Skip to main content

Modernizing old house network wiring - Part 10A - More Work!

A few quick updates.

I ended up moving my backboard from a location that was impeded by plumbing to a more accessible spot.  This change does mean extending some cables, but access to my backboard panel and power will be far easier.  It's a big win.

Speaking of the backboard, I have an 8 port network switch mounted, along with a PoE injector and a giant amplified cable TV splitter.  I also mounted a power strip, which I might later replace with a UPS.  I don't plan to mount any more equipment in the short term.  I

Now that my backboard has moved 8 feet away, I needed a way to drag over a dozen+ cables over 8 feet away, and most need to be extended.  Extending is easy with couplers, and  I figured my best solution for dealing with the extra cabling is to use a cable tray.

Cable trays are not inexpensive (they are not free), so instead I have gutted an old light fluorescent light fixture and am using the steel housing as a poor man's cable tray.  I wish it were a little wider, but it works perfectly well for the 10 or so cables I have within it.  Of course, this could grow.

And now for dressing cables.  My technique here is to mount all the equipment and plug in the cables, and then draw them back into a neat bundle.  I split the bundles into Ethernet and Coax.  A lot of zip ties later and it looks good.   I'm not actually planning to use the coax, but I figure that since it is throughout the building I might as well maintain it and have it look decent.

Popular posts from this blog

The Trick to Properly Fixing the Rubber Feet of a MacBook Pro

A black rubber foot of my trusty old MacBook Pro finally broke off, and I didn't like how it made the laptop wobbly.  A fix was needed, and quick! First I bought some replacement feet, the kind that just stick on.   These feet are nice because there is no need open up the machine to fix a broken foot.  They're very inexpensive, and the ones I bought have adhesive tape already applied - just peal and stick.  I bought feet like the ones found here. I have read many complaints about how the adhesive doesn't stick, but I think that's because people don't know the two tricks required to get the new feet to stick properly. New Feet to replace a lost Foot Important Trick 1: Make sure to remove all remnants of the old foot - including the pieces in the hole.   My factory-installed foot was attached both mechanically and with adhesive, but when the old foot sheared off, some pieces of the old foot remained in the hole.  Those plastic bits would h...

Canon SD890 Review

My Canon PowerShot SD890IS Review Wahoo! I just received my new Canon PowerShot SD890IS . Here's my review of the new SD890IS. Updated! (20-April-2008)! I like taking good photos. And I hate lugging around big cameras and equipment. And so I concluded that I needed to buy myself an awesome point-n-shoot camera. I often take pictures in difficult conditions, such as a museum where a flash camera is prohibited. Or a concert, where I can't use a flash, the lighting is low, and the people on stage are in motion. Or with the zoom cranked up and focused on a distant subject. Taking good photos in these conditions, with a small lens camera and without a tripod is a challenge at best. In comes the SD890. I was particularly excited about the SD890 because it is pocketable, yet it has awesome specifications: Image stabilization ; a 5x zoom lens, and 10 megapixel resolution. When I bought the camera, I imagined that these features would help me take much better pictures in the...

Sodastream Carbonator Leakage, Usage, and Weight

SodaStream 60L "Carbonator" CO2 cylinders have a specific weight when empty, plus about 410 or so grams for the CO2 they should have when they're "full".  A little while ago I went to buy a replacement Carbonator from my local hardware store. The dealer pulled a new Carbonator out of the box and sensed it was lighter than usual.  He put the "light" Carbonator in the "empty" pile and sold me a different one.  At that moment I concluded that it would be smart of me to weigh both new and empty SodaStream carbonators.  Here are the results. Weighing a SodaStream Carbonator - for both Science and Consumer Protection.       The dealer told me that sometimes the carbonators leak after they leave the SodaStream filling facility.  That means there could be an opportunity for customers like me to get ripped off! The SodaStream cylinders I buy claim to have a net product weight of 410 grams - and that means that a full Soda Stream Carbonator shou...

Fixing a SodaStream Jet, Repair #2 - Broken Fill Button

My Soda Stream Jet's fill button broke, which means I can not longer carbonate water by pressing the pushbutton. This caused all sorts of grief in my household. Here is how I managed to repair my Jet to give it another 10 years of life (hopefully). First, a look at the button The fill button on the top of the SodaStream is actually a simple lever. Pressing down on the button moves a pin that does the actual work of pressing open the Carbonator's valve. Unfortunately, the axis point is fairly thin and can see a lot of stress. That's where my Soda Stream button cracked. [ I think the usage tip here is "don't over-press the button like a gorilla, it doesn't do anything but put high stress on the button."] Cracked levering point of the button The Pesky Lever Retaining Pin The Fix It was pretty easy for me to replace the button: Take off the back of the Soda Stream and remove the carbonator. Push out the the button lever's steel retaining pin. This takes qu...

Using a Directional WiFi Access Point - the TP-Link CP210

I have two buildings on my property, and I wanted to bring Internet to my garage without pulling a wire. Previously I was using the barely-adequate reach of my house's WiFi, but it was just a little too far and it would drop frequently enough to be painful. My solution is a WiFi Directional access point - the TP-Link CP210. I chose the CP-210 because it was inexpensive. It only supports the 2.4 GHz band, but my goal was quality over performance. In all, it does this job perfectly. I mounted the CP-210 in my attic because it was easier to install that way. If I really wanted to I could mount it on the outside, but that means drilling holes and climbing a ladder and other things that I don't want to do. After all, it works great from inside - an outside mount isn't going to give me anything more except more work. I simply pointed the CP-210's antenna to my garage and that was it. Easy and effective. The CP-210 has a bunch of useful configuration options - it isn't jus...

Robust Installation of an HDHomeRun Networked TV Tuner. 64 OTA channels!

I added an HDHomerun (HDHR) over-the-air (OTA) streaming box to my home network, bringing over-the-air broadcast TV to my computers, phones and tablets.  The HDHR is a big upgrade from my previous setup: using a simple "window mount" antenna directly connected to my TV. A TV-attached antenna is good for watching some TV for free, but the HDHR offers so much more flexibility. Figure 0: HDHomeRun on my basement wall   My original OTA TV setup was haphazard at best. It was finicky, ugly, and hard for other people at home to use. I would actually tape my antenna to a window whenever I wanted to watch OTA TV. Plus, it only worked on my TV and not with my other devices. I wanted a cleaner and more modern OTA setup. After looking at possibilities, I developed two goals: (1) bring my OTA TV into the modern Internet-connected era, and (2) set it up in a reliable and pretty way so that other family members wouldn't have to fool around with the antenna or anything else.  With that,...

Other Posts

Show more