Structured Wiring...
So you've purchased a home, now what? You keep hearing the latest buzzwords about home networking, home technology, and home theatre. What does that mean for you? Times are changing as technology becomes deeply integrated into our lives. Just as your office has become reliant on computers, so will your home.
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Integrating computers and electronics into your home, can be handled as either wireless, or hard-wired. Hardwiring your home is easy and convenient, IF your home is not yet finished. Running wires throughout a finished home is an expensive and time-consuming task.
Structured Wiring. What Is it?
To put it simply, structured wiring is a method (commonly found in office buildings) of wiring various electronics together to make it simple to upgrade, and as failure free as possible. If you have owned an older home, a good example of non-structured wiring is your telephone. Each jack is most likely wired in series from one telephone to the next.
The problem here is when your cabling fails at point A. ALL of your phones suddenly become disabled, and tracking the problem would take time to troubleshoot the failure point.
Also, imagine your phones are wired as pictured above. You have now bought yourself a new computer and want to have internet access. Of course, you need a phone line and a modem, but you don't want your computer to disrupt your existing phone service when you are online. What do you do? Easy. Add a second line to your house. But now you have a problem getting that line to the appropriate phone jack for your computer. Examine the star schema below to envision how easy it would be to modify one phone jack to support a second phone line entering your home.
Structured wiring uses a star scheme of wiring. The line in to the home is wired to a central location, and each telephone has its own wire to the central location or hub. If one line fails, the others will continue working.
Wiring computers with a star schema works exactly the same way. Companies have been wiring their office buildings this way for years.
Homes are now beginning to wire other devices (home theatre, etc) in the same structured method. This structured wiring method allows for easy configuration of your home setup no matter where you want to locate certain devices.
Advantages of structured wiring:
- If one cable fails, the others will continue to work correctly.
- Re-routing a connection is as simple as plugging in the correct cable in your wiring hub. Picture a DVD Player located in your wiring hub. Using a cable switcher, you can send the video signal to any room of your house at the touch of a button. There's no need for multiple DVD Players, just route the signal to whichever room you desire.
- As you may have guessed, you don't need audio and video equipment for every room of your house. Install a monitor (television) and speakers, and by using the structured wiring, you can send any audio or video signal to any room.
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Purpose |
Type of Cable |
Notes |
|
Computer Network Jacks |
Cat5E |
Minimum 2 for each room. If your room is an office, make
it 4 jacks. Add an additional 2 jacks behind every
television. Satellites or set top boxes will both need a
connection |
|
Phone |
Cat5E |
Run 2 cables per room, each in a different location. |
|
Video |
RG6 (coax)
Quad Shield cable is recommended for satellite
television |
First, I would run two to every room. You never know
where you may want a television. (Don’t forget the
garage) Then, choose your main viewing areas, and run
five cables to these locations.
Why do I recommend five cable runs? You always want a
minimum of two, one for video signal coming in, and one
for a video signal going out.
Ok, so what are the extra three cable runs for? Good
question…I run an additional three cables for each
“main” viewing area to handle component video (one cable
per signal, and component requires three – Y, Pr, Pb),
or other “temporary” devices such as video cameras,
digital cameras, video games, etc, which require three
cables. You might consider RG6 to be a little overkill
in some situations, but that leaves you the flexibility
to use the cable however you want, just run the cable,
and put the appropriate jacks on the wall plates. |
|
Video 2 |
S-Video Cable |
You may also want to run an S-Video cable to each room
that may have a television. An S-Video cable will
provide a slightly better picture for those of you
looking for the ultimate home theatre experience. |
|
Audio |
Minimum 14 Gauge Shielded Audio Cable |
The surround sound experience is one you don’t want to
miss. I would recommend wiring your main television
viewing areas with 5.1 surround sound, or better yet,
7.1 surround sound. I won’t get into the details about
surround sound setup, as I could easily write a book,
but 5.1 means 5 separate audio channels and 1 sub
woofer. (5 speakers, each with their own signal, and a
subwoofer to handle the lows). Consult an expert on how
to get the best sound from your system.
For every other room in your home, and yes, I said
“every” room, run two pairs of audio cables for stereo
audio. Cabling your home in this way will provide
whole-house audio, allowing you to listen to any audio
signal in any room of your house. This is a great
advantage over having a separate stereo in each room. |
|
Security System |
Cat5E |
Make a cable run to every door and window to allow for
security sensors and motion sensors. |
|
Weather Station |
Cat5E |
If you plan any home automation system, you may want to
run a few cables to an outdoor location for sensing the
weather conditions, rainfall, etc. |
|
Doorbell |
Cat5E |
To allow your doorbell to be connected to your in-home
speakers, or to provide a visual doorbell notification,
run the doorbell cable to your wiring closet. Once
there, you can integrate the doorbell into your existing
system, or wire a stand-alone speaker. |
|
Thermostat (HVAC Vent Controls) |
Cat5E |
Run a thermostat control cable, and any additional
cables to be used for automatic control of venting, to
your wiring closet. Most home automation systems will
allow control of your HVAC system. |
|
Automatic Door Locks, Entry Pads |
Cat5E |
Run a cable to each door to allow for automatic door
locks and electronic entry options such as a keypad,
fingerprint entry, remote control entry, etc. |
|
Video Cameras |
RG6 |
Run an RG6 cable to each location you may want a video
camera for security systems. Don’t forget to have a
power outlet available near the camera location, as many
cameras need a separate power line to operate. |
As you may realize, preparing your home for technology requires some thought and planning. Take a little time now to layout your plans according to your needs and lifestyle, and you will save yourself headaches as technology changes. If needed, consult an expert to help you determine your needs and provide a plan that suits your lifestyle
· Your home future-ready Imagine storing your entire music collection on a home computer and accessing it anywhere in your home. Imagine hanging a Flat-screen TV almost anywhere in the house. Imagine being able to see your child in his/her crib from a computer at work. Technology moves fast and provides solutions in ways that were previously unthinkable or impossible. Although it is very very hard to completely future-proof your home, a wired home gets you future-ready.
· Convenience, Comfort & Security By distributing the cable-tv, internet, telephone, audio signals throughout the house, you can conveniently access the subscription based services where you need it, and block it for parental control. With a structured wiring solution in place, you can add home automation technology easily, allowing you to control various appliances from any where in the home and remotely via the Internet.
· Investing in your home A proper structured wiring installation increases the value of your home by 1 to 2%. A wired home is also easier to sell to prospective buyers.