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| Volume 3 Issue 4 August 1998 |
Features
Interviews
Columns |
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| HTINews Article - Aug98 - [HTI Home Page] |
Read All About It News Announcements - Updated Hourly [Click Message To Learn More] |
"Installing home-run wiring can present one challenge not seen with daisy chains: the multitude of wires and cables have to go somewhere. Without a plan for connecting the system to the outside services, the jumble of wires can overcome the best installation. Several companies make junction boxes similar to the electrical power breaker boxes now seen in every home, but it's important to plan for the future when making your connections." |
Todd Regar is the Business
Manager of AMP Building Systems, a division of AMP Incorporated tregar@amp.com www.amponq.com 800-321-2343 inquiries |
Would you buy a home without indoor plumbing? A hundred years ago, only the elite could afford such luxury. Seventy-five years ago, wires for electrical service were run on the outside of the walls - home builders didn't think people wanted electricity in their new homes. As recently as ten years ago, cable television companies were still installing the coaxial cable for their new customers. Again, only those with money to burn could afford to pre-wire a house for the new technology.
Today, homes are routinely wired for cable television and telephone service. In most homes, however, the wiring is obsolete before the new owner even moves in. Advances in technology bring increased demand for higher quality cable in homes, and today's technology requires improvements in the way those wires are installed. Actually, proper installation of good quality cabling is surprisingly inexpensive: the upgrade should add no more than a few hundred dollars to the cost of a new home. The average cost of adding a basic home management system to a properly wired home is about $3500.
State of the Art
Most builders still use what's known as "bell wire" for telephone service. In the days when a second telephone line was a luxury, and voice calls were the only traffic, this cabling was sufficient. Inexpensive to make and easy to install, bell wire has been installed in millions of homes. Unfortunately, data transfer on bell wire is very slow - slow enough to prevent the use of ISDN and xDSL.
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Poor installation practices compound the limitations inherent in the wires. Telephone and television cables must be run as far from electrical power lines as possible. Even at household voltages and current levels, power lines generate electromagnetic fields which can interfere with the signals traveling through coax or bell wire. In addition, many builders save money by "daisy-chaining" telephone outlets. With this method, outlets are connected in series. This method saves time and cable costs during the installation, but the failure of a single outlet can cause the whole system to go down.
For a very small increase in cost, the "home run" system provides a dramatic increase in system reliability and signal quality. Under this method, each outlet has a separate cable that goes directly to a central patch point - much like separate power circuits are run to the electrical fuse panel or breaker box. Each outlet is on its own circuit, so signals don't get crossed, and the failure of a single jack doesn't render the whole system useless. The home run method provides much greater reliability than daisy-chaining.
The Way of the Future
Using higher grades of cable in a home-run system offers a better solution. Some builders and electricians are beginning to use the same telephone cable for homes that has been used in businesses for years. Known as Category 5 (CAT 5) telephone and data cable, this type uses eight wires, divided into four pairs. Each pair is twisted together, and the four sets are then contained in a single jacket. This method allows each pair to have a distinct electrical "signature," which minimizes the electromagnetic interference (EMI) within the wire.
EMI shows up in several ways. Crosstalk, for example, is when you can hear someone else's conversation in the background of your phone call. Static, buzzing, pops and clicks are referred to as noise. This interference in a voice call is annoying, but noise and crosstalk can cripple data communications.
CAT 5 cable is also able to carry more data. A wire's capacity for information is known as bandwidth: with more bandwidth, more information can move through the wire. It's like plumbing - a bigger pipe can carry more water. With wiring and electrical signals, though, the physical size of the wire is just one piece of the equation that determines bandwidth. The bottom line is this: high bandwidth services such as the Internet, interactive video services, and videophones are showing home owners the limits of existing home wiring.
Compared to bell wire, CAT 5 cable has less static and greater bandwidth - up to 100 million bits per second. CAT 5 also provides up to four telephone lines from a single cable, and can be used to link computers together on a network.
Just as bell wire can limit the use of telephone circuits, RG-59 can cripple the best television system. As cable TV companies add new channels and begin to introduce two-way communication, the bandwidth limitations of RG-59 doom it to obsolescence. 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.
Once the home is fully wired with CAT 5 and RG-6 cabling, each room has far more potential than the typical telephone and television. Now you can plug a computer into a wall jack and access a home local-area computer network. Or route the movie from your VCR to any TV in the house. Or even see who's at the front door on your TV by calling up the security camera. The possibilities are virtually limitless - as long as the home is wired for living.
Where the Wires Go
Installing home-run
wiring can present one challenge not seen with daisy chains: the multitude of wires and
cables have to go somewhere. Without a plan for connecting the system to the outside
services, the jumble of wires can overcome the best installation. Several companies make
junction boxes similar to the electrical power breaker boxes now seen in every home, but
it's important to plan for the future when making your connections.
With the OnQ(tm) system from AMP Incorporated, for example, the telephone and television cabling in your home can support all of the advanced communication technology available today. And it allows you to add more options as your needs expand - even capabilities that haven't been developed yet.
The "heart" of the OnQ system is the Service Center. Serving as the "home" for the many wires that result from a home run system, the enclosures come in three sizes. The basic cabinet holds modules to support a basic telephone/TV/data network, while the largest enclosure is large enough to add security, home management, whole-house audio, and several other larger modules.
Within the enclosure, cables are routed to separate modules for each function. Discrete modules route the signals for analog telecommunications (voice and fax), digital telecomm (ISDN and xDSL for high-speed Internet access), video (cable television, satellite TV, and security cameras), audio (stereo music or intercoms), and in-home local-area networks.
If the home is really wired for living, the OnQ Service Center can hold the AMP Home Management System (HMS) controller. With the HMS, you can have a security system integrated with lighting control, programmable thermostats to cut heating and cooling costs, and control of other home systems such as lawn sprinklers when you're home or away. An ordinary touch-tone telephone gives you access to all your home's systems, whether you're in the backyard at a barbecue or across the world at a business meeting. You'll never need to come home to a cold, dark house again!
What's Next?
All of this technology is available today. And no one can predict what will be available for the home 15, or even five, years down the road. With the OnQ system you're prepared, no matter what comes. With a house that's wired for living, you can add new modules to the OnQ service center, keeping current with any advances in electronic technology.
