Guys,
Here are some pics of a DIY project that I completed a while ago but never got around to post.

Equipment Rack:
3Com 4400 Series Switch
Satellite Receivers - ViewSat Extreme, Bell ExpressVu 3100 (No I have not gone HD yet :()
Media Server - Old Pentium 4 running Windows Server 2003
Sonos ZP100 Zone Players x3 (The 4th Zone is actually located in my great room/home theatre room)

Also, the plastic was taped back after these photos were taken.

As you can see, I am an amateur and asked A LOT of questions during the process of putting this together. Constructive critism is welcome but Please don't flame me. :(

Click on pictures for a larger view.

http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack1.JPG/Rack1-large.JPG (http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack1.JPG/Rack1-full;init:.JPG)
http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack2.JPG/Rack2-large.JPG (http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack2.JPG/Rack2-full;init:.JPG)
http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack3.JPG/Rack3-large.JPG (http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack3.JPG/Rack3-full;init:.JPG)
http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack4.JPG/Rack4-large.JPG (http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack4.JPG/Rack4-full;init:.JPG)
http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack5.JPG/Rack5-large.JPG (http://drunen.googlepages.com/Rack5.JPG/Rack5-full;init:.JPG)

Looks great to me! :)

I'm trying to decide whether I want to get a rack or just put some shelving up for my home automation / media serving project in the garage.

Are you doing anything to get rid of heat or is it fine without it?

Thanks!

Well, my rack had solid front and back doors and I decided to just remove them for two reasons.

1. Better heat dissipation.
2. They were just getting in the way when i was working on putting it together.

So, to answer your questions, no I am not doing anything for heat management as this rack is in my basement and it is cool down there to begin with and I have spaced my shelves out far enough that there is enough air flow.

Looks good. What is the mass of bare wires? Are those associated with the Sonos system? I'm looking to make a bunch of changes to my newly built house, but wondering what is possible/impossible with everything. Did you wire your house afterwards? I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to the home automation thing, so if the questions are stupid, please be gentle :)

That is a BIX block and is generally used in commercial applications for voice or data (CAT 5E & 6). My whole house is wired with CAT 6.

The purple block is my EPAN (equipment panel) and the blue block is my DPAN (distribution panel).
The way it works, is everything in my rack is connected via CAT6 to the EPAN. And every wall jack in house (Network and telephone as they are the same) is connected to the DPAN.

Then the two panels are patched together depending on where I want Internet access or telephone that that jacket-less CAT6 that you were asking about.

The advantage to using BIX, is when I ever want to make a change, forexample, change and Internt port to a phone jack, all I need to do is check my documentation, find the correct wall jack, and move a wire.

None of the wiring in my rack will ever ned to change which means it will always be neat. Even if I add new equipement, I have accomodated for all of the empty space and added and extra 12 runs of CAT6 terminated with RJ45 connectors.


My house is only 1.5 years old and I wired it as it was being built. The only mistake I made was not wiring evey single main floor room with speaker wire in the ceiling for ceiling speakers.

I thought that I would only need speakers in my Kitchen and Dining rooms, and in hind sight, I should have put them in my laundryroom, garage, and hallway too.

That is a BIX block and is generally used in commercial applications for voice or data (CAT 5E & 6). My whole house is wired with CAT 6.

The purple block is my EPAN (equipment panel) and the blue block is my DPAN (distribution panel).
The way it works, is everything in my rack is connected via CAT6 to the EPAN. And every wall jack in house (Network and telephone as they are the same) is connected to the DPAN.

Then the two panels are patched together depending on where I want Internet access or telephone that that jacket-less CAT6 that you were asking about.

The advantage to using BIX, is when I ever want to make a change, forexample, change and Internt port to a phone jack, all I need to do is check my documentation, find the correct wall jack, and move a wire.

I figured that is what you were doing there. I don't want to rain on your parade, but you may have wanted to address it in a "cleaner" fashion. With your Catx ran to 1 patch panel location, you then run patch cables to either the network switch or phone panel. Using standard patch cables you could accomplish the same thing (and quickly) rather than having to re-punch it down. Anyway, that is what I did and the only changes to the ports I've made in 6 years are.......nothing! Actually, I'm using less phone drops since I'm using cordless systems, but didn't bother switching them over since I already had enough data drops.

In any case, everything is neat and you have your plans!
Enjoy it:)

Now that's even more impressive! :)

My house is also about 1.5-2 yrs old, and I'm figuring out that I want to put some speakers in on the first floor, basically the kitchen and then the great room, but that will be more of a surround system. How hard would it be to put in a couple of ceiling speakers? Am I looking at it being near impossible? I'm going to be installing a crown mold in the kitchen, so my thought process is this:

I'm going to be putting up a crown mold, so I can figure where I want the speakers, cut the holes and use a cable fish to grab cable that I've fished up from the basement and out a hole behind where the crown will go. (If that makes sense.)

Any reason this couldn't be done? Hoping it can, but if not I guess I might need to call in the guy that did my ceilings and ask him if he can redo it after I mess everything up.

Oh, and I'm thinking about doing a Sonos system as well, since I'll only have probably 1 or 2 zones (might install some outdoor speakers on our patio once it is installed).

Thanks again in advance for anyone that is able to shed some light on things for me. Having a house is nice, but having it only be really my first house is kinda frustrating cause I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I guess now I will.

