Low Voltage Wiring Protection ??

[Silent One]

I am currently mounting panels for an alarm and structured media center as well as a rack for server equipment. This setup is all in an unfinished basement mounted on a plywood backer board. Where all the low voltage cables come down from the ceiling (bottom of the first floor joists), do I need the same protections for these cables as I would for normal electrical branch circuit wiring via enclosed walls or conduit? Or can I bundle the low voltage cables together and affix them directly to the face of the plywood backer board mounted to the wall? They are located in an area that is very unlikely to be damaged.

 

[alfredeneuman]

No, you don't need conduit

Even the bundling is optional

 

[justsam]

Good planning having a backer board and an equipment rack!

Home automation and infotainment have a way of growing far beyond initial plans, and that is only what we have with today's technology!

Don't forget to have dedicated power and UPS provision for all of it. Of course keep signal and power cables separate as much as possible. Use switches that are POE sources for future remote devices.

I would provide some form of cable tray or conduit just to keep things neat and to make additions a bit easier. I do realize with LV it is not required.

Provide some adequate lighting so when you are terminating some RJ-45s or coax you can actually see what you are doing.