Pre Wire for a friend

Sphinxicus

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Could something like this be mounted in front of or in the vicinity of your existing cabinet. There are also freestanding versions available. Source local as always

Ha! I have that exact cabinet (sourced though work for circa €80). It came with a shelf inside also. I have it mounted to my wall and it holds all my net coms & TV distribution gear splendidly. I added a small fan on the top vent powered from a USB port on one of my devices to help keep the air flowing. Definately reccomended for small spaces.
 

Griswalduk

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Ha! I have that exact cabinet (sourced though work for circa €80). It came with a shelf inside also. I have it mounted to my wall and it holds all my net coms & TV distribution gear splendidly. I added a small fan on the top vent powered from a USB port on one of my devices to help keep the air flowing. Definately reccomended for small spaces.
My own cabinet installed in the loft. It was a work in progress and is neater now. The bottom of the cabinet functions as a shelf for the NVR to sit on. Router sits on top and everything else ( bar TV aerial points to left ) bolts to the rack mounts. When I ditched virgin cable I was able to remove their equipment and use my own own router with vodaphone fibre.

I like your idea of the fan the loft can get a bit toasty this time of year

I too would recommend a cabinet like this if you can get it at the right price.
 

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Sphinxicus

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without wanting to hijack the thread any further and get into a "show me your rack" situation. I have mine sitting under the stairs. Its a bit of a crappy pic which ive cropped from an old wider image but you get the idea. Everything is still the same apart from i have much more cables (at a more appropriate length) after shopping at Andy's ;)

Patch panel, Cisco 24 port managed switch, netgear PoE switch (circa 180W (unmanaged)), router running OPNSense, TV distribution boxes (via CAT6), FreeSat TV box, Sky TV box, ancient Netgear NAS (dont think i've powered this on since i built my own NAS back in 2019).

No basements here like many US houses have so no full hight racks where we can just bung "all the things". To that end i have another pile of stuff upstairs in another room (currently 'racked' ontop of eachother on the floor after i moved it to install a new office desk). I'll get to that at some point...

Anyway, as i said, great cabinet if space is at a premium and sturdy too. I have a DVD player and 2 amps sitting on top of it and it hasnt shifted since i first mounted it
 

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Griswalduk

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Great set up.

My initial thoughts was the original poster could have secured one of these cabinets to the joists either side of the existing panel and "wired through" into it. It looks like there's enough slack on the cables to do so and additionally any excess could be easily hidden for a "rainy day" lol

A picture speaks a thousand words so I'm hoping between us we have given him some ideas :)
 

Firefighter

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Good job on getting him to at least get some of the pre-wiring done ..

I'd still try for at least a few drops to the locations for the TVs .. and access points ...
Sorry, when I said drops I reverted back to floor level.
Yes, I ran 3 drops to his 3 primary tvs I knew he would use for streaming.
 

Firefighter

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UPDATE: Today I ran the Audio.
5 runs for the back porch to have overhead surround sound. I'm not sure about a sub. It's an outdoor porch so I don't know where a sub would go.

Had him return the lamp cord looking speaker wire he brought me and ordered these from Amazon. Actual copper stranded. Not CCA. Anyway here's some photos of the install.

Since I don't know the exact location i ran about 5 ft strips near the installs so no matter where the holes are drilled there would be wire there to grab.
 

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Griswalduk

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UPDATE: Today I ran the Audio.
5 runs for the back porch to have overhead surround sound. I'm not sure about a sub. It's an outdoor porch so I don't know where a sub would go.

Had him return the lamp cord looking speaker wire he brought me and ordered these from Amazon. Actual copper stranded. Not CCA. Anyway here's some photos of the install.

Since I don't know the exact location i ran about 5 ft strips near the installs so no matter where the holes are drilled there would be wire there to grab.
Nice update on the install.

Always leave plenty cable for install and future maintenances/ servicing / movement. There's an old saying over here " better looking at it than looking for it " :)
 

flynreelow

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UPDATE: Today I ran the Audio.
5 runs for the back porch to have overhead surround sound. I'm not sure about a sub. It's an outdoor porch so I don't know where a sub would go.

Had him return the lamp cord looking speaker wire he brought me and ordered these from Amazon. Actual copper stranded. Not CCA. Anyway here's some photos of the install.

Since I don't know the exact location i ran about 5 ft strips near the installs so no matter where the holes are drilled there would be wire there to grab.

sub will use RG6 (cheap, can run it to both corners)

.... or regular speaker wire for a passive sub (you will need an amp in the rack to run the sub)
 

Firefighter

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I'm not sure if he's going to want a subwoofer out there or not. I'm going to run some chase conduit from the tv to the attic so anything that needs to be ran can be in the future. Ie. However I'm going to send the audio from the tv, to the AVR in the closet which then runs the speakers.

I see a pool going in the future off this porch so I have the feeling he would want speakers out there. But this isn't my house. so oh well. Those can be added from the garage luckily.

Still looking, Should I just run an optic audio cable from the tv to the amp? Fiber optic audio cable normally used for soundbars and stuff. idk.
 

Smilingreen

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Sample of labels after heat gun is applied.

View attachment 132958
The guys at work use Panduit heat shrink labels. They order the stock in flat rolls and the tube feeds into the side of the printer. Printer pre slices the label after printed so all you have to do is gently pull the labels apart at slice. Every tech has a tablet and can access the printer from the network and print all the labels they need without standing in a line at the printers. Gone are the days of adhesive wire and cable labels.
 

Firefighter

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Alright so I made a visit and he's about to order cams. Here's how some of the eaves look. They look really nice!
I also included a shot of his master ceiling because I love it. Lol
 

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