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NAS relocation and home theater hard wiring

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Voodoo Rufus

Powder Junkie Moderator
Joined
Sep 20, 2001
Location
Bakersfield, CA
So I built a new rig. Then the new rig was almost silent compared to my Synology DS211j NAS. Then I decided to figure out if I could relocate the NAS to my master bedroom closet where the structured media box is which contains the home coax cables and telephone patch board and cables. Then I remembered that my phone wiring in the house is all Cat5E wired into RJ11s. So I figured, why not retrofit all the RJ11s into RJ45s so I can have hard wired ethernet throughout the house, and get my home theater off the wireless. Now, I don't have wireless speed or streaming problems, and my home internet is 400Mbit download, but why not, right?

My internet modem and router are in my home office, and my main rig is wired directly into the GBit switch on the combo Surfboard modem/router/wireless. I intend to keep it there.

So here's the plan:
Run Cat6 from living room to office
Run Cat6 from living room to closet box
Run Cat6 from office to closet box
Install TPlink Gigabit 8-port switch in closet box
Install 12-port Cat6 patch panel in closet box
Swap out existing Cat5e cable from the dumb RJ11 patch panel onto the Cat6 panel
Drill a hole for the NAS power and RJ45 patch cable into closet box cover
Swap out RJ11 wall plates for RJ45 punch down plates for full home LAN (5 of them total. One in each bedroom, one in office, one in kitchen)
Install 3-port single gang plates in office and living room home theater. One port for coax, two ports for Cat6
Wire TV, Bluray player, AppleTV, and PS3 into 5-port Gigabit switch which will connect to jack that will run directly to the office and the router

Parts list:
Patch panel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UVQI8B...olid=26QOGVFUV14Q9&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Wall plates https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017GYKWY...olid=26QOGVFUV14Q9&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Punch tool https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000AZK4...olid=26QOGVFUV14Q9&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Cable stripper https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072JPYP4...olid=26QOGVFUV14Q9&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Cat6 keystone punch down wall plates https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M1ORU9...olid=26QOGVFUV14Q9&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
Coax keystones https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matter...id=1549413409&sr=1-4&keywords=F+type+keystone
250ft Monoprice Cat6 bulk cable
Patch cables

Am I missing anything?

IMG_0456.jpeg IMG_0457.jpeg
 
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You should look at a PoE switch (I personally like UniFi hardware).

I originally installed my first PoE switch as my new Wireless Access Points were PoE devices. Now, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the simplicity of PoE. I just run one cable (the Ethernet cable) to power up a device...it's glorious. As an extra bonus...because I have the PoE switch on a UPS, ALL PoE devices are battery backed up!

Cat 5e can do Gigabit Ethernet, so not sure why you would want to pull new cable?

It might help if you had a connection diagram showing how the wired devices are connected through the various switches. For my setup, my office is the main connection, and I ran a Gigabit trunk line from the office to the family room. The family room is the next most densely populated area for wired devices.
 
I'm pulling new cable to add more ports at strategic locations in the house. I'll utilize the existing Cat5e as is, also.

Sort of want to prove the theory that this could work without too much effort. If it does, I could totally expand on it and put all the internet gear in the closet, fancy 21st century style.

I'm toying with the idea of adding 4 LAN ports to a single wall plate in the living room and office, and letting the closet switch handle it all, as opposed to running two switches (one in the media cabinet and one in the closet before going back to the router).
 
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