patch panel terminations..

Punchdown all the cables with lots of slack. Use cable management gadgets to fix the punchdowns against motion from the cable bundle then test and then either;

- Back-pull all the slack into the ceiling. secure the cable bundle above the tile so the tile doesn't sag and can be removed if necessary. Don't abuse the cable.

- Make a big "U" for the slack cable along one of the rack posts. Tie wrap losely so you can adjust each cable then tighten it up enough to make it secure. Don't overtighten.

Venco is appropriate for this.

Ok, but all the same length or should the ones closest to where the cables are entering be cut shorter?

This is my plan. But if the cables aren't cut to the appropriate lengths I'm not going to have a nice bundle I can pull back up into the ceiling tile. I could make a nice bundle upto the ceiling tile but eventually the longer cables are going to need to break free from the bundle..

-jr

You pull all the random lenght slack back into the ceiling one cable at a time so it looks like you got the distance to each 110 *just* right. What's in the ceiling isn't going to be pretty but it shouldn't be a disaster, either.

You donn't need more than a couple feet of slack per cable.

40 cables is a bundle that's only a couple inches in diameter.

Ok, for me it looked like a big twisted mess of cables. But I didn't do them one at a time. This is when I did the phone panel at this same location. It was just a big giant mess up in the ceiling.. Looked fine going up though..

I really guess it isn't going to matter since it'll be above the drop ceiling.. Nobody will really ever see it. I guess I just had a idea of how it would look.. nice bundled service loop, coming down to the panel and terminated all nice and clean.

Yep, it's not very big at all..

-jr

If you pretend the patch panel is on a hinge, you can make a cleaner connection. It assumes you have at least 19" of free space to the left side of the rack. I put both screws in the panel, so that I have some extra stability.

You now can terminate the cables in 1-41 order. Keep the terminations tight and neat, because your service loop will come when you turn the panel over and mount it in the rack. I'd dress the cables as neatly as I can as they come out of the wall/ceiling.

Only problem is when you flip the panel over it will look like you flipped it over :-)

Carl Navarro

It's actually mounted on a chatsworth swing out wall rack.. so I could just swing it out and punch it down with the patch panel mounted the correct way.. It's just that not much to munch down against.

So, you leave as much slack as possible here?

I'd think that your shortest cable coming down will dictate how much slack you leave if you want everything to bundle up nicely.. If you don't care how the service loop will look just punch down with no regards to length and bury everything above the drop ceiling..

I think the pulling the slack up one by one might be the key here rather then starting at the panel and bundle everything up going towards the drop ceiling..

How so? What I did on the voice panel I just terminated was terminate my shorest cable first.. Then I terminated the remaining ones leaving all the cables coming in the center then then routing to their location... This was a mistake.. I should of routed them exactly to where they needed to be rather then the center since now up in the ceiling I have all the slack from the shortest cables.. It's not that bad but could of been cleaner...

Thanks alot for all your feedback!

-jr

Get a P-P with built-in cable management. Screw the P-P to the rack

*backworeds* (110 pins out). This gives you a good solid backing for the punching. Put it at eyeball level. Do the punchdowns and velco wrap the cable to the brackets. The cable management will bring the bundle out at one end. When done and tested you can unscrew the P-P and do a 180 flip on the P-P horizontal axis without changing the amount of slack in the bundle or strain it, etc.

48 CAT5 cables isn't a big bundle. Do this 48 cables to each bundle and it'll be neat.

Yep, I agree. I'm using leviton panels and I have the leviton cable management bars which screw to the back of the panels.

The only decision to be made is whether or not pay attention to the lengths of the cable or just punch the down and bury the slack above the drop ceiling.. I'd think that paying attention to the length and how the cables would be routed along the cable management bar would make a cleaner result. There wouldn't be more slack for the cables terminated first or cables which just happened to be cut longer when pulled.. The bundle would be all uniform. This would come at a cost of less service loop for some cables if you ever needed to re-terminate.

-jr

James Russo wrote in part:

So cut a 2x4 as a crutch/brace for the far [loose] end.

That's the choice. If you want a pretty loop, you have to make it first, then cut & punch to length. A swing-out panel makes this pretty easy. If you want to save cable (why?), then punch and pull up one-at-a time. Then you'll usually need a helper to pull while you untangle and dress.

-- Robert

No, the cables will come down the rack in a bundle that you velcro tie or loosely cable tie. Then you bring them down to the patch panel in a tight feed, because when you close the rack gate, you'll pick up 3-5 inches of slack from fanning the cables into the panel.

One would hope that your shortest cable is #1 because you cut it to length and all of your cables started out long enough to reach position 41. If they didn't, start looking for some slack somewhere in the run :-).

Ewww. Just put up a sign saying "don't look in the ceiling".

Because the natural feed of the cables is from the side that feeds the gate. Somebody, sometime, (like maybe you) is going to have to open that gate to add the last 7 cables. The feed should come from the hinge side of the panel, whether it's left or right. If you've flipped it over, you automatically have 19 extra inches of slack to hide...you did wire from the hinged side out didint' you, or you will have center fed the panel and that CAN'T possibly look good.

Carl

Sure..

Not looking to save cable, just want a nice result and want to learn how others do it.

If I were to mount the patch panel backwards in the rack.. Cut-n-punch everything to length I'd gain another few inches when I turn it around and mount it the right way.. Those extra inches would go above the drop ceiling to form my service loop..

-jr

Most are the same length +/- 8" or so...

I know. Thats what I am trying to avoid..

The rack can open up either end.. Looking at the rack right now the wires drop down on the right side of the rack. The way I am planning on doing it is when punching down I'll drape the wires across the top of the rack over to the left side to route them in from the left side of the patch panel.. I'll cut them all to length and the "over the top of the rack and down" will become my neatly bundled service loop which gets tucked back above the drop ceiling.. When I flip the patch panel back over the wire will be coming in the left (hinge side) and since I cut everything to length I'll have once nice bundle to hook up in the drop ceiling.. That sound about right?

-jr

Or "Do not stand under this ceiling tile", assuming one didn't put up a piece of plywood to support the cables.

Someone suggested something like a plastic Panduit cable tray to dress the cables and hide/absorb the slack.

I am going to do the same thing in a few days. Each jack will get 4 drops for a total of 48 drops. I will be pulling them 4 at a time, so if I have time, I will just punch them down as I pull each bundle, so hopefully I will avoid this dilema. All the cables are going through conduit, and none are very long drops, so I suppose when I have extra slack I could just pull it out the other end before I terminate the cables at the jacks.

Randy R

Not a good idea, IMO. I've seen projects with hundreds of cables comming into racks, neatly without any pandiut channel. For a project this size ladder rails above the racks are necesary, but that's another story.

I'm sorry, but I need to ask. Why do you need ladder rails above a rack for 41 cables? Does anyone know of any pictures of a network this size? (A network rack that's properly done I mean.)

Randy R

for 40 cables, no, but they should be secured so they are not carrying their own weight where they rise.

Thanks, that helps more than I expected. The cables going to my rack were just going to go through conduit, but I guess this won't work for the vertical part above the rack.

Randy R