Electricians worked full days from 6:30 AM to mid afternoon on August 8 and August 16 to finish my new home network, which includes 2-3 Cat-6a STP links for digital video or audio services between kitchen and other major rooms, and single Cat-6a STP from computer room to every other room. To do this work, it was necessary to install large external conduits with large upper and lower boxes on SW and NE corners of the house because of insufficient space in attic near the vaulted ceilings for the living room and master bedroom. connections These conduits are UV resistant flexible (but strong and well supported) plastic so as to not overheat cables inside. (Metal, as used for nearby dedicated AC power lines, would not be a good idea for this.) In all, the new data and entertainment network connects 6 rooms, with separate AV and Internet hub rooms, with digital and RG-6 multipurpose analog connections. The theoretical bandwidth between rooms is in the tens of gigabytes. I like to think of this as leading edge, state of the art, etc., and of course, designed by me.
I spent $800 or more just on the cables from the best internet sources (I could not even find Cat-6a STP in local stores), including Blue Jeans Cable from which I ordered two 60 foot Belden RG-6 Precision Video cables (for connection to master bedroom). I had a rough idea in mind as to the installation cost, based on an earlier very simple room connection estimate, and I wouldn't have been too far off if it had not been for those large external conduits (the need for which became apparent on the morning of August 8, and I wasn't going to say no--those room connections were crucial to the success of the whole project). As it was, on Friday afternoon I avoided looking perturbed when presented with the jaw dropping installation bill. I believe the charges were fair considering the work done, and the work needed doing, so best not make the contractors think twice about doing the best possible next time (though this is about the ultimate project I currently conceive). I've also had two days to fight back buyers remorse over spending so much money on this. Guy at work suggested I just have satellite company wire up two rooms or whatever, at little or no charge to me. But that doesn't fit my grand vision.
Other than those two large external conduit systems, the charge was economically based per-run of cable (no counting how many actual cables in each run). Had I known the charges would be based on the number of runs, I might have designed things a bit differently. I had been trying to minimize the number of panels, not the number of runs. But then if I had used more panels, they might have added an extra charge for panels. As it was done, the inside appearance is very neat and simple looking, you simply have no idea that these cute little panels in each room represent state of the art networking. You have no idea from the inside how much infrastructure is hidden from the inside.
One minor disappointment was that the RG-6 from Kitchen to King's Room (Master Bedroom) was too long for the 60 foot 4.5GHz Belden Precision Video cable. Presented with this dilemma on Saturday morning, I found a spare 3Ghz rated RG6 from an earlier satellite installation (when I did have box in the master bedroom, which was a terrible idea because it ran to update itself periodically causing noises in the middle of the night...) and uxed that as an extension with a brand new Radio Shack Gold F barrel adapter. (Actually, depending on the plating, gold might not be the best here, but this brand new barrel adapter shouuld be good for a long time.) The electrician connected the extension tightly and taped it with his top quality 3M electrical tape. Given the upper and lower boxes near the master bedroom connection, I could probably replace this extension simply by opening the two boxes.
Then on Saturday I identified and labeled the three Cat's from the kitchen to the master bedroom. Other than one convention, the jacks in each panel are somewhat unordered, as ordering would have taken extra work on the part of the electricians. So, instead, each position in the Kitchen panels will be labeled to reflect which position it appears in another room panel. The electricians did make sure the LAN connection from the computer room always appears in the upper left hand corner.in every other room panel.
To do the identification efficiently (and in fact it was done quite quickly) I went to Altex and purchased an ethernet cable tester, an Extech which seemed about as good as any below $100 for $35. I plugged the Extech transmitter into a jack in the bedroom known to connect to the kitchen (M 2 would be the code, left side second row down). I then plugged the receiver (as with the transmitter, first into a Cat-6 STP patch cable I also purchased at Altex, they didn't carry any Cat-6a), then into one after another of the jacks in the Kitchen panel, until the lights on the receiver lit up. And they did light up completely when they did light up, for the seventh jack tested. I then unpacked the Dymo label maker I purchased from Target, and made a clear plastic label for "M 2" which I put on the panel next to the identified jack. I then identified and labeled the 2 other Cat connections from the master bedroom.
Then, selecting connection M 1, I unpacked the most expensive HDMI to Cat6 converter I had purchased, and the only one that allows only one Cat6, since I had only purchased one set of Cat6 STP patch cables from Altex. I plugged in transmitter and receiver, both taking the place of the OWlink fiber optic units I had used previously, and, voila, hurray, I have a digital video link between kitchen and master bedroom again. It had been down since my last Owlink died several months ago.
I watched some Link TV, KLRN, and FSTV on Dish, in both rooms (I really like having it on in both kitchen and master bedroom) then also watched the first disk of Playboy After Dark, which is actually the 1959 Playboy's Penthouse, featuring Lenny Bruce talking to Hugh Hefner and others.
Time travel has been restored. And that's just one out of 12 connections available from the kitchen.
I hve been noticing occassional screen noise during HDMI renegotiation. This has so far only occurred once during program material, but is routinely associated with changing sources or turning off displays. I probably need to use the special Geffen device I have...even that might not fix this, I'm thinking about getting a Geffen 4x4 matrix switch, that would be just the ticket, for any source in any room, including two dish network sources, Oppo, and analog devices like VCR and Hard Drive recorder (which only has analog output...and has never been available otherwise). I like the physical design of this generic 4x4 switcher better, though.
Also on Saturday, I fixed the phone jack in the Queen's room. I moved the jack from it's previous disheveled state under the window to the right corner of the room last Sunday when a friend was over painting the trim in the Queen's room pink. But I had left the wires disconnected, as it was very hard work to squeeze into the corner and connect them. I had started on that during the following week, but decided I should buy an actual telephone jack punching tool. I bought the tool on Saturday while at Altex, the first major reason for going there. But I found that the tool did little good, perhaps I also needed to buy the specialized blade for it, but I was finding I could punch the wires at great effort with a screw driver on one side and finger on the other. So I punched all 4 phone wire connections, then carved the cover slightly so it would fit over the tight lead in wire, then attached the cover and tested the jack by borrowing the phone from the King's room. I dialed out twice with no issues.
And also on Saturday, I mowed the unmowed parts of the back yard, excluding the corner by the power transformer I had actually mowed last week. I started late, around 7:30 PM and finished by 8:45. I hadn't intended to do "everything" at first, just the part around the far side of Lyndhurst, but bit by bit I did almost everything that needed mowing.
I got out the towels for my friend to come by and sunbathe on Sunday but she didn't have time. She had been over sunbathing twice in the past week--a major coup for me! She loves it because of the privacy. And I'm proud of my Enchanted Castle.
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