Installing Communication Wiring

Installing True cat-five and coaxial cable for Internet, reckoner, phone and other uses.

Time

Multiple Days

Complexity

Advanced

Price

$501-1000

Introduction

Ready your home for communication wiring. We'll prove you how to install True cat-5e and RG6 coaxial cables to update the telephone, TV, Net, and other communications. It's piece of cake to install and the expense is small-scale when you practice it yourself.

Tools Required

Materials Required

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

Communication Wiring Overview

The Two Cardinal Cables

Cat-5e phone cable and RG6 coaxial cable will take care of all your future communication needs.

You lot may not remember y'all'll ever demand an updated communication system, but with the increasing digitizing of our society, you will. The demand is now. Within a few years, digital TVs will exist the only show in boondocks, and the high-speed links to the Internet will be more than necessary and affordable. More than and more, electronic components will demand to "converse." And your old phone and cable wires just won't be upwards to the task.

It'due south piece of cake to feel intimidated by all the electronic jargon. However, for now, all you demand to know is that your telephone, Tv set, Internet and other communication needs can all exist handled by running only ii types of cable—all headquartered in a cardinal distribution arrangement yous can install yourself. It's as like shooting fish in a barrel equally fishing in a new telephone line, except that you'll need iv cables (two phone and ii coaxial) to each jack to practise the job right.

We'll show you how to run the wires, install the proper jacks and hook upwardly the key distribution box. The new organisation doesn't hateful yous have to chip 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 only where they're needed, and upgrade the system with new jacks and lines every bit your electronic needs change. The dazzler of the installation organization shown in this article is that it will exist easy to reconfigure, raise or expand it in the future. Eventually you'll exist able to connect any compatible devices simply by "jumping" cablevision or phone lines in the distribution box (much like old-time telephone operators used to do in the first half of the 20th century).

It's easiest to install the organisation when you lot're remodeling, adding on or building a new dwelling house. The walls are open and it's simple to road the cables to every room. Simply in most cases, you can as well retrofit your existing domicile (although it'll take a niggling more try fishing cablevision and sometimes cutting and patching walls). We'll bear witness you some strategies that'll help.

Capabilities of a New Communication System

Family Handyman

Communication cable outlet

  • One DVD, VCR, and cable or satellite Television receiver receiver will exist able to transmit to any television in the business firm.
  • Computers can exist networked to share files or computer peripherals like printers and scanners.
  • Remote closed-circuit TV cameras can be hooked upwards to televisions anywhere in the firm, and security-system hookups are a breeze.
  • Yous'll have enough telephone-line capacity to run the Pentagon.
  • Your habitation will be rigged for either cable- or telephone-based high-speed Internet service.
  • The necessary lines will exist in place to handle the inevitable switch from analog to digital Telly.
  • Whole-firm audio systems tin be routed over the same cables.
  • Depending on the system, integrated home controls can exist coupled with "smart appliances."

Programme the distribution panel location and cable routes

The primal to an upgradable arrangement is to identify the main distribution console in a location where it'll be easiest to fish additional wires and jacks to the residue of the house. In the example home (Fig. A, below), we evidence the laundry room as the logical place for the distribution box. From there, wires can exist easily fished to the basement and to the attic and then on to selected outlet locations anywhere in the house. Only the best location for the distribution console may be different in your habitation—a furnace room, garage or fifty-fifty a closet.

You lot'll also need to create an access into the stud space above and below the console. For easiest access, position the panel in an open stud space and then yous tin fish new lines into the panel. Nosotros show you how to do this with a panel that unscrews from the wall (Photo 18).

Next, plan your cable routing paths. Attics, basements, crawlspaces, garages and even closets offer the easiest unimpeded routes. So you lot can usually drill holes through acme or bottom plates and fish the cables in without opening upwards finished walls. Just eye floors that are sandwiched between finished floors can be more than challenging. Routing to those rooms by surface-mounting cables through closets is one proficient strategy, but sometimes cutting and patching holes in finished walls or even ceilings to run the wires is inescapable.

Here we show you lot the most useful jack configuration: two cable jacks and two phone jacks, all in the same cover plate. (A single encompass plate will handle iv dissimilar lines.) And a cable jack will handle video- or cable-based Net.

The extra two telephone and coaxial cables volition handle "interhouse" networking. You probably won't demand all these lines right away, but pull the wires in anyway. Still, you don't have to hook them all up. Simply attach the jacks and snap them into the cover plate and curl the actress lines neatly inside the distribution box.

All four 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 cheap. If you know that you'll but need one cable or one phone jack, just run single lines and use a different encompass plate.

Figure A: Typical Working Plan

Typical wiring plan: Locate the panel where there's like shooting fish in a barrel admission to the attic, basement and/or crawlspace. The cables are low voltage and non chancy.

You tin can download Effigy A and print it. Get to 'Additional Information' below.

