Older home - patch panel needed?

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rayonline

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#259902 29-Oct-2019 14:14

An older house, so we don't have network wall faceplates around the house. Nor we do have a metal cabinet in the garage. How important is a patch panel?

We only wired up the 3 bedrooms upstairs, 2 network cables per room - a corridor cupboard has a 8 port network switch. Only 2 or the 3 rooms use network cables and often they only use 1 network cable. Then one cable from the network switch to the lounge (outside of the house) to the back of the TV where the ONT and ISP router. What are your views on a patch panel? We've never needed anything like HDMI Cat6 runs.

Only one issue is I might need to recrimp one cable as it's a bit loose b/c the bedrooms only use 1 network cable they could just switch to to the other port on the wall faceplate. So if we do get a patch panel it's just going to sit inside by the wall of the corridor cupboard but we won't have a cabinet type of setup. Due to the cupboard is used for storage.

gbwelly

1243 posts

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#2345840 29-Oct-2019 14:27

If you are happy with plugging straight into the switch then do it, if you want a patch panel than do that.

cyril7

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#2345846 29-Oct-2019 14:38

Hi, if you are happy with what you have got then just leave it, but it is a bit messy, could the switch not be screwed to the wall behind and purhaps using a velcro strap tidy the cables to one of the coat rails to make it feel a little love.

Cyril

xpd

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#2345851 29-Oct-2019 14:44

Im in an older house as well, and similar issue - so have decided over the Xmas break to make a basic server cabinet/rack into a recess in the garage to tidy things up.

Will also be labeling everything so when Im away and tell the wife to power off something, she does the right one :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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mrdrifter

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#2345853 29-Oct-2019 14:48

Hey, I have the same switch doing the same thing - except mine isn't handing from the metal rod 😀 I try to keep things tidy, but most of the time it's hidden away. The velcro strips do help.

I've never been able to justify the cost of a full panel etc... I've had the same/similar setup for years and it's never been an issue as long as things are clearly labelled it's easy and achieves what I need.

DarthKermit

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#2345855 29-Oct-2019 15:06

I have a 24 port network switch plugged into my router, giving me a total of 23 + 3 usable network ports around my house.

rayonline

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#2345864 29-Oct-2019 15:16

Over the break I may tidy it up a bit. We did try to initially wall mount the switch but the screws came off. We might need to install a piece of timber there so there is something for the switch to grab onto. Even if we get a small patch panel it's a very tight space to install it. We have used table ties on the bottom, work needs at the top. The black cable on the bottom curled up is our TV coaxial cable, which we no longer use for the rooms due to my suboptimal tv reception area. We now use the internet to live stream tv channels.

Our garage is on the ground (1st level) floor with just the front entrance door, and nothing else. The lounge is on the 2nd level floor and the bedrooms above that kinda like a split floor going to the back. Rather than a real 3rd level. We don't have a way to get it to the garage other than running all the 6 or so cables outside on the wall or drilling a hole thru the flooring.

cyril7

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#2345867 29-Oct-2019 15:21

Good idea to put a MDF or Ply panel up to allow you to screw the switch down, screw a saddle clamp to it as well and tie the cables to it, other than that, probably not a lot you can do without spending a lot of $ and not achieve any functional improvement.

Cyril

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dfnt

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#2345878 29-Oct-2019 16:01

Recently had our older house wired with cat6a, went overboard with ports in some locations as you can never have too many network ports, so have two patch panels in a Dynamix 6U 300mm deep wall mount rack http://www.dynamix.co.nz/HWMB300-6U. If you removed that heated rail, you could probably get away with something similar if you wanted.

I used the linen cupboard in the hallway, much to the annoyance of my wife, but left a few shelves in there to be used:

I only got the second patch panel installed last week, and added the Cisco SG500 POE switch, couldn't find the rack mount ears so ordered some more

Otherwise, what cyril7 suggests is good to tidy things up and secure the switch better

rayonline

1734 posts

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#2345949 29-Oct-2019 17:40

dfnt:

Recently had our older house wired with cat6a, went overboard with ports in some locations as you can never have too many network ports, so have two patch panels in a Dynamix 6U 300mm deep wall mount rack http://www.dynamix.co.nz/HWMB300-6U. If you removed that heated rail, you could probably get away with something similar if you wanted.

I used the linen cupboard in the hallway, much to the annoyance of my wife, but left a few shelves in there to be used:

I only got the second patch panel installed last week, and added the Cisco SG500 POE switch, couldn't find the rack mount ears so ordered some more

Otherwise, what cyril7 suggests is good to tidy things up and secure the switch better

I agree with you that with patch panel, the rack box is the way to go about it. Patch panels that screw onto the wall doesn't look all that tidy and with the cables against the wall might not be too good for it.

It makes more sense in a office environment. We have a landline but the telephones never move around, many people are giving up the landline and we don't have Sky TV etc .. We have a BlueRay player but we've only used it once with a rental disc and now packed away. Glad that we got it off Flybuys but still coulda used the points elsewhere (!). Netflix etc .. are available online without devices. We don't need more than 1 network or a private network.