Residential Wiring Products
The first question to be asked here is why would people want to wire their
own homes, when a wireman can do the same job quite professionally? Well, there
are many reasons. For one, the wireman could charge a bomb, and then you would
become very conservative about the things you really want. Professional guys
charge per connection they make, so if you were to have a telephone connection
in every room, along with all the computer points across your house and other
cabling necessaries, it could all come to a pretty sum. That is why wiring your
home yourself becomes a good idea. You save a lot of money, and you can get
the creative kick out of it, of having done the work yourself.
But, the most important benefit is that you can wire your home exactly in the
manner you want. You can get as many points you need, and even place things
in unconventional places without any potential embarrassment with the wireman.
Think about asking the wireman to connect a telephone next to your commode where
the tissue paper rolls are kept, and you will understand what I mean. Seriously
speaking, wiring for your home is not at all difficult. There are convenient
tools available that can help you out. If you do not mind a bit of labor, then
you can easily carry out the wiring for your home without having to call in
anyone else.
You must know what you are in for though. Wiring takes a bit of time. If you
are the impatient types, then you should not even start. Because you are liable
to lose interest midway and then call someone eventually to sort out the mess.
Also, you will need to drill holes and knock off your wallpaper in several places.
So, you would better do this when the wife is away! Or if you are the wife itself,
then you must not have too many emotional ties with this sort of work. And yes,
you have to be precise. You need to be particular about the job you are doing.
Let's cut to the chase then. This article is not about how to go about wiring
your house. Our intention here is to talk about what you will need. So, here
is a list of the residential wiring products you will need:-
- Cat 5 cables - The cables are the most important things to have when you
are wiring. Since there are many types of cables available, you need to be
particular in what you are getting. Cat 5 cables will be the best for your
home wiring purposes. Do not go for the coax ones; those are good only for
video connections. You also need to think about the computers in your home.
Also, Cat 5 is enough for home purposes. Cat 5e and Cat 6 are for higher ends,
and they will only lead to unnecessary expenses in your wiring task.
- RJ45 plugs - If you are using Cat 5 cables, you will need RJ45 plugs. I
am sure you must have seen these plugs around, but might not know the name.
You will need several of these plugs - they are available quite cheap - if
you are making your own cables, which you must ideally do. You will need to
measure out the length of the cable and crimp the RJ45 at the required places.
- Panels and sockets - You will need a central patch to collect all the connections
from the house. These panels will be mounted on the walls and will have several
RJ45 sockets for the cables to be connected. You can get a patch panel of
the required size, depending on how many connections you are planning to have
in the house.
- Wall plates - If you don't want to use a patch panel, or if you have few
connections in your home, then you can use several wall plates. You can use
one in a room if you want.
- Ethernet hub - This is needed if you are trying to connect two or more
computers in your home together.
The following is a list of the tools and equipments you will need to put up
your residential wiring products:-
- A crimping tool - This will be needed to crimp the RJ45 connector to the
ends of the cable. Be sure to get a crimping tool for the RJ45 connector particularly,
since there are many other types available too.
- A krone tool or a punchdown tool - This is a spring device that is used
to attach the cable wires properly into the patch panel. It looks like a small
screwdriver.
- A cable tester - You will need the cable tester to find out if the cables
you have connected are in the proper order or not.
The first list of residential wiring products are must-haves. But the second
list of tools can be borrowed from someone who has them. Anyways, these are
the materials that should see you safely through your residential wiring adventure.
All the best!
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