Organizing home distribution panel

[MikeHou]

After recent upgrade, I've now got 3 dual tuners, two of them backfeeding to other rooms and also an OTA line that feeds a 622. With the addition of the DPP44 and power inserter on top of the numerous diplexers and splitters, I've got a mess in my tiny distribution panel.

I've tried searching past posts for photos that some members have posted of their panels to get some ideas on how to organize this. I've come up empty so far, so if those of you with pics of your panels could post them here, I would be most appreciative.

[Cap'n Preshoot]

After recent upgrade, I've now got 3 dual tuners, two of them backfeeding to other rooms and also an OTA line that feeds a 622. With the addition of the DPP44 and power inserter on top of the numerous diplexers and splitters, I've got a mess in my tiny distribution panel.

I've tried searching past posts for photos that some members have posted of their panels to get some ideas on how to organize this. I've come up empty so far, so if those of you with pics of your panels could post them here, I would be most appreciative.

Why would you need a DPP44 in Houston? A 1000.2 dish with 3 home runs to the dish would be all you need. (the 1000.2 dish has the switch built-in).

That aside, having done considerable prewiring myself, I may be able to give you a little help here. If you want your home node (distribution panel) to be recessed inside a closet, then right there you're limited to a maximum depth of 3-1/2 inches. Commercially-made distribution panels, such as those from outfits like Honeywell, are 24h X 14w X 3-1/2 deep and include provisions (splitter termination) for 8 coax drops, 8 cat5 drops, a duplex AC power outlet and numerous large top and bottom knockouts to bring your cabling in. Honeywell (and I'm sure others) make larger panels, such as 36" high and 30" wide, though these would necessarily need to be framed & boxed-in to provide proper wall support. You'd also then need to make some holes through the framing for your wires, again being mindful of std. construction practices so that you don't weaken the support of the framing. (Our goal here being to leave the home standing when we're finished :) )

Our new home was already professionally pre-wired before we bought it, so I didn't have a hand in this, but am still quite pleased with what they did.

First of all they left me with five (5) home-run coax (RG6 Quad) feeders, two of which go out to the utility entrance point outside the home. There they left a 2' service loop in each. The 3 other "feeders" were 50' "coils" which were extended over to the attic entrance ladder area and tied-off for later convenience use, as needed. Everything's marked, of course.

They also put in two (2) CAT6 "feeders" that go out to the utility entrance point outside the home along with the coax mentioned above.

The final "feeder" I am just ecstatic about is the 1" dia "smurf tube" (fiber innerduct) they installed between the 'home node' and the outside service entrance point. Naturally there's a heavy pull string inside and the tube is capped-off outside.

IN ADDITION (!) the installers put in a large (2" dia) grey PVC conduit between the top left corner of the home node wall box and the attic for eventual later use in expansion projects (wheee!!!!) The conduit is capped on top with a 24" stub-up (to make it clearly apparent & not get buried in the insulation), but the cap is simply there and not glued on. Clearly someone was thinking about future needs. Thank-you, thank-you, THANK-YOU!!!

There are ALSO two (2) separate 1" conduit runs between the attic and the back wall of the TV niche area (a recessed area in the family room where the home entertainment center would obviously go). These are in the back wall of the TV niche and end in two separate 4x4 plastic utility boxes with blank covers. Once again, I cannot THANK THEM enough for showing foresight in planning.

WIRING: Each "communications" outlet throughout the home contains two (2) CAT6 and two (2) RG6 Quad drops. These communications outlets are located as follows:
one in the back wall of the Study
two in each bedroom on opposite walls
one in the kitchen at counter-height on the back wall
one in the dining room
one in the TV-niche + another in the family room opposite wall

There is also a single cat 6 and a single coax 2' above and to the side of the front and back entrance doors (for camera surveillance or whatever use you want to make of them). All coax cable and cat6 cable is Commscope brand. (good stuff).

Obviously there is a pretty good-sized bundle of cabling (separate bundles) coming into the home node, which is 24 x 14 x 3-1/2 as previously mentioned. Everything is clearly labeled making it easy to find what you need. Note well that it's not all hooked up, either. That would be stupid (IMO anyway). You hook up only that which you need, though every cable is connectorized, and here again they did it right, using amphenol RJ45 plugs and Thomas & Betts Snap-'n-Seal coax connectors. Saying they "did a nice job" doesn't begin to describe the quality of workmanship. I'm extremely pleased.

All of the communications outlets throughout the home are Panduit Mini-Com with at least $25 worth of hardware (my cost!) in each. They charged the builder $75 per outlet, which includes cabling, installation, termination, testing and a 1-year warranty. There was also a $350 "site charge" which I assume covers the wall can, smurf tube, conduit stubs and exterior penetration sleeves. The builder passes these costs through to the buyer net-net without further mark-up, so again it's a pretty reasonable deal.

SURROUND SOUND (family room ceiling - $250 additional) was also pre-wired in-place, but does not (nor should it) go through the home node panel. 2x4 std utility boxes were left in the ceiling w/blank covers. There was also a coax pull to the back wall of the family room (for a rear sub-woofer). Wire size is #12 stranded to the ceiling locations. All this was pulled down to a 4x4 utility box in the back of the TV niche with a cover with a 2" round hole.

HOOKUP The 3 coax runs from the dish + 1 from the OTA antenna are made-up inside the home node (not using the 8-way splitter). The Sat coax each hit their own respective diplexer then the sat-leg is connected to the 3 locations where we have receivers (2 bedrooms & TV niche). The only "2nd room" backfeed goes to the guest bedroom (fed from the 722). The remaining diplexers are for OTA. There's also a 4-way line splitter for the incoming OTA. I only needed a 3-way, but that would have left me with two -7 db drops and one -3.5 db drop. I like having all sig levels the same, so used a 4-way and simply put a 75-ohm terminator cap on the unused port. Yes, I am superimposing OTA into the 722 via a 2150 Mhz power-passing splitter and an additional diplexer (several ways of doing this) - the 722 is happy and that's what's important. You do not have OTA available at the 2nd set (remember, the 2nd set is analog and OTA is digital....)

The 8-way splitter in the home node panel appears to be for cable. Ditto the 8-way RJ45 termination block is for telephone, not data. My data wiring is unused since we use wireless, but even with all the wiring inside the home node there would still be room for a small router/etherswitch if you were so inclined. The installers left only about 18" cable stubs inside the home node, which are plenty long.

Sorry I have no pictures. We're in Katy (Cinco Ranch). Builder was Lennar, but I don't know who they subbed-out the communications wiring to. Whoever it was obviously knew WTF they were doing.

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[MikeHou]

Cap'n, thanks for the very thorough reply.

I've got a dpp44 because that's what dish gave me. Prior dish was original 1000 which only handles two receiver feeds. Suppose the switch was easier than swapping the dish when the 3rd receiver was added..

My builder was Perry, and they obviously took the cheaper route than Lennar. All I have is enclosed piece of 12" x 12" plywood with a small patch panel for phone and an 8-way splitter for cable. Now have the switch and bunch of diplexers and splitters to backfeed and provide OTA from garage-mounted antenna.

You've given me some things to think about; thanks for the input.