Re: Home automation plan

["Paul Robinson" <ukcueman@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Ian,


> Living room
> 1 quad cat5 by TV, 3 dbl cat5, 1 dbl CT100, 1 PIR
Only 4 cat5 by TV? I suggest at least 1 for IR, 2 for Kat5, 1 for LAN, 1
for
telephone and some spare

<snip>

> Questions
> -----------------------

> 1. How does the comfort phone input connect up when ADSL is being
> used?   Does it require a microfilter?
I'll leave this for the comfort people...

> 2. Is it possible to place a microfilter inline for each of the
> four phone patch-panel outlets.  It would be nice to filter the phone
> lines at node zero, and not in the rooms that the lies are patched
> through to.
I plan on a single filter. I use a cat5 to connect the feed from the master
BT socket (in node 0) to wherever I want my filter and ADSL modem. Current
plan is for this to be in my study (so I can see the flashing lights on the
modem :-)

Telephone only uses 3 cores, so a cat5 can take 2 lines. I will therefore
feed the post-filter phone signal back down the same cat5 to node 0. From
there it is sent everywhere by cat5. There will be a switch in my study
connected to a switch or hub in node 0 to send LAN everywhere.

> 3. I'm still a little unclear as to what I need in the way of
> infrared.  Xantech seem to do several options.  Is it an ok
> solution to use microlink IR receivers in each room, and a
> 791-44 IR amp/splitter at node zero?  Whst IR receiver would
> be suitable for placing, say, on top of the TV?  How would this
> connect up to the cat5 outlet?
Put an RJ45 connector on the end of the IR receiver cable?

>
> 4. Where can I get a patch panel suitable for the phone?  I am
> looking for the type that has IDC punchdown for the incoming line,
> and four RJ45 sockets wired together.  Can I put a microfilter
> inline before this?
How about a regular RJ45 patch panel? If you're carrying telephone signals
over cat5, it's the easiest option.

> 5. Where can I get a coax distribution panel?  I want to be able
> to patch thru one TV rf signal and one RM radio rf signal to any
> of the CT100 room outlets.
You can buy a 1U metal 19" blanking panel and drill holes. Put in an F
barrel connector with a nut. Put F plugs on the end of your cables. You can
get an F push-on adapator to make a patch panel. This is discussed
somewhere
on www.satcure.co.uk

> 6. I plan to install two towel warmers in the bathrooms.  These
> rooms are already wired for this, and have a blanking plate in
> a suitable place.   How can I add X-10 control of these?  Do I
> need to run wires back to node zero?  (I may not be able to run
> wires from the socket, since it is in a tiled area)

> 7.  I'm still unsure as to what cat5 wallplate system I will
> use.  Clipsal modular is nice and saves wall space, but it is
> very expensive (a quad cat5 will cost approx £50!!!).
The cheapest I found were the mini5 variety. Try www.minitran.co.uk,
www.mini5.co.uk. www.rapidelectronics.co.uk

> 8. Should I install speaker cables?  I guess it would be nice to have
> an MP3 server at node zero and pipe music to various rooms
> (controlled via Vinyl App on a Compaq Ipaq PDA ;-)
Why wouldn't you install speaker cables? Even if you don't use them, get
all
your cabling done with in one go.

> 9. What sort of PIR's?
Dunno

> 10. I plan on getting a 9u or 12u wallmounted 19" rack - not full
> depth, maybe 350 or 400mm deep.  Best source I've found so far is
> Videk.  Anyone else got a better source?
Yes - ebay. Racks appear there regularly for much less than you'll pay new.

> 11. Finally, anything else I've left out?
CBus instead of  X10? Second sky box? Tivo? Xbox? Slimp3?
HomeBrain/HomeVision? Movie/MP3 server with HUGE disk space? HCPC?

> Thanks in advance,
> Ian

HTH
Paul