Right. Patch panel/ Switch / sorting advice.

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Magic_x_uk

Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2005
Posts
5,717
Location
Derbyshire
Following on from my previous thread......
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18304205

I now have x2 Cat5e Solid cable runs from BT master Socket (fitted with ADSL Nation XTE-2005 faceplate)

One cable has been IDC punched into the A/B ADSL connectors on the back of said faceplate.

The other cable has been fitted next to master socket with a RJ45 wall outlet.

The cables all meet in this room under the stairs.
THIS is the area I need advice with.
understairs.jpg


where 'Lounge' is shown on photo that is the wall behind my AV Unit.

I have a Brush plate on that wall allowing me to route cables through from Understairs room to lounge.

Now at the moment Router is in lounge connected with a RJ11 crimped to Solid Cat5e that comes from master socket.
PS3/HTPC connected by ethernet to ports on router.


What do I need to do to sort all this wiring out under the stairs. Am I best of buying a patch panel, Do I need a 2 or 4 jack rj45 wall plate in lounge or routing cables through brush plate to router is ok?

Just don't know what best practice is now. To sort all this out.

Bit confusing to me.

Looking forward to some advice. Sorry for long post. I find this scenario hard to explain in words.

PS: This room, we, aka OCUK can do whatever we want in here. Most of the stuff can be shifted elsewhere in the house.

So. Spec away, advise.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Patch Panel Cat5e or Cat 6 RJ45. 19 inch Rack Mountable. Will give you up to 24 Ports but you can get 19" ones with 16 for example.

Data Cabinet for rack mounted networking kit - something small and wall mountable. 4U would give you room for a racked switch and patch panel (1U each) and space beneath for other kit. If you don't need a door on it and want to spend less you can buy brackets instead.

Enough cable to put what points you want where. You don't have to fill all ports on the patch panel. Just start on the left and fill ports as you need them.

For tidiness I would put a 4 port modular faceplate in the lounge which gives you 4 available ports. It might be easier to just use your existing brush faceplate and patch directly into the switch at the patch panel. Only you know how much you might expand the networkable kit there.

Setup is easy:

4 cables from lounge faceplates labelled 1 2 3 4 to ports 1 2 3 4 on the patch panel. Patch panel ports 1 2 3 4 patched into switch ports 1 2 3 4 (Makes no odds which, but easier to keep track this way)

Patch Router into switch and job done really.

Run other cables to other parts of the house from the patch panel, then patch from panel into switch as needed.

You do not HAVE to use a switch if your router has enough ports on it but it's generally better and also gives you GBit connectivity.
 
Last edited:
Couple of things.....
You mentioned 4 cables from lounge faceplates labelled 1 2 3 4 to ports 1 2 3 4 on the patch panel

That is on the BACK of the patch panel?

Also
Any recommendations on suitable switches & patch panel for my simple home needs?

I will keep my eye open on Ebay for small cabinets too.

One last thing, the adsl cable from BT master socket to router (solid cat5e) I've fitted a rj11 to it & all works fine. The cable is not attached to a faceplate etc in understairs cupboard, is that ok, or should I do something more professional?


Thanks
 
Magic_x_uk said:
Couple of things.....
You mentioned 4 cables from lounge faceplates labelled 1 2 3 4 to ports 1 2 3 4 on the patch panel

That is on the BACK of the patch panel?
Click to expand...

Yup.

Also
Any recommendations on suitable switches & patch panel for my simple home needs?
Click to expand...

Not really, get whatever represents the most value. It's only simple cabling at the end of the day so as long as it has IDC terminals not made out of butter it's all good :p

One last thing, the adsl cable from BT master socket to router (solid cat5e) I've fitted a rj11 to it & all works fine. The cable is not attached to a faceplate etc in understairs cupboard, is that ok, or should I do something more professional?
Click to expand...

No reason you need a faceplate, just another point of failure/loss of signal quality in the link. Direct from master socket to router is fine.
 
Last edited:
I picked a Cat 6 24 port patch panel for £10 off the bay.
And a 24 port Linskys gigabit switch for £15, you just need to search several times a day to find the bargains.
 
Last edited:
Just to clarify. If I am looking for patch panels, I CAN look at Cat 6 as well as Cat5e patch panels then? same connectors (RJ45) etc etc?

No downside?
 
On patch panels. Are NONE of the sockets on the FRONT connected to any other sockets. Unless YOU connect them with patch leads on the front.

It's just I have been looking at some photo's of patch panels and, for arguments sake a 16 port one, Have small leads going from one front socket to another of the front sockets.
 
Magic_x_uk said:
On patch panels. Are NONE of the sockets on the FRONT connected to any other sockets. Unless YOU connect them with patch leads on the front.
Click to expand...

Correct.

They are all individual RJ45 ports with individual IDC connectors on the back. The Front<>Back connection is a 1-to-1 affair. There is no cross connectivity between ports.
 
