New house Cat6 wire

[PenguinMaster]

I am looking at wiring my new house for ethernet (walls are open).

 

For regular ethernet jacks around the house this is my plan:

Punch-down Keystone Wall Plate > Cat6E Cable > Patch Panel with Pass-through Couplers (not punch down style) > Patch Cat6 cable > Switch

 

For WiFi Access Points this is my plan:

AP > Cat6E Cable > Patch Panel with Pass-through Couplers (not punch down style) > Patch Cat6 cable > PoE Injector > Patch Cat6 cable > Switch

I am not sure if this is too complicated or if it will work fine

 

My main reason for this forum post is does anyone know if the PoE injectors will work with those FS.com couplers in the blank patch panel? They are circuit board instead of individually wired internally. I contacted their support but they told me no twice and yes once for PoE support from three different representatives. The other reason is does anyone know if my current setup will be able to handle 10GbE in the future (other than the switch)? I can run Cat6a instead of the Cat6E if thats better for the future.

 

The parts are as follows:

 

>RJ45 Modular Ends: Cable Matters 100 Pack Pass Through RJ45 Modular Plugs for Solid or Stranded UTP Cable

>Punch-down Keystone Jacks: Cable Matters UL Listed 25-Pack Slim Profile 90 Degree Cat 6, Cat6 RJ45 Keystone Jack with Keystone Punch Down Stand in White

>Cat6E Cable: CAT6E Riser (CMR), 1000ft, UTP 24AWG, Solid Bare Copper, 600MHz, UL Certified, Easy to Pull (Reelex II) Box, Bulk Ethernet Cable in White

>Router: Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro

>Switch: Ubiquiti Switch Pro 24

>Patch Panel: Cable Matters Rackmount or Wall Mount 24 Port Keystone Patch Panel (Blank Patch Panel for Keystone Jacks/Keystone Panel)

>Couplers for Blank Patch Panel: Cat6 Keystone RJ45 Coupler, Unshielded, Female to Female Insert Inline Coupler

>Patch Cables: 12ft (3.7m) Cat6 Snagless Unshielded (UTP) PVC CM Ethernet Network Patch Cable

>Access Points: Ubiquiti UniFi Access Point WiFi 6 Long-Range & Ubiquiti UniFi Access Point WiFi 6 Lite

>Wall Plates: Two Ports Keystone Single Gang Wall Plate

[Blue4130]

@PenguinMaster the difference between 6e and 6a may be small, but if it was me, I'd go 6a now (and I'd likely run a few Fibre runs to key areas as well). Do it right and overkill the first time, when the walls are open. It will save so much hassle than trying to fish line in the future. 

[PenguinMaster]

1 hour ago, Blue4130 said:

@PenguinMaster the difference between 6e and 6a may be small, but if it was me, I'd go 6a now (and I'd likely run a few Fibre runs to key areas as well). Do it right and overkill the first time, when the walls are open. It will save so much hassle than trying to fish line in the future. 

Ok I will run Cat6a. Got any suggestions for cable brands?

[Blue4130]

3 minutes ago, PenguinMaster said:

Ok I will run Cat6a. Got any suggestions for cable brands?

Whatever solid core, all copper wire is cheapest. I've not found any really bad companies when following this rule. (my last box was some Chinese brand called chosen and it works just fine.) 

 

One note, make sure to get the correct connectors, 6 and 6a can have multiple variations of wire gauge and still be in spec. 23awg and 24awg may be close, but crimping the wrong end will lead to baldness. 

[PenguinMaster]

6 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Whatever solid core, all copper wire is cheapest.

Ok, I'll just check the reviews on Amazon also

 

7 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

23awg and 24awg may be close

Ok so for 23awg get 23awg ends and for 24awg get 24awg ends?

 

Do you think I need shielded? I feel like that's kind of overkill for a home environment

[Blue4130]

Just now, PenguinMaster said:

Ok, I'll just check the reviews on Amazon also

 

Ok so for 23awg get 23awg ends and for 24awg get 24awg ends?

 

Do you think I need shielded? I feel like that's kind of overkill for a home environment

My understanding is that all 6a is shielded. That's part of the 6a spec. 

[PenguinMaster]

2 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

My understanding is that all 6a is shielded. That's part of the 6a spec. 

On Amazon Cat6a comes in UTP, U/FTP, S/UTP, F/UTP and SFTP

 

Most of the 1000ft spools look like UTP

[Blue4130]

1 minute ago, PenguinMaster said:

On Amazon Cat6a comes in UTP, U/FTP, S/UTP, F/UTP and SFTP

 

Most of the 1000ft spools look like UTP

Ah, yes, but even in unshielded, the pairs are foil wrapped. But regardless, in a house build, as long as you aren't wrapping it around the power cables, you are probably fine. Unless you are hitting the limits of distance and speed. 

[PenguinMaster]

2 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Unless you are hitting the limits of distance and speed. 

I would like to hit 10GbE in the future and the longest runs are only about 125ft. I think 'unshielded' is best just because of hassle of terminating the fully shielded

[scottyseng]

21 hours ago, PenguinMaster said:

 

My main reason for this forum post is does anyone know if the PoE injectors will work with those FS.com couplers in the blank patch panel?

Yes, they will work fine. I use keystone couplers instead of punch down keystone because I haven't had too much luck with my punch down keystone jacks where a wire would come loose once I pushed it in the wall or messed with the keystone panel. The only downside is that this takes a fair space up in the wall to have clearance behind the coupler. I run unifi pow switches at home on my server rack. At a client's home, I ran injectors before they upgraded to a switch. That jobsite I did entirety using keystone couplers. 

[Falcon1986]

@PenguinMaster

 

If you're going to use Cat6A and couplers at your patch panel, use the Cat6A versions.

 

While I have never delivered PoE through an ethernet coupler (I just bypass the patch panel and run straight to switch; less points of failure), you should be OK if using good quality couplers. Those from FS should be fine.

[PenguinMaster]

@Falcon1986 @Blue4130 @scottyseng

 

Do you guys know of any reputable ethernet cable manufacturers?  It seems like trueCABLE and Newyork Cables are decent but I am having a lot of trouble finding S/FTP cable.  I definitely decided on shielded cable because people say it dissipates heat better for PoE+ which I need for my WiFi Access points.  Do you guys think S/FTP is overkill and I should go with either S/UTP or F/UTP?  Is it more important for the twisted pairs to be shielded or for the whole cable itself to be shielded?  

[scottyseng]

If cost is no object, Belden is some of the best cable. I use fs.com cable myself personally. I used to use monoprice but the jacket wasn't as smooth. I think sftp is a overkill unless you are running next to power lines. 

[mariushm]

Here's 279 cables, filtered for you to show only Cat6 or better:  https://www.digikey.com/short/q9v81q54

 

You can filter further by minimum length (there's around 150 items for 100 meters or longer spools) , shield type (just foil or foil + braid), type of cable insulation etc.

Of course, it's more expensive than Amazon, but at least you know they're not fake cables or CCA cables (copper coated aluminum)