Projection step-by-step (21)

Footstep i

Mount the distribution panel

Cut open a stud space

Use a drywall saw to cut out the drywall betwixt two wall studs. Stop the cuts at the top plates at the ceiling and 2 in. above the baseboards at the flooring. (Cut a small inspection hole first to locate wires within the wall to prevent damaging them.)

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Footstep ii

Mount the distribution panel

Spiral the distribution box to the sides of the studs at a comfy working superlative. Make sure the box projects past the drywall 1/two in. to allow for the thickness of the access panels (Photograph 18).

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Step 4

Add PVC conduit

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

Photos ane – 4 show how to cut out a stud space and mount the distribution console. We opened upwards the stud space within a few inches of the ceiling and flooring to mountain the distribution box and to fish the cables (Photo 2). Only that stud space has to remain attainable for running new cables later as your system grows.

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

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Stride 5

Run the cable

Cut outlet openings

Hold a low-voltage remodeling box against the wall between 2 studs so the eye of the box is 12 in. above the floor (or match the heights of other outlets in the room) and draw effectually the box and holding wings. So cut out the opening with a drywall saw.

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Step half dozen

Detail of cable staples

Use special staples that agree the CAT-5e cablevision, simply won't crush or crimp information technology.

Post-obit your plan, position and cut holes for the low-voltage remodeling boxes (Photo v) and run the cables (Photo 6). When you fish wire from the jacks, label 1 cable of each pair with an "in" and the other with an "out." It's like shooting fish in a barrel to go dislocated in one case all of the lines have been run. Use colored tape around both ends (Photos 7 and 14) of the cables and identify the outlet past writing its room location on the record at the cease you lot feed into the wall before you fish it. To continue everything straight, do the same on the outlet finish after it's cut to length.

We used orange tape to designate "in" and blue tape for "out." Retape and marking the ends as you cut the cables to concluding lengths inside the distribution box for hookups (Photo xvi).

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 performance, follow these wiring guidelines:

  • Make sweeping, gradual bends of no less than a ii-in. radius, not sharp bends.
  • Gently pull phone cables when angling, with no more than about xx lbs. of forcefulness (almost the tension you'd use for adept, tight bootlaces). Don't jerk or yank on the wires or pull them around sharp corners.
  • Never trounce True cat-5e with staples or other fasteners similar bent-over nails. Instead, bundle it or strap it to framing with loose loops of Velcro and then utilise special cable staples subsequently all the cables are run.
  • Cross any existing electrical cables at 90-caste angles to avoid electrical interference. Never run them side past side unless there'due south at to the lowest degree a ii-in. separation.

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Stride 7

Fish in the Cables

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

Run the fish tape down into the outlet stud cavity through a 3/4-in. hole drilled through the plates from the attic, then tape both of the marked cable ends to the fish tape. Pull them upward into the attic and and so push button them downwardly to the distribution box. Leave about 3 ft. of extra cable at the distribution box. Cut off the outlet end of the cables nigh 12 in. past the openings and marker the ends with more colored tape.

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Stride 8

Wire the phone (True cat-5e) jacks

Peel back the outer insulation

Install the remodeling box, and so cutting into the finish of the Cat-5e cable about an inch with the electrician's scissors and peel back the insulation. Pluck out the internal string and use it like a zipper to peel open about iv 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 cutting it with a pocketknife, you might nick the wires.

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Step x

Dial down the wires

Gently Untwist the colored pairs and bend them into the matching terminals. Work from the forepart of the jack toward the back, using the dial-down tool that comes with the jacks. Push them in until you experience the picayune snap that tells you the connector has bitten into the wire. Using the scissors, cut off the backlog wires flush with the side of the jack.

Notation: You don't accept to strip the insulation. The connector cuts through it when yous punch it downwards.

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Stride 11

Close-up of CAT-5e modular jack

Parts of a CAT-5e modular jack. You lot'll use the 'A' color-coded wiring blueprint.

Photos vii – 9A prove you how to wire the Cat-5e jacks. It's piece of cake to get confused past the "A" and "B" markings on modular jacks (Photo 9A).

The color-coded sticker on the side of the jack shows yous where to dial down each wire. Mostly, residential phone systems and telecommunication modules are designed for the "A" layout while commercial systems are designed for the "B" arrangement.

Tip: When you lot're installing jacks or punching down wires on the terminal board, untwist pairs carefully and punch downwards within ane/2 in. of the outset of the untwist.

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Pace 12

Wire the coaxial cable jacks

Strip the coaxial cablevision end

Clench the stripper tool around the coaxial cable with most 5/8 in. of the cable projecting by the tool. Spin information technology around the cable several times until the audio of cutting metallic stops, so remove the tool. You may need to adapt the cutting depths of the little pocketknife blades within until information technology strips the cablevision as shown below right. Expose the 3 layers of the cable by stripping with your fingernails to reveal the inner bespeak wire, white insulation and metal shielding.