Firstly, there's no reason why you shouldn't use a patch panel if you want to.

In some cases (and I'd consider this to be one) it can be neater to just terminate the cables using standard two/four port face plates mounted to standard surface mount backing boxes.

edit:

that should have read 'neater and cheaper'.
 
Last edited:
I have a thought.

How would you do the same as above. BUT if you wanted it for VOICE not data.

I understand you can use the RJ45 wallplates you have put in various rooms for whatever you want, hence the patch panel.

But with voice you don't use a switch.

How would you go about that, I am just interested. Anything I am interested in, I like to understand so I then know.

Also can you then just plug the telephone into the RJ45 sockets in any room you want or do you need adapter?

I know these days, most cordless phones don't need telephone socket as long as master phone is plugged into telephone socket.
 
A BT phone style plug will not physically fit into an RJ45 port but there are adapters that you can can place on the RJ45 port of the faceplate AND on the corresponding port on the patchpanel OR another faceplate if you only want to use the patch panel as an intermediate stop-off - this changes the pin outs as required on both ends.

For example:

Phone in Patch Panel location

Master Socket (Voice) > Adapter > Faceplate Port 3 > (Hardwire to patch panel port 3) > Patch Panel port 3 > Adapter > Phone

OR

Phone in Faceplate Port 4 location in another room to master socket

Master Socket (Voice) > Adapter > Faceplate Port 3 > (Hardwire to patch panel port 3) > Patch Panel Port 3 > RJ45 Patch Lead > Patch Panel Port 4 > (Hardwire to Faceplate Port 4) > Adapter > Phone

The common usage is actually in reverse, when your master socket is in the patch panel room and you need to move a phone into another room.
 
Last edited:
looking at switches. If there any advantage for to be looking at gigabit. Or for general home use will normal 'network switch' be ok. Seems a lot of cheap ones on 'that auction site' for less than £10 for 12-24 port ones.
 
Re the voice patch pannel. I have a 24 port pannel and have the last 4 ports dedicated to voice by connecting the feed (White Blue telephone feed from master socket - remember to filter) to port 24, the linking ports 24, 23, 22 and 21 across the back.

Like this...

img9783u.jpg

Pinched from EVH's House Building thread.

I then can put a patch cable between ports 21-24 to any other port and it becomes a phone line.

Make sense? :D
 
Ryan111 said:
Re the voice patch pannel. I have a 24 port pannel and have the last 4 ports dedicated to voice by connecting the feed (White Blue telephone feed from master socket - remember to filter) to port 24, the linking ports 24, 23, 22 and 21 across the back.

Like this...

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/1144/img9783u.jpg[ /IMG]
Pinched from EVH's House Building thread.

I then can put a patch cable between ports 21-24 to any other port and it becomes a phone line.

Make sense? :D[/QUOTE]

Might be worth pointing out, that 1) that picture shows 2 banks of 4 connections wired in series (line 1 = ports 9 - 12, Line 2 = ports 13 - 16), as I intend on having 2 phone lines in the house and 2) 4 is the maximum number of extensions you can have wired at any time without issues.

I've connected my landline to the patch panel using a BT to cat 5 cable. BT plug in the socket as normal, then I just cut the end off the cat 5 and punched it down to the rear of port 9. This way, if I pull the BT plug out of the front of the master socket, or take the filtered faceplate off, it will disconnect all the phones on any of the extensions :)

Shown here:
[IMG]http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1953/044ct.jpg

Link to thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18176439
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ryan111 said:
Re the voice patch pannel. I have a 24 port pannel and have the last 4 ports dedicated to voice by connecting the feed (White Blue telephone feed from master socket - remember to filter) to port 24, the linking ports 24, 23, 22 and 21 across the back.

Like this...

img9783u.jpg

Pinched from EVH's House Building thread.

I then can put a patch cable between ports 21-24 to any other port and it becomes a phone line.

Make sense? :D
Click to expand...

This is to allow multiple extensions from the same phone line? If so it’ll presumably be wired in a star formation?

When I was chatting to the Openreach engineer during my FTTC install he mentioned that one of the problems that often adds complications to the installs is existing star wired phone extensions. Apparently this was an old practice and is no longer supported. When they come across them they either have to disconnect them or rewire them in the approved daisy chain arrangement.

I don’t know why Openreach have a downer on star wired extensions, and I can’t see any other sensible way of doing it, but that is what I was told.
 
In effect it is daisy chained. Line 1 connects to the rear of port 9 which is then jumpered or commoned to 10..11..12

The patch panel simply allows you to patch a cat5 cable from any of the 4 ports (9,10,11,12) to another network point in the house (without going through the switch!) where you just plug in a cat5 to BT adapter to turn that in to a "phone socket"

You get the benefit of flexibility without the drawback of a fixed phone point.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom