I bought some wire...
29,000 feet of it and counting... That doens't include what my sparky will bring in terms of Romex...
Loaded down the truck pretty good. My very smart wife suggested I check for an "online" coupon as I had a bunch of this in my shopping cart... Sure enough, close to 30 percent off the entire order and it cost me a google search and 30 seconds... She is smart.
From left to right... First wire is a 5 conductor mini-RGB (750 feet at close to $1/ft), which is actually the RED, GREEN, and BLUE in component television signals. The other two wires are for horizontal and vertical sync, but I won't be using them for that... Rather it gives me an additional set of wires to run to each TV for switching the security system or old fashioned composite... Whatever I need. I also bought a compression tool so I can properly terminated the ends of this wire. At the equipment room, I will be using an 8 by 8 commercial, high definition matrix switch, capable of 425 Mhz bandwidth. What does that mean?? Well, I can take any of 8 HD component sources and switch them in any and all combinations to any of 8 display devices... The particular unit I have was purchased new on eBay for a steal (quite literally possibly??) of $500 dollars a couple years back with this purpose in mind. It can be controlled manually, with IR signals, or with RS-232 commands. It also has the ability to control analog stereo audio signals as well, so I can hook that rig up to a multichannel amplifier and run both the video and audio in those rooms. It can control the volume of the audio.
Next wire... Standard old RG6 Quadshield... This wire is great for one thing... Satellite signals from the dish to the receiver, which ends up being all the way across the house because of a very nice shade tree blocking it's other likely location. I was originally not going to do anything else with this cable, but decided it prudent to run 2 each to each TV location as well... just in case. It wasn't free but certainly not expensive given the complexity of running this stuff after the fact... So I bought 3000 feet of it...
3rd wire... Cat5e, or Category 5e wire. This is what most people would run for their computer data, and a lot of folks now running higher bandwidth Cat6 (I will probably stick in some Cat6 later to the office only). Anyway, I am using this stuff for all kinds of goodies... Centralite lighting control allows it's use from each switch pad to the 3 superstars, Russound Compoint intercom systems (2 exterior call stations and 12 interior stations), hardwired infrared command signals, two runs each to each TV location in case something magical happens in this regard (long story, but digital signals for HD are very tricky), plus Cat5e for phone hookups and data, which will all terminate at a hub so I can patch to an appropriate devide. The nice thing about what I just said is that you can have a phone jack one day, switch two wires, and presto, ethernet computer port.
One quick note about Cat5e wire, you can find this stuff for about 40 dollars per 1000 here and there, but watch the fine print... Not all of it is solid copper. Look out for a wire called CCA (copper clad aluminum). CCA wire may be ok for short runs of data wire, but any wire that runs current may cause heat buildup, and this wire is NOT tested for that... I ended up finding solid copper for about 55 dollars per 1000, and I couldn't justify the cost savings for the risk of the unknown. I am not saying that CCA wire is not capable of these functions, but there isn't any data on it out there, so I steered clear.
I bought several colors so I can keep this stuff as organized as possible (hmmm...right).
This is boring you, I can tell...
Last wire is 14 gage speaker wire, in this case, CL3 rated in-wall 2 conductor. I have also 1500 feet of this same wire in a 14/4 configuration, because the Compoint intercom system requires you to run your speaker wire to the stations first, and then 14/2 wire to each speaker in that location. This allows the compoint to "capture" your audio speakers, mutes the music, and then makes the announcement or chimes. It's a very cool system, but uses up some extra wire. (I've been watching some ceiling speakers on eBay that look very nice, 8 inch coax speakers that are angled inside a 10 inch enclosure... I think I will buy a pair and play with them...)
Oh, and the 14/4 speaker wire in a 1000' bundle was the heaviest cable by far... 1500 feet of that, and 2000 feet of the 14/2.
Also bought some 22/6 stranded alarm cable for use by the Centralite panels to discuss things with each other.
AND, bought 150 feet of 2 INCH... VERY hard to find, flex conduit. This allows me to pass the entire HDMI cable (and head) through the walls later in some hard to get to locations in case I want to change out to HDMI in those rooms...
OK, so why not HDMI everywhere, you ask... Good question, but in a nutshell HDMI is a crappy interface cable. If you want a 1080P or higher signal you are tied to it however. Problem is, that with even moderate runs of over 35 feet, it's an iffy signal (not to mention HDCP copy protection gets all messed up when you pass through multiple components, I am told). I have three televisions that will use this interface however... The plan is to switch between 4 source components in HDMI to a HDMI 4x4 matrix switch, then feed 3 receivers that decode the audio, and pass the HDMI video signal to the video monitors in those rooms sans audio. It should work, and I think the 1080P signal difference is worthwhile on those larger TVs, but not worth the trouble in places like the garage and master bath, etc...
So, I DID buy a 100 foot HDMI cable that has a build in amplifier. It takes the power build into the interface and uses it to run the amplifier. It is a one way cable, though... I checked it out today in my existing house between the HD TIVO's and my current living room TV... Worked great, and made a huge improvement over my existing component signals... I was unable to check it for 1080P signals as I am in the stone age on BlueRay... Wife says "talk to the hand...." It will happen when she's not looking someday soon, though;-)
So lets change the subject... Some more eBay purchases... Bought two of these TACO RMB (radiant mixing blocks). They are two pumps connected in a singular housing, that mixes hot supply water with return water from the radiant floors, adding heat as required to arrive at a desired supply temperature for the radiant supply lines... The computer that makes all those decisions is right on board... I bought both in auctions with very little competition... Saved about 1000 dollars over internet prices. These things are MUCH bigger than I had pictured...
OK, one more shot of the 3 rolls of mini RGB wire. For those of you experts out there that are thinking I am stupid for not running pure Quad RG6, I have poured over 100's of pages of opinions on this very subject, and of those that have installed this wire instead, not a single problem. RG6 on the other hand they have had several problems... Worse yet, the RG6 is a really stiff cable and not very friendly between the wall and television, and with a lot of cables mounted on an articulating arm, the arm gets out of whack and the cables act like a spring, pushing your television around...
One more rant about HDMI... For the love of pete, why didn't the industry just use an already existing format for this interface... my choice would have been the fiber optic (TOSLINK) connection. No distance limitations, easy to use, inexpensive, and could easily manage the digital encryption requirements of HDCP...
Tomorrow, (well, actually in about 3 hours), I am meeting up with the framer to finish up some things... Frame around fireplace #2, frame the equipment room A/V hole, can lights, fill in the archs on the front door, etc.
I have also been designing a giant "vibration isolation table" for the Geothermal to sit on... Basically, it's a frame mounted to one concrete wall and the concrete floor, then a floating table above that which will "ride" on 6 Chevrolet big block lifter springs (very stout) which will be recessed in guide holes. Then, the geo will further sit on giant military grade rubber isolation mounts. I am fearful of vibration and noise getting in to the slab or framing... Geo guy want's to elevate things so the condensate will go down the pipe, so why not...
Yup, I'm way over the edge now... Please send help...
OH, to make matters worse.. Not I am thinking maybe about doing my own central vac... It doesn't look very hard...
