retrofit home with structured wiring..

Personally, I would go with CommScope for the CAT5e and TimesFiber (or CommScope) for the RG 6, but Genesis is a good cable.

I'd also use an On Q panel, as it is the only one has CATV stuff built to S.C.T.E specs.

Glad to read that you're using compression fittings on your coax.

CIAO!

Ed N.

Ed. Thanks for the reply. I will check out the cable you mention. The genesis cable is what my supplier stocks. I've used it before helping a friend wire up his house and it seemed to be fine cable. Coleman is the other cable which is easily available to me.

Are all compression fitting created equal? Are the platinum tools and fittings of good quality? Again, this is a convience issue being able to order everything from one place. I haven't seen anyone discuss the platinum tools compression fittings anywhere, but from what I've read people say that any compression fitting is better then a crimped fitting.

What about the wire jacket colors? Is there a benefit of running seperate colors? I would think one for phone and one for data, but this usage could change as the usage changes.

What color inserts are people using in residental applications? Do you typically match the color of the plate or use color coded to the 'typical' application? My concern here again is that the application could eventually change..

I realize that that colors really don't matter and I can do whatever floats my boat, I am just curious to hear some other schools of thought on the issue.

Thanks,

-James

I can't really say about the lower end fittings, but the higher end ones used my cable companies are all pretty much the same, spec-wise. The only fitting target for DIY applications that I can say anything about is the Zenith branded one. They are made by the same people that make Digicon.

My personal preferences are PPC (because of its universal use. One connector for standard, tri, and quad-shield cable), SuperLok (you can feel it lock as it grips the cable), and Digicon (just a smooth, sweet fitting to work with. I also really like the little center conductor guide).

Compression over hex-crimp any day. Return loss is almost double that of hex-crimp. Uniform characteristic impedance, whereas hex-crimp creates 6 little points of impedance mismatch. Mismatch leads to reflections, which can result in standing wave, which results in signal degradation. That signal degradation can manifest itself in multiple images, poor sound, or just a lousy picture in general (analog), or packet loss (digital). I've gone on calls where a small handful of DirecTV channels were missing. Replaced the hex-crimp fittings and all was well.

Identification purposes only.

I would prefer to keep them separate colors. Sure, there may be some change as time goes by, but I'd venture to say that after 5 years eighty percent of your cabling will still be used for its original applications.

If a cable does change usage completely, you could always put some colored phase tape on the ends.

Inserts can always be changed.

In a home, I prefer to use the same color as the faceplate. Just set a standard for the home such as voice-left, data-right, CATV left, spare RG 6-right. You will know if an outlet eventually changes from the standard you have set.

CIAO!

Ed N.

Ok, This is good to know since the local home depot (or maybe it was lowes) stocks these.

So, with that being said use CAT5e inserts all the way around? What is the risk with someone accidently pluggin in a phone into a switch port or vice-versa?

-jr

Home Dumpo stocks Leviton.

Depending on your quantity, I'd go with different colors. I usually make the voice jack the same color as the faceplate and Orange for data, although I've also used blue, since my data patch cords are blue.

At the station end, it makes little difference. The center pair of an ethernet jack is usually grounded in the hub/switch and there's no voltage there. Likewise, the center pair of a network card has no connection in the card that I've ever noticed.

In some sysems, plugging a network card into a KSU jack, like a Panasonic, will shut down the KSU with the short across the data pair. If you're using 2 landlines, it might be a better idea to absolutely color code the jacks and maybe consider only 6-pin voice jacks.

Carl Navarro

The biggest risk, is that you might bend some of the RJ-45 socket wires, by plugging in an RJ-11 plug.

Ok, so single lines won't matter. That makes sense.

Yes, I guess I could just terminate the seperate color to 6 pin voice jacks to prevent the confusion. If the needs ever changed I could simply just re-terminate the station end with a cat5e connector and I would be all set. This might be the best solution and would end up being cheaper in the begining.

-jr

Take a look at the connectors. Notice on the RJ-11, there's plastic where the wires are on the RJ-45. That plastic pushes the socket wires up further than normal. While you may be able to place an RJ-11 plug in an RJ-45 socket, that wasn't the intended use and there's no lateral support for the plug.

p.s. Do not send an e-mail for a reply that belongs in the newsgroup.

Isn't that what I said?

I always thought you could put a RJ11 into a RJ45 jack no problem. They aren't designed for this?

-jr

It will work, but continued use of the mismatched connector will destroy the outer two wires of the 8 pin jack. They get bent sideways and eventually will no longer mate when an 8 pin plug is inserted. Also the connector is not well seated, and only a moderate sideways force is enough to yank it out.

--Dale

Yes, but not in plain english.

--Dale

The outer two pins get bent up from the plastic on the sides of the RJ11. Enough so that applications I've seen switch from 6pin to 8pin have had poor contact with pin 1 after only 6 months of use of the RJ45 jack with an RJ11 plug and then switching to an RJ45 application. Either get in there with something to bend the contact wire back down or replace the jack.

I dislike the trend to do voice on 8pin jacks myself. I'd prefer to put in 6pin jacks for voice applications. I have to support some users in apartments that were wired up for voice and data. Same color for the jacks, all 8pin jacks. Only differentiation is that the labels (which are peeling/falling off) are v-# for voice and d-# for data. users have no idea what that means, nor where to plug their phone in, where to plug their computers in. I bought some 6pin cheap jacks a while back, and they were even 8pos with 6 wires. Bah.

It might make more sense for me to do 6pin voice-grade jacks for where you need voice and then one cat5 port. All the wire is cat5 though. If my needs ever change just re-terminate the station side and i'll be all set.

-jr

Oh yeah, still cat5 4-pr run for voice & data, with the brown pair just wraped back along the jacket. No point in doing anything less, If they move to a voice-architecture that requires 8-pin jacks, you'll probably have issues with a majority of the jacks used by RJ11s, and replace them anyway.