Where is a good place to buy a wiring cabinet?

The house I'm building is in Florida so there is no basement, I want to put a wiring cabinet in the garage close to the electric panel to best use my X10. I also want to put my DSL modem and router to run Cat5 wires for all computers to each bedroom. And I need to run RG6 & Cat5 for cctv and 24vac or 12vdc power, some IP, some not, also several pairs of speaker wires to each room.

Wheres a good place to buy a nice wiring panel, without paying an arm and leg

Well honestly, the garage isn't the best place. Dust, Heat, Humidity; not good for equipment.

I'm also in a part of the world that doesn't believe in basements (having lived on the east cost, this bugs the crap out of me!!!!). Out here, everything is done with recessed cabinets in the master bedroom closet. I went with an expansion 14" can in the garage, but the majority of my system is in the closet.

Depends on the rack you want - in-wall, there's plenty of CT-favored stores - starting with Automated Outlet; if you want to go wall-mount (I did this too - a 12U wall-mount tripp-lite cabinet in the same closet) - then newegg had the right prices for me.

You have to be careful with wall mount racks, they tend to trap a lot of heat, especially when they're loaded up.

ebay.

Pick a size, and then ask at the local electric supply stores.

Automated Outlet, I believe, would have a standard $8.50 shipping rate for most items. A steel enclosure might cost a lot to ship from another distributor.

Neurorad said:

Pick a size, and then ask at the local electric supply stores.

Automated Outlet, I believe, would have a standard $8.50 shipping rate for most items. A steel enclosure might cost a lot to ship from another distributor.

Click to expand...

THANK YOU

You're welcome.

But I agree with the others - too hot in the FL garage for electronic devices that need power. Recessed/flush mount attractive steel enclosure in the mud room, laundry room, or MBR closet would be a better option, but even that might get too warm. Vented cover may help. Luckily, the electronic devices you want to use are pretty cheap.

A lot of folks in FL utilize their garage or closets off of a garage for different things I've noticed. When I was building in FL the contractor put the HVAC unit in the garage. Its mounted on a "platform" about 10 feet off the ground. The main part of the home is about 8 feet or so above the garage. The electrical panel in the garage is at that height. The next door neighbor had her set up in one of the bedroom closets (alarm). It was large enough to put more equipment in it and literally buried in the middle of the home.

I put the "HA" closet inside of a laundry room closet. Its not really too big so I used multiple panels in the wall from the ceiling to the floor. All the house LV cabling goes to this closet. I can vent it easily if I wanted to; and haven't yet. I do have multiple electrical outlets on the same wall. The largest container is a Leviton box. It wasn't cost prohibitive.

Automated Outlet and Worthington are good places to buy cabinets.

I have about 6 telephone jacks planned and maybe 10-15 ethernet jacks planned. What type of punch down block should I go with.
$160 seems a lot for the LEV-47603-18P. Are the punch downs specific to telecom vs eth?

In terms of wiring Is there a preferred method to use just 4 specific wires for the phone?

The network/phone module is what is holding up my enclosure selection, since these modules are so pricey for just punch downs.

Also I have 5 tv locations, that I would want to terminate at the head-end. What should I go with here?

I do like the idea of it inside an enclosure with lock door for a clean look along with my ultimate HAI controller install.

Rich

I'm fading quickly here but here's my quick response... install all your telephone and ethernet wiring as Ethernet wiring to a standard ethernet patch panel that suits your enclosure well. Don't differentiate your telco vs. ethernet.

From the patch panel, use Cat5e patch cables to a switch for ethernet; and for jacks that you want to use for telephone, just plug standard RJ11 telephone cords into the jack (yeah, it's small for the jack but works just fine) and plug the other end into a 1x8 or similar splitter. This is the ultimate in simplicity and futureproofing.

I've spent too much time in commercial environments; I *had* to put my patch panel and switch into a wall-mount enclosure just like what I'd use at work - I just can't settle for the residential alternatives.

Can I just use something like this and stick 2 of them in a Leviton/ChanelVision enclosure?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PATCH-PANEL-12-PORT-WALL-10-RACK-Both-Mountable-New-/260592432036?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cac84f3a4

You can, but what will you do for your phone? Work2Play's advice is good as a lot of us use that Leviton phone/network patch combo. It makes for a clean and versatile install.

BraveSirRobbin said:

You can, but what will you do for your phone? Work2Play's advice is good as a lot of us use that Leviton phone/network patch combo. It makes for a clean and versatile install.

Click to expand...

I don't know what parts to get. That Leviton parts seems really high for what it is...
Thought maybe there was an alternative.

http://www.westsidew...CFRpggwodHTRzEg

http://www.westsidewholesale.com/electrical/datacom/ethernet/leviton/leviton-47603-24p.html

I bought an entertainment center for $80.00,,,,,,,,,,,I'm very pleased with this,,,,, I can put my Aton router here and my Amplifier here.

I great place for router and hub and video server too.