Cat 6 Networking advice

area51_for_psx · 13 Sep 2009 at 20:53

Hi guys

Am looking to run some cat 6 in a house, So it goes down the cavity and out into a socket like the phone ones...

Anyone know what tools I need? And also can you run cat 6 beside electricty wires without interferance?

Is their any guides? Or anything I should be reading before trying this?

FatalSaviour · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:00

Um...technically there are regs I believe, that state the minimum distance that you should be running Cat 6 parallel to power (off the top of my head, something like 50cm unshielded, 10cm with alu between, and 5cm with steel). Hopefully you won't be running them parallel for very long though.
If you're running them for extended lengths right next to power cables, we use SFTP Cat6 at work, but that's probably overkill for your purposes.
How do you want to terminate? With a socket on one end and a male RJ45 on the other?
I would strongly advise terminating at both ends with sockets.
In which case you'll need a Krone Tool for the IDC punchdown, 2 backboxes, 2 faceplates, and some RJ45 (Cat6 rated) modules to use in them.

FatalSaviour · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:02

As a tip, I've found that going for uber-cheap Krone Tools can sometimes be a bit of a false economy, as they're more liable to break and sometimes damage the IDC itself.
However, for a v small job, they will probably be fine.

FatalSaviour · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:08

Cat 6 Module
Krone Tool
If you have a Crimp Tool which can already strip Ethernet, I'd use that. Personally, I've never used this particular one, but you might want some kind of stripping tool
Faceplate
Quarter-Blanks (if necessary)
Back-box (personally, I'd be more comfortable buying a 37mm depth, but that might be alright

Last but not least, you'll actually need some Cat6 cable. Personally, for structured cabling, I use 250m reels of Belkin solid core Cat6, but you have to be careful with solid core that you don't put excessive stress on the cable (it breaks easier than stranded). How will you be running this through? For just 1 or 2 runs, stranded might be fine, but it doesn't terminate well on some connectors! Personally I wouldn't go that route.

Some of the LAN Continuity testers that are available for approx £10 can also be useful to test your cabling afterwards...then again, it depends on how much you'll be doing!

FatalSaviour · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:16

To post to a rival forums thread (I'm not sure whether this is ok - I apologise if not!):
This might ask most of what you're looking for

Caged · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:20

Any reason for going Cat6 above Cat5e?

area51_for_psx · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:25

Its just for a friends house that will be running up the wall cavity and through the roof space then down again into another room.

Is cat 6 worth it or just cat5e will do the job? Will only be a home network nothing special.

But the electrial interferance is worrying me

Daegan · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:30

cat5e will do the job fine, will also be cheaper and easier to work with.

edgedemon · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:37

Daegan said:
cat5e will do the job fine, will also be cheaper and easier to work with.

You can get cat5e to support gigabit networking if your cable run is less than 40 mts or thereabouts, depends on the quality of the cabling

area51_for_psx · 13 Sep 2009 at 21:46

Seems cat5e it is then. Seems the most expensive thing now is the boxes.

FatalSaviour · 13 Sep 2009 at 22:40

area51_for_psx said:
Seems cat5e it is then. Seems the most expensive thing now is the boxes.

Something like this for 3 modules in 1 faceplate shouldn't break the bank at £5.90

I generally wire at least 3 ports to a room (as that's about the max you can fit in a single faceplate), just because I never know how many devices I'll eventually end up using. It does mean that cabling can sometimes end up being the most significant cost, but gives you some room to breath when expanding your network.

(There's also no particular reason why I've posted Comms-Express links btw - I've used them before commercially, and they've been fair enough, although you should be able to get these from most places!)

Cat 6 can be an absolute pain to work with (especially trying to observe huge minimum bend radii), and we use it only because it's easier to do an install and forget about it, rather than having to upgrade at a later date. However, for home use, I wouldn't usually recommend anything over 5e.