I figured that is what you were doing there. I don't want to rain on your parade, but you may have wanted to address it in a "cleaner" fashion. With your Catx ran to 1 patch panel location, you then run patch cables to either the network switch or phone panel. Using standard patch cables you could accomplish the same thing (and quickly) rather than having to re-punch it down. Anyway, that is what I did and the only changes to the ports I've made in 6 years are.......nothing! Actually, I'm using less phone drops since I'm using cordless systems, but didn't bother switching them over since I already had enough data drops.

In any case, everything is neat and you have your plans!
Enjoy it:)

Actually, what I have done here, from what I understand, is considered to be "industry standard". Not quite sure how this could be done in a "cleaner fashion". The whole point to this design was to make future changes in between BIX blocks, not moving patch cables around.

Now that's even more impressive! :)

My house is also about 1.5-2 yrs old, and I'm figuring out that I want to put some speakers in on the first floor, basically the kitchen and then the great room, but that will be more of a surround system. How hard would it be to put in a couple of ceiling speakers? Am I looking at it being near impossible? I'm going to be installing a crown mold in the kitchen, so my thought process is this:

I'm going to be putting up a crown mold, so I can figure where I want the speakers, cut the holes and use a cable fish to grab cable that I've fished up from the basement and out a hole behind where the crown will go. (If that makes sense.)

Any reason this couldn't be done? Hoping it can, but if not I guess I might need to call in the guy that did my ceilings and ask him if he can redo it after I mess everything up.

Oh, and I'm thinking about doing a Sonos system as well, since I'll only have probably 1 or 2 zones (might install some outdoor speakers on our patio once it is installed).

Thanks again in advance for anyone that is able to shed some light on things for me. Having a house is nice, but having it only be really my first house is kinda frustrating cause I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I guess now I will.


JCE,
I am now on my 2nd house and went through exactly what you are going through now. You are going to learn a lot just by owning a house and making it yours. In the process you are going to learn that there are somethings that would have been easier to do earlier in the building process but it is too late now. Just remember that for next time around!

As for running those wires, it's going to be tough, but I am not going to say it is impossible as I have even surprised what I have been able to do with a fish tape and a bit of patience.
An alternative to putting in ceiling speakers would be wall speakers if you don't mind the look. It will be a heck of an easier fish to get from the basement to wall on your main floor.

Hope this helps.

Actually, what I have done here, from what I understand, is considered to be "industry standard". Not quite sure how this could be done in a "cleaner fashion". The whole point to this design was to make future changes in between BIX blocks, not moving patch cables around.

First, just to be clear, I'm not looking to go back and forth with you about what is right or wrong. What you did was thought out and clean.
With that said, you're relying on using punch down blocks for all of your patching between drops. This means for any changes you have to rip out the cable, trim it down, then re-punch it (which also means more little wires on the floor;)) Further, you're working over/under punched down cables for each change which means a chance you can knock/pull a wire loose. Now, think about it this way....instead of the "main" block where all of your homeruns come in, replace it with a patch panel. At this point, they both serve the same purpose. However, now, any changes can be made with either custom or premade patch cables. You go from the patch panel to a switch or to the telco block. So, you patch in what you need active, not each and every drop.

So, yes, they are both theoretically the same and there is nothing wrong with what you did. I just have my preferences:D

First, just to be clear, I'm not looking to go back and forth with you about what is right or wrong. What you did was thought out and clean.
So, yes, they are both theoretically the same and there is nothing wrong with what you did. I just have my preferences:D
And do you have pictures, so that we might see?
TIA

For others who would want to try this, you should run all your Cat 6 to a patch panel (with 110 blocks on the back) then use patch cords to your equipment. The older BIX/66/110 blocks were typically used in telephone PBX before networks became common. While it is true that you can still use the older blocks for cross-connect, you need to make sure they are rated equally to the cabling. In this case - Cat 6 that the OP says he used. Most will find that patch panels are much easier to administer.

To the OP - did you remove the jacket and spline from all the Cat 6 cables before jumpering them from one BIX to the other? You likely don't have Cat 6 anymore. I can't see a good shot of the block nor of the wires to your router.

Carl

And do you have pictures, so that we might see?
TIA
Not right now;)
My network and coax panel is in the garage which I can't even get to right now with all of the house work going on. I can tell you this....there isn't much to see:D I have a single 16 port patch panel, two routers, a VoIP module, cable modem, 66 block for telco, and broadband coax distribution. Everything else for A/V distribution is in another equipment closet. This is what happens when you don't have a basement or dedicated equipment room:(

The cross connect I used is Nordx/CDT's Gigabix solution.
Here is a pdf that goes into detail if you wish to read up on it. It is from 2001 but this is still relevant.
http://www.belden.com/pdfs/Techpprs/GigaBIX_WhitePaper.pdf

Here is a picture showing the benefits of each approach.
http://drunen.googlepages.com/gigabix.jpg

My patch cords are all Nordx Gigaflex, IBDN Certified, guaranteed 300MHz (4.8 Gb/s).

As for my cross-connects. They are Belden CAT 6 cross-connect cables. It comes on a spool with no jacket. My cabling has not been tested as I do not have the equipement to do so, but I would be very surprised if I am getting less than gigabit speeds.

Right now, my network is definitly NOT running at gigabit speeds however as I am running all of my network cable into a 3Com 4400 series switch. All ports on this switch are 10/100 and I do not plan on upgrading it anytime soon.

From that chart, it looks like the only disadvantage to the patch panel approach (the left hand column) applicable to most home users is the initial cost. And I can't 100% recall what that was in 2001, but I don't remember it as being "high" then, and it's sure not high now (under $2 a port for actual Cat-6 panels from respected brands).

I did my previous house using punch-downs (in 1998 or so), and it was a mistake even then in retrospect...