut it with a knife, you lot might nick the wires.

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Step ten

Punch down the wires

Gently Untwist the colored pairs and bend them into the matching terminals. Work from the front of the jack toward the dorsum, using the punch-downwards tool that comes with the jacks. Push them in until you feel the little snap that tells yous the connector has bitten into the wire. Using the scissors, cut off the backlog wires flush with the side of the jack.

Note: You don't take to strip the insulation. The connector cuts through it when you lot dial it downward.

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Step 11

Shut-up of True cat-5e modular jack

Parts of a CAT-5e modular jack. You'll utilise the 'A' color-coded wiring design.

Photos 7 – 9A show y'all how to wire the True cat-5e jacks. Information technology'due south easy to become confused past 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. More often than not, residential phone systems and telecommunication modules are designed for the "A" layout while commercial systems are designed for the "B" system.

Tip: When you're installing jacks or punching down wires on the final lath, untwist pairs carefully and punch down within 1/2 in. of the beginning of the untwist.

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Step 12

Wire the coaxial cable jacks

Strip the coaxial cable stop

Clamp the stripper tool around the coaxial cable with about v/eight in. of the cable projecting past the tool. Spin it around the cable several times until the sound of cutting metallic stops, so remove the tool. You may demand to adjust the cutting depths of the little pocketknife blades inside until it strips the cable every bit shown below right. Expose the iii layers of the cable past stripping with your fingernails to reveal the inner point wire, white insulation and metal shielding.

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Step 13

Coaxial cable connector and jack

Assemble these parts for the wall outlet (Photograph 12).

Stripping Wire

Step 14

Crimp on F-connectors

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

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Step fifteen

Snap the jacks into the cover plate

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

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

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Pace xvi

Wire the distribution console

Ground the console

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

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Step 17

Organize the console

Snap in the telecommunications module and cable splitter and organize the phone and coaxial cables inside the box for piece of cake hookups using loose-fitting Velcro straps. Leave an extra loop in the master coaxial cable line from the street for a time to come signal booster. Route coaxial cables in from the top of the box for easier splitter hookups.

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Pace 18

Connect the principal phone and coax cables

Punch down the chief phone line (from the interface box) into the telecommunications module. Crimp an F-connector to the main coaxial cable(from the cable company'south hookup box) and tighten information technology onto the center splitter port.

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Footstep xix

Connect the other cables

Crimp F-connectors onto the 'in' coaxial cables and spiral them to the splitter terminals. Cap any unused terminals with terminating resistors. Strip the CAT-5e cables (Photos seven and 8) and punch them into the terminals on the voice and data module, then clip off the excess wires with the electrician's scissors.

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Step 21

Install a embrace panel

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

The punch-downward markings on the module in the distribution box likewise tin exist disruptive because the slots are marked with a color but no stripe designation. Yous'll take to report the instructions that come with the module to brand sure.

Usually the mostly white wire with small colored stripes goes in the uppermost or farthest left slots followed by the more often than not colored wire with the thinner white stripe (Photograph sixteen).

If you go either the module wires or the jack wires mixed up, your phones probably won't piece of work, so be certain to consult the directions earlier hooking upward either one. To farther convalesce confusion after the organisation's installed, plan on using colored jacks, as well (Photo seven).

Retrieve to basis the system
It's important to ground the distribution box (Photos 13 and 14) before snapping in the telecommunication module. Fifty-fifty small static charges you introduce to the system from your torso can damage fragile electronic components.

Nosotros testify connecting a x-gauge wire from the ground screw in the box to the main ground wire of the electrical service console. Hook the new ground wire anywhere on that principal ground wire. You can too adhere the ground to your principal water supply pipage inside 5 ft. of its entrance point, if the pipage is metal.

Let the phone and cable companies do the main interface hookups
The telephone and cable Goggle box interfaces (the boxes where the lines from the street hook upwards to your home lines) can be positioned either inside or outside the house. Information technology'south up to you to become the lines from the distribution box to the interfaces. Run them to the interface locations and leave a couple of extra feet of cablevision. Call the telephone and cablevision TV companies to take care of the actual hookups.

What Should I Buy?

You'll detect all the materials and tools you need for your wiring projection at most dwelling centers in the telephone accessories section. The large-ticket items are the distribution box and its components. After this initial investment, expanding the system is inexpensive.

one. CABLES
Buy your cable in bulk— it's much cheaper that way. CAT-5e phone cable is sold in ane,000-ft. spools. Information technology'south made to extremely high standards and contains 4 twisted pairs of wires, then it'll carry up to four different phone lines per cable. RG-half-dozen coaxial cable is sold in 500-ft. spools.

2. DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
The heart of the system is the distribution box (Photo ii). If you think yous'll just demand six or fewer outlets throughout the house, buy a modest box. But if y'all want to exit room for expansion with lots of outlets and space inside the box for networking, signal amplifiers or other hardware, get a larger i.

Get to whatsoever electronics store or home heart and you'll find plenty of hardware designed to speed up, expand or ameliorate your bones organization. The space needed for this hardware is one of the main reasons we recommend going with the larger distribution box.

The telecommunications module (Photograph xiv) is the nerve centre for phone jacks and jack-to-jack link-ups. Also included in the module is a coaxial splitter. The splitter distributes the cable connexion from the street and "splits" the betoken to send it to any components y'all hook up to it. You can add more than telephone banks or splitters as needed. A starter module will take care of your firsthand needs. You tin snap in banks of jacks or even more modules as required.

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

You'll find crimp-on F-connectors in packages of 10. End all coaxial lines with crimp-on male F-connectors, which so screw on to splitters inside 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 comprehend plates.

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

  • Coaxial stripper (Photo 10)
  • F-connector crimping tool (Photo xi)
  • Electrician's scissors (Photo 8)
  • Plus, you'll need a right-bending drill (rental; Photo 3) and a ii-1/2 in. hole saw (Photograph 3) to drill the wire-run holes.

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Additional Information:

  • Figure A: Typical Working Program