Cat5e jack options

[CooperS7777]

Im looking for some help regarding Cat5e wall jack options. This isnt really strictly garage related, but this was the best place I knew of to turn for advice!

During the process of renovating our basement and attached garage, I am centralizing my AV and network equipment. Everything will be going in a wheeled rack which will live under the basement stairs.

I have run Cat5e from all the locations Id like it (older house with no existing runs), and dropped them through the wall and under the stairs. As of right now I have 18 runs that will be terminating under here, and will be feeding a 24 port gigabit PoE switch.

Is there an easy way to terminate these into a clean, wall mounted solution? Right now I'm looking at Leviton quick port jacks in a 3 gang box with (3), 6 port decora fittings. Is there such a thing as a ~18 port (or more) wall box? My though process in terminating them like this is that labeling will be easier (at least in my head), and I can adjust the length of the jumpers to allow the whole cabinet to roll out from under the stairs for service/upgrades etc down the road.

What do folks generally do? Should I just terminate to RJ45 connectors directly from the in wall wire?

Thanks in advance,

Coop

 

[Ilikeike]

I used a cat5 termination block when I wired our new office at work. It's hard wired on the back with jacks on the front,then I use small jumpers to various things like a switch,wifi,weather station receiver ,camera DVR,SCADA antenna set up...that are all located in the I T room.

 

[jasonz]

Use a wall mounted patch panel. I've installed hundreds of these things. I don't have a picture handy of my work but here's what a quick Google search came up with. http://www.shaunstelecom.com/siteimages/p6070002.jpg

 

[jasonz]

Here's a better picture of what it should look like. http://www.wiremunky.com/image/install/2_stall.jpg

 

[Ilikeike]

Use a wall mounted patch panel. I've installed hundreds of these things. I don't have a picture handy of my work but here's what a quick Google search came up with. http://www.shaunstelecom.com/siteimages/p6070002.jpg

I think those are the exact ones I installed, the one for phones
and a couple of the cat5 strips. About the same sized piece of plywood also lol.

 

[sselander]

Look on Monoprice or Deep Surplus at their wall mounted patch panels.

http://www.monoprice.com/

http://www.deepsurplus.com/

 

[jasonz]

I think those are the exact ones I installed, the one for phones
and a couple of the cat5 strips. About the same sized piece of plywood also lol.

Yeah the one on the left is called a 110 punch down block. I couldn't tell you how many of these I've punched on....

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Yes use a wall mounted patch panel....its cleaner than just crimping mod ends on CAT5e hanging out of the wall...

 

[jasonz]

Look on Monoprice or Deep Surplus at their wall mounted patch panels.

http://www.monoprice.com/

http://www.deepsurplus.com/

I get most of my wire from mono price. Ditto on both.

 

[CooperS7777]

Awesome, thank you guys so much! A wall mounted patch panel looks like it will be much easier to deal with than trying to stuff all of those into a 3 gang box with decora covers; exactly what I was hoping for.

 

[wssix99]

Awesome, thank you guys so much! A wall mounted patch panel looks like it will be much easier to deal with than trying to stuff all of those into a 3 gang box with decora covers; exactly what I was hoping for.

That's what you are asking for, but!!!

If you just put RJ45 jacks on the end of your CAT5/6 cables coming out of the wall under your stairs, you'll have less loss and better signal quality. If you are only going to use those lines for internet, I think that is the best way to go - it will also save you a little bit of money.

I wired my house with a Monoprice patch panel, but I am using my CAT5/6 wires for phone, internet, sensor signals, security, etc. So, I will change the use of the lines from time-to-time and the patch panel is handy for that.


If you are already considering mounting this to the wall, why not just use a wall mounted server bracket, get a mountable router/switch and then mount that to the wall? You can bypass the whole wheeled rack thing and it would make the wires with RJ45 terminations easier to manage. http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=105&cp_id=10516

 

[CooperS7777]

The Cat5 drops are mostly for use other than internet. The modem and router will be in this same cabinet, one of the drops will used to feed a Ruckus WAP, two others will feed a driving simulator and X-Box, but aside that they will not be used for internet. A couple drops will be used for A/V over Cat5, specifically in the basement and garage, and the remainder will be part of a Savant automation system or spares for future expansion.

The space the cabinet will occupy is the lower 1/2 of the stairs, so it will be a smaller (~20u) cabinet. It will house the network switch, router, modem, zone director, multi zone amp and the Savant controller. Without the ability to wheel it out from under the stair case, I think it would be very difficult to work on the system. At 6'2" Im already uncomfortable working with the in wall wiring under there!

 

[wssix99]

Perfect. That patch panel is what you want, then. If you invest in a good punch down tool, you'll be glad you did. (Monoprice has some reasonably priced ones and youtube has some great tutorials.)

I've become a great fan of the wall mounted brackets over the standard racks. Some have hinges so you can access the wires behind them easily and I'd think that you could mount a few smaller ones creatively behind stairs in a way to save the floor space.