Smart Wiring For House/brewhouse

[PostModern]

Still experimental, but it will come - http://www.csiro.au/science/psy0.html

Too cool for school. Right now however 54Mbps is not enough for me, for everything. A laptop and a Wii are fine, but multiple PC's media devices and whatnot planned, I'll be going Cat 6 for now.

 

[bugwan]

You can get gigabit wireless networking? Man! 10GB is on the way over Cat 6 cables (and that's what I'd use if I was going to keep a house for a while)....

Aren't Cat6a cables required for that? Not just the stock standard Cat6? I don't know if they're readily available yet, and perhaps they won't become standard...?

I used to dream of having data panels in every room (yeah, I'm a geek), but with Wireless-N and future improvements, we'll definitely be reaching gigabit+ speeds over wireless. And when it comes to upgrade wireless, all you do is replace the gear that outside the walls (access point, NICs etc), rather than finding yourself with redundant cable in the walls.

Of course, all of this is next to useless to most home users, as they won't be transferring mega-files between PCs (like I do). I'd still go with wireless, personally.

 

[PostModern]

Aren't Cat6a cables required for that? Not just the stock standard Cat6? I don't know if they're readily available yet, and perhaps they won't become standard...?

I used to dream of having data panels in every room (yeah, I'm a geek), but with Wireless-N and future improvements, we'll definitely be reaching gigabit+ speeds over wireless. And when it comes to upgrade wireless, all you do is replace the gear that outside the walls (access point, NICs etc), rather than finding yourself with redundant cable in the walls.

Of course, all of this is next to useless to most home users, as they won't be transferring mega-files between PCs (like I do). I'd still go with wireless, personally.

I suppose copper is becoming redundant. I might have to evaluate if it's worth it for my own applications now. Maybe just one 5e or 6 to each bedroom, brewery, study, living room, then use wireless later to take care of the rest.

GB, put optical fibre in your shed. LOL

 

[reg]

Not a stupid question - though the reason for the answer is stupid IMO.

Here in Straya - the unions call the shots when it comes to protecting the trade industries. Specifically Electrical and Plumbing.

It used to be like this is NZ many years ago - they changed the rules so you could wire and plumb yourself but you needed to obtain an inspection certificate before 'turning on'. The hue and cry from the tradespeople was that more people would electrocute themselves (the safety card)- I don't think this ever happened.

There was actually a death recorded of a plumber who did some work in a house after the owner did his own wiring.
The owner did not attach his earth to the plumbing system and as a direct result of this when the plumber crawled under the house he became part of the circuit to earth and died as a result.
I know that most people would be competent to wire there own houses but some arent. As with most laws that are made in Australia they have to allow for the dickhead factor. I have been to houses where fans have been wired in speaker cable or cat 5 cable.
If you have to ask questions about it then get a pro to do it.

By the way $2k sound awfully hexy. I would be getting another price.

 

[white.grant]

Aren't Cat6a cables required for that? Not just the stock standard Cat6? I don't know if they're readily available yet, and perhaps they won't become standard...?

I used to dream of having data panels in every room (yeah, I'm a geek), but with Wireless-N and future improvements, we'll definitely be reaching gigabit+ speeds over wireless. And when it comes to upgrade wireless, all you do is replace the gear that outside the walls (access point, NICs etc), rather than finding yourself with redundant cable in the walls.

Of course, all of this is next to useless to most home users, as they won't be transferring mega-files between PCs (like I do). I'd still go with wireless, personally.

I guess at the end of the day I can only get 1.5mbs out of the house on my ADSL plan, that's where I feel the bottleneck.

 

[PostModern]

I guess at the end of the day I can only get 1.5mbs out of the house on my ADSL plan, that's where I feel the bottleneck.

Wait till you have a NAS box and half the house wants something from it at the same time. 54 meg is not enough.

That said, I used to run LAN gaming events with 25-30 people on a 10mb hub and everyone was mostly fine, except when the file (pr0n) sharing nerds started giggling in the corner and all our pings went to hell.

 

[pbrosnan]

Too cool for school. Right now however 54Mbps is not enough for me, for everything. A laptop and a Wii are fine, but multiple PC's media devices and whatnot planned, I'll be going Cat 6 for now.

You won't need a wired network for PC media devices unless you have problems with wireless contectivity. You'll only need it for file transfers or if you want to run an internet gaming centre. I've 2 Zensonic z500s and a Soundbridge all running off wireless. The media server is a wired connection to a port on the wireless gateway. No playback or connectivity problems even if I run them all simultaneously.

 

[white.grant]

You won't need a wired network for PC media devices unless you have problems with wireless contectivity. You'll only need it for file transfers or if you want to run an internet gaming centre. I've 2 Zensonic z500s and a Soundbridge all running off wireless. The media server is a wired connection to a port on the wireless gateway. No playback or connectivity problems even if I run them all simultaneously.

Noice!

Pretty soon it will just get pumped straight into your head via a neural lace! Wires? what's a wire?

 

[pbrosnan]

Noice!

Pretty soon it will just get pumped straight into your head via a neural lace! Wires? what's a wire?

And with bittorrent you could also say "DVD store, what's that?"

 

[randyrob]

Hey Nev,

if you do go the wireless route on your shed, pls make sure it's secure (password protected)

you don't want anyone stealing your award winning recipies

Rob.,

 

[PostModern]

You won't need a wired network for PC media devices unless you have problems with wireless contectivity. You'll only need it for file transfers or if you want to run an internet gaming centre. I've 2 Zensonic z500s and a Soundbridge all running off wireless. The media server is a wired connection to a port on the wireless gateway. No playback or connectivity problems even if I run them all simultaneously.

