Running network cable for old house in Wellington

Forums › Home Workshop › Running network cable for old house in Wellington

kiwijunglist

2703 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 95

Topic # 240037 16-Aug-2018 13:35

Hi.

Have a 1965 house. I want to wire it up for network cable. Will do it myself. Where is best place to get a large spool of cable where the measure it and then you return what is not used. Also what spec cable do i need? It will run through wall and also under the house. Will connect to unifi switch. Runs are for cameras and htpc and office.

HTPC: Intel i3-2100 / 12GB RAM / AMD HD7750 / 480 GB SSD / 58TB Storage / MediaPortal / MadVR / Win10
AVR: Pioneer Elite SC-LX87 220W 9.2 Ch AVR
Speakers: Wharfedale Jade 7 Fronts / Jade 2c Center / Jade 5 Rears
Subs: iNuke 3000dsp 3000W proamp with 4x 15" JBL Sealed Subs
Display: Samsung 60" UA60H6400 LCD TV
Accessories: Gefen HDMI Detective with splitter

1 | 2

3559 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1304

Subscriber

Reply # 2074486 16-Aug-2018 13:45

Just head to a Cory's or JA Russell. Grab a couple of boxed of Cat 6 (whatever is cheapest), and you will be good to go.

Without an account, they will probably just want to charge the full price and then will refund on return.

I personally would go to Cory's if you can - their staff are just generally better and easier to deal with than Russell's staff.

itxtme

1609 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 267

Subscriber

Reply # 2074514 16-Aug-2018 14:51

I have found PBtech has the best pricing when you dont have an account at an electrical supplier. Not heard of taking back unused spools before.

DarthKermit

4400 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2404

Trusted

Reply # 2074516 16-Aug-2018 14:55

Just buy a whole roll (which is normally 305 metres or 1000 feet). It's available for about $80 or less these days.

Or you could buy a part roll from TradeMe.

davidcole

4015 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 525

Trusted

Reply # 2074520 16-Aug-2018 15:03

Get a whole roll. Once you start you may find you want more and more runs.

My house is 1930s, with parts extended in the 80s, I've blown through one 300m roll, considering a 2nd. You'll always find more runs.

Previously known as psycik

NextPVR: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix --> Samsung LA46A650D via HDMI, NextPVR,
OpenHAB: ODroid C2 eMMC Drive, OpenHAB with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave and Bluetooth LE Sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4, Roku3, HDHomeRun Dual
Windows 2012 Host (Plex Server/Crashplan): 2x2TB, 2x3TB, 1x4TB using DriveBender, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Hyper-V Server with 1xW10, 1xW2k8, 2xUbuntu 16.04 LTS, Crashplan, NextPVR channel for Plex ,NextPVR Metadata Agent and Scanner for Plex

maoriboy

476 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 110

Reply # 2074526 16-Aug-2018 15:15

I agree, just buy the whole roll. Whenever I do a run I always measure out 2 cables per run as a backup/redundancy in case I stuff up :-).

gehenna

4648 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 987

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 2074528 16-Aug-2018 15:23

I was under the impression ethernet had to be cabled professionally if it was going to be going through walls/under house?

DjShadow

2666 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 377

Trusted

Reply # 2074530 16-Aug-2018 15:25

One person supports this post

I was having a chat to a guy from Soundline at a recent Wellington home show and he suggested when running cable to bedrooms to consider 2 cables per room to future proof for automation at some point in the future.

DarthKermit

4400 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2404

Trusted

Reply # 2074535 16-Aug-2018 15:39

One person supports this post

gehenna:

I was under the impression ethernet had to be cabled professionally if it was going to be going through walls/under house?

That is the case in Aussie, not in NZ.

DarthKermit

4400 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2404

Trusted

Reply # 2074537 16-Aug-2018 15:44

Just found a listing on TM, $79.99 with free shipping for 305 metres of Cat5e (assuming you want to go with C5 and no higher).

wellygary

3308 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 888

Reply # 2074539 16-Aug-2018 15:44

DjShadow:

I was having a chat to a guy from Soundline at a recent Wellington home show and he suggested when running cable to bedrooms to consider 2 cables per room to future proof for automation at some point in the future.

Sounds like damn good advice,

The cost of the cable is negligible, its the time and effort to install it that is the cost,

if you can run one, you might as well run two....

chevrolux

3559 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1304

Subscriber

Reply # 2074556 16-Aug-2018 16:29

When you go to a trade shop you just need to straight up ask for a discount. But also, don't act like a straight up newbie off the street. Spin them some rubbish like, "we used to pay about $150 a box at my old job. You can sort me out right?"

cyril7

6299 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 288

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 2074572 16-Aug-2018 17:18

Just make sure if buying from unkowns that it's not cca cable, rhis should be avoided at all cost, and is often peddled by bottom of the barrel sellers.

Cyril

richms

21385 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4334

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 2074621 16-Aug-2018 20:17

5 people support this post

Stick with dynamix from PB tech. The trademe stuff is often trash.

If you're running 2 cables, buy 2 boxes otherwise its twice the work.

Richard rich.ms

Zeon

3404 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 399

Trusted

Reply # 2074653 16-Aug-2018 22:40

Just a quick note, I'm running cat6a - there's 9 runs to every room. The actual size of the cables is much bigger than non-shielded so there was hardly sufficient space in the walls.

shrub

475 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 86

Reply # 2074658 16-Aug-2018 23:17

Zeon:

Just a quick note, I'm running cat6a - there's 9 runs to every room. The actual size of the cables is much bigger than non-shielded so there was hardly sufficient space in the walls.

I hope that is a 2 story house... Those runs are a nightmare to chase in the future.

1 | 2