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Step thirteen

Coaxial cable connector and jack

Get together these parts for the wall outlet (Photo 12).

Stripping Wire

Step 14

Crimp on F-connectors

Button on the F-connector until the white insulation is tight confronting the back of the connector, then crimp information technology 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 15

Snap the jacks into the cover plate

Screw the F-connectors to the back of the F-jacks and tighten them with a wrench, then snap them into identify in the encompass plate. Snap in the modular jacks every bit well, then screw the encompass plate to the remodeling box.

Photos 10 – 12 prove you how to attach the coaxial cablevision connectors and jacks and snap them into the wall outlets. You need special tools for this operation (Photos 10 and 11).

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Stride 16

Wire the distribution panel

Ground the panel

Connect a No. 10 ground wire with a grounding screw to the lesser of the box (Photo fourteen) and to the main basis line of the abode service panel with a dissever-bolt connector.

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Stride 17

Organize the panel

Snap in the telecommunication module and cable splitter and organize the telephone and coaxial cables inside the box for easy hookups using loose-fitting Velcro straps. Get out an extra loop in the main coaxial cablevision line from the street for a future signal booster. Road coaxial cables in from the top of the box for easier splitter hookups.

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Step eighteen

Connect the chief phone and coax cables

Punch down the chief phone line (from the interface box) into the telecommunication module. Crimp an F-connector to the primary coaxial cable(from the cable visitor's hookup box) and tighten it onto the center splitter port.

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Pace 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 7 and eight) and dial them into the terminals on the vocalism and data module, and then clip off the excess wires with the electrician'southward scissors.

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Step 21

Install a cover panel

Cutting, rout and paint 18-in. wide MDF encompass panels and screw them through the drywall into the studs with 2-in. drywall screws and terminate washers.

The punch-downward markings on the module in the distribution box also can be confusing because the slots are marked with a colour only no stripe designation. You'll take to study the instructions that come with the module to brand sure.

Ordinarily the mostly white wire with small colored stripes goes in the uppermost or uttermost left slots followed by the generally colored wire with the thinner white stripe (Photo xvi).

If you go either the module wires or the jack wires mixed upwards, your phones probably won't work, so be sure to consult the directions before hooking up either i. To farther convalesce defoliation subsequently the organisation'south installed, plan on using colored jacks, too (Photo seven).

Remember to ground the system
It's important to basis the distribution box (Photos xiii and 14) earlier snapping in the telecommunication module. Even small static charges y'all introduce to the system from your trunk can harm delicate electronic components.

We bear witness connecting a 10-gauge wire from the ground screw in the box to the primary footing wire of the electrical service console. Claw the new ground wire anywhere on that master basis wire. You can also attach the footing to your main water supply pipe inside v ft. of its entrance point, if the pipe is metal.

Let the phone and cable companies practice the main interface hookups
The phone and cablevision Television receiver interfaces (the boxes where the lines from the street hook up to your home lines) tin can be positioned either inside or outside the house. It's upward to you to become the lines from the distribution box to the interfaces. Run them to the interface locations and go out a couple of extra feet of cable. Phone call the phone and cablevision Television companies to take care of the actual hookups.

What Should I Buy?

You'll find all the materials and tools you need for your wiring projection at about home centers in the telephone accessories section. The big-ticket items are the distribution box and its components. After this initial investment, expanding the organization is cheap.

ane. CABLES
Buy your cablevision in majority— information technology's much cheaper that way. True cat-5e telephone cable is sold in 1,000-ft. spools. Information technology's made to extremely loftier standards and contains iv twisted pairs of wires, so information technology'll carry up to four different telephone lines per cable. RG-vi coaxial cable is sold in 500-ft. spools.

2. DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
The centre of the organization is the distribution box (Photo 2). If you lot think you'll simply demand six or fewer outlets throughout the house, buy a small box. But if you lot want to leave room for expansion with lots of outlets and space inside the box for networking, signal amplifiers or other hardware, become a larger one.

Get to any electronics store or home centre and you'll find enough of hardware designed to speed up, aggrandize or improve your basic organisation. The space needed for this hardware is ane of the chief reasons we recommend going with the larger distribution box.

The telecommunication module (Photo fourteen) is the nervus center for phone jacks and jack-to-jack link-ups. Also included in the module is a coaxial splitter. The splitter distributes the cablevision connection from the street and "splits" the signal to send it to any components y'all hook up to it. You can add more phone banks or splitters as needed. A starter module will accept care of your firsthand needs. You tin snap in banks of jacks or even more than modules as required.

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

You lot'll find crimp-on F-connectors in packages of 10. End all coaxial lines with crimp-on male person F-connectors, which then screw on to splitters inside the distribution box or onto snap-on female person F-couplings at the cover plates. F-connectors screw into these, which in turn snap into the back of four-port cover plates.

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

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

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Additional Information:

  • Figure A: Typical Working Plan

Originally Published: January 08, 2022