That's handy to know. I'm getting a Popcorn Hour soon as the USB-fed DivX machine I have now sucks on busy/grainy scenes. My house is also pretty long. I only get 2Mbps in the back of the house. New house will have slab floors in between devices. With repeaters and their power needs everywhere, I figure I may as well go wired.

Anyway, I hope this distracting discussion has at least given GB some food for thought.

 

[sumo]

I would be purchasing and running the phone and cable to the new rooms / shed myself. The power on the other had is getting X tradesperson into connect it, as most insurance providers have a clause stipulating that accidents caused by non ceritified installations / wiring etc are not covered.

I have wired phone and net into every house I have owned (and some I didn't). It's relatively easy once you know which wire goes where, I just don't like messy with mains power as that shit kills.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Hey Nev,

if you do go the wireless route on your shed, pls make sure it's secure (password protected)

you don't want anyone stealing your award winning recipies

Rob.,

I have seen a Suss look character sitting out the front with a lappy, looked a bit like you. <_<
I am running wireless now but am having connection problems with the rest of the house and in the shed forget it.All rooms are timber walls and Iron roofed.If I could get the thing to work I would stay wireless.I have a Belkin wireless router adsl modem combo. Can I just add a turbo charger or a F'n big Ariel ?
GB

 

[therook]

I have seen a Suss look character sitting out the front with a lappy, looked a bit like you. <_<
I am running wireless now but am having connection problems with the rest of the house and in the shed forget it.All rooms are timber walls and Iron roofed.If I could get the thing to work I would stay wireless.I have a Belkin wireless router adsl modem combo. Can I just add a turbo charger or a F'n big Ariel ?
GB

Nev,

Let me know if you want to go the copper ( Cat5e or Cat 6 )way for your phone and data points, i'll get a box sent to our office in Perth for you, i probably can scrounge same 24 way patch panels, Nortel 450T baystacks and some old second hand ADSL modems if they are of help

Rook

 

[muckey]

wireless is good tech these days but for a shed application I would always choose a cable installation.

Firstly your reliable data rate drops with increasing distance and in the case of a shed, it's really hard to get radio waves to travel in and out of a big metal box.

always get more than 1 quote. $2k and still having to do some leg work for the trenching sounds pretty steep unless your shed is a huge distance from your house!!
sound more like somebody heard there is money to made in data cabling and thinks people will just hand over cash without question.

Definately enable network security on any wireless device and for a little extra protection you can setup mac address filtering. Remember, nothing is foolproof so it always pays to check logs from time to time

Cheers
Mark

 

[Sammus]

On the wireless security point, always use WPA encryption too.. WEP is surprisingly easy to crack nowadays...

 

[pokolbinguy]

Haha just came to mind about the security thing....deffinatley use a password....I have no idea how many times I have been able to use the internet for free in random locations due to the lack of passwords. Lucky I'm pretty honest and not up for hacking into their personal info because they could be in for a rude shock if I was.

Pok

 

[randyrob]

I have seen a Suss look character sitting out the front with a lappy, looked a bit like you. <_<
I am running wireless now but am having connection problems with the rest of the house and in the shed forget it.All rooms are timber walls and Iron roofed.If I could get the thing to work I would stay wireless.I have a Belkin wireless router adsl modem combo. Can I just add a turbo charger or a F'n big Ariel ?
GB

haha...

think of the standard 1dB aerial on your belkin as the yeast under a can of goo....

it's amazing the distance you can get with some simple equipment, i used to have a hacked galaxy dish hooked up to a 200mw router and could get a good link 17km's away

from memory your shed isn't that far from your house, so you could just unscrew the standard aerial from your belkin and get a bigger and better one cheaply it might just be enough to get you over the line, also location is a biggy so many people i see the router on the ground at the back of the desk sometimes moving it ontop of the desk in a few different locations could do the trick!

Rob.

 

[pbrosnan]

haha...

think of the standard 1dB aerial on your belkin as the yeast under a can of goo....

it's amazing the distance you can get with some simple equipment, i used to have a hacked galaxy dish hooked up to a 200mw router and could get a good link 17km's away

from memory your shed isn't that far from your house, so you could just unscrew the standard aerial from your belkin and get a bigger and better one cheaply it might just be enough to get you over the line, also location is a biggy so many people i see the router on the ground at the back of the desk sometimes moving it ontop of the desk in a few different locations could do the trick!

Rob.

I haven't tried one but I see there are now multiple antenae "extender" access points or routers. You'd reckon they'd be gutsy enough to serve Nev's shed as it's only 10-15m from the house.

 

[Doogiechap]

Haha just came to mind about the security thing....deffinatley use a password....I have no idea how many times I have been able to use the internet for free in random locations due to the lack of passwords. Lucky I'm pretty honest and not up for hacking into their personal info because they could be in for a rude shock if I was.

Pok

Further to that Nev, if you intend to continue using wireless this resource on Wireless Security was well worth the investment of US $10 for me. It is Mac orientated but certainly not exclusively.
Also +1 for Copper (another wireless modem in the shed wouldn't add up to much more if you like the convenience.) My wireless access in my Tin Shed is great in Summer with the roller door open but in Winter it's a bit tricky .
Cheers
Doug
PPS Take this one from my experience, whilst you have the trench, drop in a 90mm drain pipe as well so you can run whatever you dam well like over the next 20 years. Spewing that I didn't when I dug mine :angry: