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Genesis Cable
 
Future Proof Your Home

Residential structured cabling provides the homeowner with a low voltage wiring system, enabling endless applications.

• Enjoy a home theater or watch HDTV in any room in the home.

• Work in your home office and be able to network all computers in your home for high speed Internet access.

• Rest easy with the security of a monitored burglar and fire alarm system.

• Listen to your favorite music played by a whole house audio system.

• Control lighting, temperature, access and other features with your home automation controls.

• And much more!

This guide provides useful information on standards, applications and products for structured cabling and other low voltage applications.

The purpose of TIA-570-B is to standardize requirements for the residential telecommunications infrastructure. This is based on the facilities that are required for both existing and emerging telecommunications services. The cabling infrastructure is designed to support voice, video, data, audio, security, environmental controls and home automation.

Access Provider – The operator of any facility that is used to convey telecommunications services to a residence, such as a cable or telephone company.

Network Interface Device (NID) – The demarcation point from the access provider, usually found on the outside of the home for easy access by the provider.

Auxiliary Disconnect Outlet (ADO) – A connection device within the residence, which allows the homeowner to disconnect the residential wiring from the service provider.

Distribution Device – This is the residential structured cabling panel, which allows for the distribution and cross-connection of all telecommunications services.

Cable – An assembly of one or more insulated conductors, or optical fibers, contained under a jacket. This applies to individual, Siamese and multimedia Cat 5e and RG-6.

UTP Cable – Unshielded twisted pair cable where the individual pairs are tightly twisted together to minimize interference between adjacent circuits. This is Cat 5e or Cat 6.

Outlet Connector – A connecting device where the cable terminates, such as an RJ-45 connector for the Cat 5e, or a Type-F connector for the RG-6.

IDC – Insulation displacement connection is a connection method by which insulated wires are forced between contacts using a punch-down tool.

There are two grades of residential cabling, which were established on the basis of anticipated needs for telecommunications services in residences.

• Grade 1 meets the minimum requirements for basic telecommunications services. These include voice, video and low-speed data.

• Grade 2 meets the minimum requirements for both basic and advanced telecommunications services. In addition to voice and external video, this provides for distribution of internally generated video, networking of computers and high-speed Internet access.

• One Cat 5e for voice and low-speed data–Cat 6 recommended.

• One RG-6 for external video from a rooftop antenna, or a CATV or satellite dish provider.

• Two Cat 5e cables–Cat 6 recommended (one for voice and the other for data).

• Two RG-6 cables (for external and internal video).

• Terminate Cat 5e or Cat 6 with Compliant Cat 5e or Cat 6 RJ-45 plugs and jacks.

• Terminate RJ-45 connections using T568A punch down configuration, which is used for residential applications.

• In rural areas dual shielded RG-6 can typically be used, but in metropolitan areas tri-shielded or quad-shielded RG-6 should be used to minimize potential interference. Always check with the local cable television company to find out what shielding they recommend.

They can refuse service to a residence wired with an inferior type of coax. The FCC holds them accountable for RF leakage from their cable system and they have to test for leakage on an on-going basis.

• Except for patch cords, RG-59 is no longer recognized for cable television wiring.

• Video (as well as data) can be distributed in analog or digital formats. For a completely digital network, category cables can support voice, data and video needs. Currently, since coaxial cable provides greater band width, it is still the preferred cable for distributing analog (and digital) video signals.

• Cat 5e will support compressed HDTV streaming video and 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Installation of Cat 6 is recommended in place of Cat 5e to support future applications, such as uncompressed HDTV streaming video and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

• Optical fiber may be included for future applications. Currently, multimode fiber is installed to facilitate very high-speed data and in the future this may change to a preference for single-mode for broadband video and very high-speed data.

DISTRIBUTION DEVICE (THE LOW VOLTAGE PANEL)

The distribution device is typically called a residential structured cabling panel or cabinet. Most panels are 14.5 inches wide to allow for recessed mounting between wall studs.

• Height varies from 6 to 10 inches for a multi-family unit to 30 to 48 inches for a production and custom home respectively.

• Many panels are supplied with an integral 15 amp, 120 VAC non-switched duplex electrical power outlet.

• Access to building ground shall be within 5 feet of the panel, in accordance with local building codes.

• Surge protection should be provided for each conductive cable entering the distribution device from outside the building.

