Mounting patch panels ...

This is what we use they can be wall mounted. Comm center cabinet
They are very similar to a large consumer unit, but with a few tweaks to make it more node 0 friendly.
Have a look at our installs page. and click on houses.
N.B. The bend radius in the photos is not as bad as it looks its just the angle.

interesting - hadn't thought of DIN-rail mounting the patch-panel elements ... were they through-coupler (RJ45 in & out), or ... ??

Must be tired. Not too sure what you mean by are they But its standard structured wiring really. An RJ45 socket in the room goes to an RJ45 socket on the panel. And with Abitana's RJ45 sockets there is no need for special tools all you now need is a pair of small side cutters. And screwing the backplate of the socket together also terminates it. Makes the job much quicker, especially if you are doing over 50 socket terminations.
Din rail mounted RJ45 sockets manual
How to wire up the connector etc.

thanks, now understand - couldn't see before how the leads connected at the rear, RJ45 or punched-down, but now all's clear - 'tis neither, 'though there is a feed-through option, amongst several others ('bit pricey, though) :



'looks really good - easy to terminate & patch, and the sloping format eases radii & depth needed & visibility - quite clever, really !

Our plan is to radially wire each floor back to a patch-panel, and to run not-a-few cables between floors to adjoining patch-panels, and then to use short patch leads as required to interconnect as needed ...

for ease & flexibility.

all Cat-6, ideally, though ...

I have to say the Abitana kit may not be the cheapest option but it works and is well designed and thought out. Plus from an installers point of view we have never had a problem with it in any install. It just works and the clients are more than happy with it.
Their omnimedia cable is also very good. I tend to use it where ever I would need CAT5 or some sort of signal cable. Plus the 4th pair being thicker is great if you need to run power to a device.

quite expensive, but the cabinets, eg:



look to be priced at not all that more than the Hager alternatives - eg:



it might be good to standardise on them, on the largest size (72 place) - so, do you find they they accept most DIN-rail modules, or just those from Abitana ?

Any din rail equipment. Mine also has a normal 16amp breaker in it.

thanks - it was just that people keep warning us not to just assume any DIN-module will go in any DIN-rail box, 'though problems do seem to be rare !

Forgot to mention that most of the Abitana cabinets allow the removal of the front panel of the cabinet without the need to remove and patch leads. Their metal cabinets don't have this feature.

thanks again ...

for power they could be what we use ... not sure about using them for patch leads, though in many ways they would be ideal, in terms of flexibility & being neat & tidy, because the cost would be too much unless it was just a few that were required, but we'll be needing more than that ...

I will probably stick with 19" patch panels but mount them on a custom frame. I'm re-working my wiring cupboard at the moment and don't have much space so a conventional cabinet is "out".

I'll either mount the patch panels on short lengths of rack strip and then on a hinged frame, ir directly onto a frame.

You could also look at the 10" rack kit (e.g. http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/acatalog/Panels3.html) but, IIRC, it's not as economically priced as the more common 19" stuff. There's certainly not the same second-user market, for eg.

As another thought you could have a 2-section 19" cabinet where the patch panels are mounted to the front bit which then hinges open to reveal the terminations on the rear - might be easier in cramped conditions? (http://www.comms-express.com/categor...nted-cabinets/)

and (I know its for fibre but its the same principle )



HTH,

Tim.

Tim - many thanks ... interesting, neat idea, neat box, too, and price seems not too-bad, 'though it adds-up when all the bits & pieces, shelves etc, are included ... they'd need space to swing which, as with you, could be difficult ... can't help feeling, too, that (all) cabinets tend to be very cramped, making installation difficult & cooling sometimes an issue ...

hmmm ... our garage wall is big & spacious, and the bigger stuff (like those cabinets) could be put above shoulder-height to keep them out of the way, it's not central, making for longer cable-runs ... but we've some landing wall-space on each floor that is more-so - an alcove at the foot of the stairs in the basement that's 1100mm wide & 500mm deep & might take a lot of the electrical stuff (left-half for power, right-half for signal, and HA bits & pieces in each), a differently-shaped alcove on the middle floor, and my mini-study on the top floor, one directly above the other ...

ie: we could have CU(s), patch-panels, & some equipment, on each floor, radial connections to everything on that floor, and vertical interconnects between floors ...

eg: on the top floor : a CU connected radially to everything on that floor, with a power-feed from the floor below; two patch-panels, one connected radially to everything on that floor and another providing connections to (another on) the floor below, with patch-leads joining the two going - via a network-switch on a shelf in appropriate cases ...

'favoured approach for the basement alcove, at the moment, is to run three 4x2 timber posts vertically, stood a bit forward of the back wall, and span patch-panels & shelves & mounting boards between them ... patch-panels up-high on the right, screwed to the front-edges, & well separated (so can reach behind & later coil excess lead into the space, out-the-way); mounting boards (for CUs etc) on the left & screwed to the back-edges of the uprights; and shelves (for equipments) to left & right, mostly down low, but also at other heights - and slotting-in (so can be removable) & projecting forward (for good depth) ... and a simple panel across the front to keep dust & inquisitive fingers out ... and a cooling air-flow arrangement (dedicated MVHR bottom supply & top extract) ...

and variations on the theme for the other two floors ...

the idea being, obviously, to have everything accessible from the front, making replacing or adding things & re-patching in the future as easy as it can-be ...

most of the HA modules will be distributed about the house, on a free-toplogy bus, but some will be in the CUs, some on the boards and some on the shelves ...

patch-panels would be through-coupled, for ease of wiring in the cramped space & the ability to buy the leads ready-made (any excess length coiled into the space between panels, as above) ...

glass for the front-panels might be good, smoked or lightly obscured, to keep things visible in a SWMBO-friendly way ...

it's a great theory, anyway !

as soon as the builders have finished some heavy work (it goes-on forever, it seems, but October, hopefully, so have time to check all the sizes & lengths) we'll be doing this, unless in the meantime someone has a better idea, or can see a catch ...

NB: CableNet & Homestead seem to do OK Cat-5 & Cat-6 through-coupled patch-panels & patch-leads from short to v.long (with various options, including colours & snagless connectors, unbranded & Belkin) at prices that seem affordable :





there could be others, too, I guess ...

FWIW I've bought a reasonable amount (when in a previous job) from the Cablenet guys and have always found their service very good.

Having done a lot of retrofit wiring in my own house, it's *much much* easier threading reeled cable, rather than pre-made patch leads through holes in joists and in conduit etc. The connectors end surprisingly large when you try to feed them, plus 4 other cables, through a 25-40mm diameter hole...

The downside is the time taken to terminate the bare cables, but you do get the option to trim minor excess lengths to keep wiring tidy rather than trying to "lose" a spare meter or more of cable in the rack somewhere.

HTH,

Tim.

Tim, thanks, good to know ... another source we have on our list is :



'would have included them yesterday, but their server was down, so 'feared they mightn't be with us anymore ...

>much much easier ...

yep, can believe it ... though, with those thoughts in-mind (threading & termination), added to worries about lost data-rates due to kinked cables & too-tight radii, we've decided to go cut & cover rather than tunnelling (to use a London Tube analogy) ...

ie: (helped by the fact our floors are not yet screeded) we'll lay the cables into the floor from above, rather than having to push them through ... this being encouraged also by the fact our floors are concrete (beam & block) so we can't drill holes in the joists (beams) ... though we can remove blocks (making threading cables between floors relatively easy, albeit we'll need to fill or enclose the hole after, to restore sound-isolation) ...

if only we'd known about cable-trays when we started this house !