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Not only does structured cabling increase reliability and performance, it makes moves, adds and changes and upgrades to the system simple and easy. By having a home that is pre-wired to accommodate current as well as future technologies, you help guard against technical obsolescence. |
For complete instructions and more information about Ortronics In House Residential/SoHo Structured Cabling System Solutions, contact Rick Hoelzel: Phone: 860-405-2859 or e-mail: rhoelzel@ortronics.com |
As the demand for structured cabling within the SoHo/residential market increases, it is important to provide not only consumers, but installers, contractors and builders as well, a better understanding of the technology available today. Provided in this article, part 1 of a series, are the answers to some frequently asked questions about residential structured cabling.
General
What does an Ortronics In House system consist of?
There are basically 3 components to the system:
- The cabinet which houses the panels and
modules
- Acts as the central distribution point and cable management center.
- The panels and modules which go in the cabinet
- The termination point for all cable runs.
- The various wall plates and connectors that
equipment and devices plug into
- The multi-media outlets/jacks are the connection point for all the types of media. These outlets/jacks provide room to room interface with the entire distribution system. Distribution cables carry all the signals from the cabinet to the outlets/jacks.
How does Residential Structured Cabling (home networking) differ from Home Automation?
Structured cabling is the infrastructure, or horizontal cabling, which is used to distribute and share information throughout the home. The infrastructure would consist of the cabinets, the modules, the cables, the outlets, and the jacks. All of the incoming services, such as telephone, cable TV, satellite, Internet access, security cameras and audio sources come to the Ortronics In House cabinet, from the cabinet, cables run directly to outlets located throughout the house. Not only does structured cabling increase reliability and performance, it makes moves, adds and changes and upgrades to the system simple and easy. By having a home that is pre-wired to accommodate current as well as future technologies, you help guard against technical obsolescence.
Home Automation refers to not only residential structured cabling but also the controlling of lights, appliances, HVAC, security, and energy management. All devices connected may be controlled from a computer or touch screens located within the home. Voice control and remotely controlling your home from any touch-tone telephone is also possible with an automated home.
Currently the Ortronics In House product line does not include home automation products. The product line consists of the cabinets, modules, and various wall plates to support structured cabling.
Installation
How do I mount the cabinets?
The cabinets may be mounted in two ways, recessed mounting between the studs (the preferred method) or surface mount.
For New Construction, Recessed Mounting:
- Position the base cabinet between framing studs (16" centers) using the framing alignment marks in each corner of the cabinet. The marks indicate where the cabinet should be in relation to the front face of the framing studs for different thickness of sheet rock. The cabinet's base should be flush with the installed sheet rock.
- Secure the base cabinet to framing with (4) wood screws in mounting slots. The mounting slots will allow adjustment of the cabinet position later, if necessary. Mounting hardware is not included.
- Rough in all the cables via the knockout openings at the top and bottom of the base cabinet. Cable bushings are provided to protect cables from sharp edges.
- Install the ground lug to one of the four holes provided in the corners of the cabinet. Tighten screw securely causing the star washer to grip through the paint. Connect the cabinet ground to the building ground with appropriately sized ground wire as per national and local codes.
- After completion of the cable rough-in, sheet rock installation, painting, and terminating of the cables, the door can be mounted to the base cabinet with the (4) screws provided. The door for the 21" cabinet is right or left opening. The door for the 28" and 12" cabinets have screw-on doors, which would be installed after the installation is completed. The lock (21" & 28") assembly is shipped unassembled and must be installed on the lock mechanism.
For Surface Mounting On Wall or Backboard: Four mounting holes are provided on the back of the base cabinet to allow for mounting to wall or backboard in surface mounting configurations.
Follow steps 3 to 5 mentioned under recessed mounting.
Voice
Bridged vs. non-bridged wiring: what's the difference?
Generally, new phone lines entering buildings are configured with four twisted wire pairs. Internal routing of incoming phone and data lines can be either bridged or non-bridged.
Bridged line: The incoming lines are connected to a bridging module, which enables each line to be distributed to many different phones or locations. Color integrity is maintained within each Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cable via the bridging module such that each pair of the incoming lines (i.e. white/blue, blue/white) would also appear as that same pair (white/blue, blue/white) at each outlet location.
Non-bridged line: When multiple phone lines are connected to a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) or phone switch, a non-bridged module would be used. The non-bridged module would act as a patch panel. From the PBX, connections would be patched into non-bridged module. Data lines would connect to the non-bridged module also, connections would be made from the network hub to the non-bridged module in the station panel with the use of Category 5 or better patch cords.
How do you bring incoming phone service into the panel?
The Network Interface Device (N.I.D.) or Telephone Demarcation Point houses the connection point between the telephone company's central office (CO) wiring and the customer's wiring that connects to telephones or other telephone service-reliant equipment inside the house. The N.I.D. is usually located on the outside of the building. The connection from the NID would have to be extended into the Ortronics In House cabinet via a 4 pair cable and connected to the Ortronics TracJack CO module in the host panel. The connection is then made to the voice bridge module in the station panel, which would then distribute telephone service throughout the house.
How do you add additional phone extensions?
Additional phone extensions can be added by using either the voice expansion module or additional station panels. Both of these modules would simply "daisy chain" one module to another.
Data
How do I network my computers together?
With the addition of a 10Base-T Ethernet hub, it is possible to network any device that has the ability to use a 10Base-T network. This includes computers, printers, storage and other devices.
Many computers today are equipped with a 10Base-T connection. For those that do not have this feature, a network interface card is available. With the 10Base-T hub module, it is possible to network up to five computers and/or printers.
The procedure for this is as follows:
- Determine which cable runs will be connected to the network hub, for example, Office, Den, Study, etc..
- Star wire (homerun) with Category 5 cable or better, then terminate the cables to the station panel and to the outlet/jacks.
- Make sure computers and printers have a 10Base-T connection (RJ-45) or network card installed.
- Install the 10Base-T hub and connect the hub to the local power supply, you will notice the power light illuminate.
- In the cabinet, using Category 5 patch cords, connect one end of the patch cord to the RJ-45 jack in the network hub and connect the other end of the patch cord to one of the RJ-45 jacks in the data (non-bridged) module of the station panel.
- At the workstation outlet, using a Category 5 patch cord, connect one end of the patch cord to the RJ-45 jack in the wall plate, which you are designating for networking and connect the other end of the patch cord to the computer or printer, make certain the power is off.
Make sure to refer to your equipment's installation and operating manuals for proper procedures.
- Start you computer printer and other devices connected to the network. If there are no cabling problems, you will see a green light illuminating over each port in the network hub, indicating that there is a link connection.
- The operating software will now need to be configured in order for the computers and printers to talk to one another. The network hub may also be cascaded to additional hubs.
Video
What's the difference between RG-6 and RG-59 Coax cable?
RG-59 is a lower grade of coaxial cable, consisting of a smaller center conductor, a smaller insulating dielectric, and a single outer shield. It delivers acceptable performance for CATV. RG-59 has a 22 AWG center conductor.
RG-6, on the other hand, has a larger center conductor (18AWG), a dual or quad shield (2 braids and 2 foils), and a much larger insulating dielectric. The benefits of using RG-6 cable include: more bandwidth, is less susceptible to interference, and lower attenuation per foot. RG-6 delivers exceptional performance for CATV, satellite and all other video applications, and is considered the cable of choice for digital TV.
As cable TV companies add new channels and begin to introduce two-way communication, the bandwidth limitations of RG-59 will make it obsolete. RG-6, on the other hand, is rated at up to 1.5 gigahertz (GHz) - about double the rating for RG-59. The superior protection provided by four separate electronic shields within the cable also ensures that signals traveling through RG-6 remain intact.
The EIA/TIA 570-A Residential Telecommunication Cabling Standard specifies Series 6/ RG-6 coaxial cable.
What does modulation refer to?
Modulation is the impression of a baseband audio/video signal to a radio wave (RF) frequency that can be processed (demodulated) by the television turner. Radio wave Frequency (RF) modulators allow consumers the ability to view any audio/video source, such as satellite receivers, VCRs, DVDs, and security cameras, on any TV in the house at any time by simply changing the TV to the designated channel. A modulator assigns the desired source a frequency that would represent a designated TV channel. This frequency would be processed by the TV tuner.
What is a 3 x 8 active splitter?
A 3 x 8 active splitter accepts 3 inputs, one from CATV or antenna and two from modulated sources. The modulated sources will be combined with the CATV or local antenna input. The outputs would be sent to 8 televisions with cable runs up to 150 feet. The 3 x 8 active splitter acts as a zero-loss splitter, the signals you put on the antenna/CATV input will appear on all the outputs at the same signal level.
The IR (infrared) engine allows IR controllable video equipment to be controlled from any TV location using an IR target and an emitter. The video splitter can be powered by a local power supply or may be powered remotely through an additional coax cable.
Audio
What is the difference between the impedance matched audio module and the non-impedance matched audio module?
Impedance is the total opposition that a circuit offers to the flow of alternating current or any other varying current at a particular frequency. It is the combination of resistance R and reactance X, measured in Ohms. Simply stated, impedance is the force that the audio amplifier or receiver pushes against. When multiple sets of speakers are connected, the impedance can become dangerously low causing the amplifier to overheat. A transformer is required in the circuit to balance this condition.
There are 2 widely accepted practices in obtaining this balancing, at the cabinet, or at the volume control.
The impedance matched audio module would be used with non-impedance matched volume controls. The impedance matched audio module can increase the impedance of speakers as seen by the amplifier, allowing any speaker on the market to be used safely with any amplifier or receiver.
The non-impedance matched audio module works as a connecting block for speaker terminations and would require the use of impedance matched volume controls for impedance correcting.
Ortronics recommends the use of volume controls, for both the impedance matched audio module and non-impedance audio. The use of volume controls would allow speaker volume to be controlled independently from one room to another. Without the use of volume controls, the volume would be controlled by one master control and would not be able to be controlled independently from room to room.
How many sets of speakers do our audio modules support?
Both the impedance matched and non-impedance In House audio modules can connect up to 10 sets of speakers. There are five connections for the speaker wires on the back of the audio modules to connect to, the speaker wires may be doubled up to expand beyond 5 pairs of speakers.
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