All of the structured cabling that runs from the panel to the outlet must be home run. Daisy-chain wiring is no longer allowed. It is unreliable, hard to test or troubleshoot and one fault can take the entire network down. Splicing, splitting of pairs, bridging circuits and other old telephony practices are also no longer allowed. The cabling from the distribution device to the outlet is called star wiring. This is because all of the splitting and switching is done in the panel, and information travels to and from each outlet back to the panel in home run fashion. The furthest distance from the demarcation point, through the network interface device to the panel and from the panel to the furthest outlet shall not exceed 492 feet. This is the maximum distance that a telecommunications signal can travel without degrading data throughput or video quality. From the distribution device to the furthest outlet the maximum allowable distance is 295 feet. An additional 33 ft. in total is allowed for equipment patch cords at both ends.

• Category 5e and 6 unshielded twisted pair. The category cables should be terminated with eight-position modular plugs or jacks, or may be punched down on a 110 block.

• Dual, Tri, or Quad-Shield RG-6 coaxial cable. The coaxial cable is terminated with Type-F connectors. Only compression connectors should be used, since twist-on connectors are not reliable.

• 50/125 or 62.5/125 micron multimode optical fiber or single-mode optical fiber. The fiber optic cable is normally left not terminated awaiting future usage.

Installing siamese or multimedia cables speeds installation, facilitates termination and simplifies identification of individual cable runs.

• Siamese cables are available in a zip-cord construction with one Cat 5e and one RG-6, two Cat 5e, or two RG-6 cables.

• Multimedia cables typically contain two Cat 5e and two RG-6 cables and are available with optional optical fibers. These constructions are available in an un-jacketed bundle, or a jacketed bundle.

Rooms with at least one outlet

• Kitchen, family or great room and den or study.

• Outlet should be provided within unbroken wall spaces of 12 feet or less. This is so that no point along the wall or floor is more than 25 feet from an outlet. Having long patch cords on the floor connecting equipment poses a serious tripping hazard. 

Rooms with multiple outlets

• Each bedroom should have two outlets to enable a bedside telephone and/or laptop connection by the bed and a television and/or PC connection on the other wall.

• The home theater area should have several outlets in the equipment location to facilitate management of audio and video signals. The home office also needs several outlets for computer, printer, facsimile and telephone.

• For future-proofing, an outlet in the refrigerator alcove, in the laundry area and possibly in the garage. Refrigerators are now available with television or computer panels and appliances are being networked.

Audio systems may be either analog or digital and use radio, satellite, CD, DVD and streaming Internet sources for the content, which is distributed to speakers located in multiple rooms or zones where they are controlled by a volume control or keypad.

• Analog - the receiver and amplifier are typically found in the entertainment center and audio cable is used for the wiring throughout.

• Digital - such as A-bus, the receiver in the entertainment center is connected to the wall control with Cat 5e over which the digital signal travels. There is a compact amplifier at the wall control, which converts and amplifies the signal for routing to the speakers over audio cable.

The room speakers are usually installed in the ceiling at the back third of the room and are spaced a third of the way from each wall. The volume control/keypad is mounted on the wall at the entry to the room.

The audio cable typically consists of four conductors, with two conductors connected to each speaker. Wire gauge can range from 12, 14, 16 and 18 AWG and is dependent on length of run and impedance of the speaker. The highest quality audio cable uses stranded conductors fabricated out of high-conductivity, oxygen-free copper resulting in the highest degree of fidelity.

• A high count of copper strands in each conductor improves performance, since there is more surface area for the signal to travel over. For example, while a conventional 14 AWG sound cable has 41 strands per conductor, a high-end audio cable will have 105 strands per conductor.

• For home theater applications an RGB cable is typically used to provide red, green and blue video signals to a flat panel or projection television. These bundled cables are fabricated from 3, 5 and 6 miniature RG-59 coaxial cables.

There are three areas to connect: audio/video head-end to distribution device, distribution device to volume control/keypad and volume control/keypad to speakers. Using multi-conductor speaker cables and Cat 5e in a siamese construction allows pre-wiring for both analog and digital systems. The speaker wire typically consists of four conductors, with two conductors connected to each speaker. Wire gauge can range from 12, 14, 16 and 18 AWG and is dependent on length of run and impedance of the speaker.