How a Wiring Rack Should Look

Julie Jacobson writes, "It's so much fun to deride some of the worst home wiring jobs in existence. But once in awhile, we should salute some of the cleanest, most perfectly labeled cabling jobs in U.S. homes. At the recent CEDIA Expo, the association for home-technology integrators handed out awards for the Best Dressed Systems, each featuring miles of cable, hundreds of connectors, tons of steel, and a clean aesthetic that could make the most finicky designer swoon. Show them to your own installer for inspiration."

Comments

nyud mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.talkaboutcedia.com.nyud.net:8090/articl e/10397/ and here's another mirror

Re:Ahh... messy racks...

[crazyjeremy]

The site is down already. http://www.talkaboutcedia.com.nyud.net:8090/articl e/10397/ should get you there until it's back up.

Re:Neat != Usable

[akahige]

What you fail to grasp -- along with everyone else who's posted in the thread so far, if the comments are any judge -- is that these are AV gear racks, NOT computer/network/phone racks.

CEDIA == Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association. These people install home theatres, integrated audio systems, etc.

he mentioned RS232

[vlad_petric]

I honestly don't think that it was much of a problem for RS232 communication (i.e. high-voltage, relatively low frequency).

Re:Cheap does it.

[Pig Hogger]

And then it caused impedance issues which you didn't even know existed!
But it worked as far as you know, right?
I mean, all those equations and stuff don't matter, it's just wires. If they connect then everything is fine. Did you ever wonder though, why does an EE degree take 4 years to get when you can just hammer some nails?

If you have had a EE degree, you would know that RS-232c is +/-12 volts, and at that time (20 years ago), the maximum speed the mainframe could work at was 9600 baud, so that's 104 microseconds per cycle, worst case.

So no, it did not have any impedance issues.

And yes, it worked fine, and did so for the next 15 years.

Broadcast TV

[fishbowl]

Your average network TV station has wiring that puts any telecomm to shame. I've seen patchbays just in control rooms that have far more going on than anything in the photos on the CEDIA website. That stuff *has* to be organized. Just the labelling systems are amazing, let alone the craftsmanship involved in wiring them.

Re:Looks good ONCE, and only once.

[chazwurth]

You'd have to cut 50 different ties...

Indeed. Where I work, we use velcro ties to solve this problem. They can still be a pain in the ass, but it's a lot easier than cutting and re-tying every time you need to move a cable.

Re:forgive me if this is a dumb question

[Dun Malg]

Polarisation of the radio waves makes it harder for clients to connect to the AP that is sitting at a wierd angle.

The problem with polarization is that you can't say for sure which way the mobile antenna will be pointing, so you can't make any blanket pronouncements about what constitutes "ideal orientation" for all occasions. PCMCIA wireless adapters have the antenna horizontal. Many integrated laptop wireless cards mount the antenna vertical in the LCD housing. The worst polarization for vertical receiver is a horizontal transmitter, and vice-versa. Placing the base station antennas at 45 degree angles from horizontal, and 90 degrees relative to each other gives you the greatest possible coverage of potential polarities of mobile antennas. You're unlikely to exactly match the polarity of the mobile (best), but you're also unlikely to end up with them at 90 degrees to one another (worst).

That's nothing compared to this one.

[antdude]

Check out this crazy yellow one. And it's yellow! :)

From AQFL.

Re:Nice wiring is great and all

[CharlieG]

That's why they invented PATCH PANELS - the wiring coming into/out of the rack is bundled, and goes to the patch panel - NEVER to an item in the rack - in fact, even wiring intra rack goes via a panel