New Build Network Install (Fall 2021)

This was a project that I did in fall 2021 for a friend of my dad's, and ultimately took around 1.5 months of on and off work to complete. All in all I would say that ~40 hours went in to completing the project.

Here's the finished product

Final version of the front

And here's What I started with

Starting point. Giant bundle of unlabeled wires.

 

The image above is what the cabinet looked like when I started. A giant bundle of cables and old hardware.

The giant bundle included 20 Cat6 cables ran for regular ethernet access (2-4 for each room, 3 for ceiling AP's), 16 Cat6 cables ran for cameras, 6 2-wire audio cables, and 5 coax cables, with unfortunately nothing labeled. All the cables in this project were ran by someone else during construction.

Crimping all the cables

 

My first step was to get everything crimped and and then start labeling. I decided on using pass through connectors at the cabinet and puchdown keystone jacks everywhere else. For the cameras I used pass-though connectors as well. 

 

I used pass throughs at the cabinet because nothing was labeled, and I was unsure on how much I could move the cables around with punchdown keystone jacks after installation. In hindsight I should have just used puchdown keystones, as crimping 50+ cables makes your hands hurt like crazy.

After trimming and crimping

The above picture shows the Cat6 cables after I trimmed about 5 feet from each one, and crimped on the pass throughs. This was done over ~2 days. The cabinet itself is about 8 feet off the floor. The cables were trimmed to where I could stand and do them at arm height as to not be on a ladder for long.

 

I also crimped on the coax connectors. There are 5 at the cabinet, and 1 in a few rooms. 

Keystone wall plate

Back of keystone wall plate

 

 

In each of the 4 bedrooms, there were 2 Cat6, 1 coax, and 1 HDMI. Each of these was placed behind where a TV would be mounted on the wall. The HDMI cable ran straight down the inside of the wall to plug height for a console.

After crimping on all of the cable connectors, it was time to trace. For this part I did have the assistance of the homeowner. I used this tool from amazon which checked for continuity of each wire in the Cat6 cables. I stood downstairs at the cabinet, while the homeowner was upstairs. This took ~4 hours as a few of the cables needed to be re-crimped. Everything was labeled with a Brady BMP21-PLUS and Brady's Self-Laminating Wire Wrap. I should have bought this thing years ago. It made labeling a breeze and I really liked the self laminating wire wrap labels. 

Patch Panel

At this point all the "inside" Cat6 cables were labeled and verified working, so everything was put into a keystone patch panel. The only cables untraced where for the the 16 cameras, and a single yellow Cat6 cable that went to who knows where. 4 people were unable to find the other end of it.

 

I decided the camera feeds did not need to go into a patch panel, so they went straight into the NVR. For labeling the camera feeds, everything was plugged into the NVR to get a visual on what cable was what, and then labeled accordingly. 

(almost) Everything racked up:

 

Everything but the NVR and Dream Machine

 

There was a delay on getting the Dream Machine Pro, but luckily I had an old edge router that was used temporarily (hence the mess of cables) to get the wifi up and running for work-from-home. 

 

 

Other than the Dream Machine, the only thing left at this point was to install the camera NVR/shelf, a monitor, and tidy up the cables. The homeowner installed a wall-mounted monitor/keyboard tray directly below the rack to view the camera feed, and to access the NVR if the internet ever fails. The bundle of cables on the right in the above picture are the incoming cameras feed.

Final Version:

Final version of the front

Final version the back, swung open

 

 

 

Home-owner installed monitor/keyboard tray

 

And it's done! From top to bottom we have the following:

• 24-port patch panel
• Unifi 24-port switch
• Unifi Dream Machine Pro
• Unifi 5-port POE flex (for APs), Netgear/Xfinity Modem
• Lorex 16-channel NVR
• PDU
• -----------------------------
  
• NVR monitor/keyboard 

There is a glass door on the front, I just didn't work with it on or take any pictures of it on.

The 4u that are empty are reserved for a future audio amp for some speakers around the house (the bundle of white wires tucked away). The blue/gray box on the back wall is a coax modulator to transmit the NVR video out to the TV's around the house. It is not the best resolution, but it works. The excess cable was requested by the homeowner, hence the large service loop for everything at the back of the rack.

 

Overall, I think this project went great! It was a fun learning experience, and I am glad I took it on. For this being my first "real" time doing something like this for someone else, I think it looks great. 

 

Please feel free to reach out with any questions/comments! You can find me at lukasblazevski on social media and LinkedIn