Ran 3 Cat6 cables... what a PIA!

M

myipcam

Getting the hang of it
Dec 23, 2018
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USA
As the title says, finally got down to running the cables. It was a big PIA... no help, managed somehow with a wifi endoscope. Endoscope helped in routing the snake a good deal but in the end, drywall near the ceiling had to be cut to help route the wires.

Originally tried to hire a well known electrical outfit but their outrageous estimate PLUS, I was responsible for covered porch soffit (pulling it apart and putting it back) AND, I had to provide the cable... got me thinking why bother hiring them. I bought cable and the endoscope. With a bit of messing around it was done.

Well, the next step is to crimping connectors and mounting cameras.
 
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myipcam said:
As the title says, finally got down to running the cables. It was a big PIA... no help, managed somehow with a wifi endoscope. Endoscope helped in routing the snake a good deal but in the end, drywall near the ceiling had to be cut to help route the wires.

Originally tried to hire a well known electrical outfit but their outrageous estimate PLUS, I was responsible for covered porch soffit (pulling it apart and putting it back) AND, I had to provide the cable... got me thinking why bother hiring them. I bought cable and the endoscope. With a bit of messing around it was done.

Well, the next step is to crimping connectors and mounting cameras.
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If you need help figuring out how to run cables to other locations feel free to ask for advice. It's always easier to help with this sort of thing if you post pictures, drawings, floorplans etc.

It's always a good idea to get multiple estimates. I wouldn't really expect most electricians to have Cat-6 on hand, and I'd rather control the quality of the cable. There are some nice specialized tools an electrician or cable installer may have that can be very helpful, but often carefully cutting some drywall is necessary. Sometimes a longer route is actually easier.
 
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Good job! - this is one reason why I always tell people to use good quality cable. No sense to save $20-40 on cheap cable when it takes you a significant amount of time to run the lines.

Also, remember to have someone help when doing the pulls - otherwise the cables can snag.. and that's no fun.
 
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It can be a nightmare - when I did my house I discovered all my internal and external walls are solid - literally no gaps what-so-ever (UK 1980 build).

I ended up using D-line decorative trunking to run the wires.
 
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tangent said:
It's always a good idea to get multiple estimates.
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tangent said:
I wouldn't really expect most electricians to have Cat-6 on hand, and I'd rather control the quality of the cable.
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tangent said:
Sometimes a longer route is actually easier.
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All very good points.

And regarding the CAT-6: to increase his profit margin, one could wind up with CCA cable in the walls if the contractor chose and furnished the cable.
 
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I know around here the regular Electricians don't keep Ethernet cable on hand. I've checked.

OTOH, I believe they all buy from a large electrical supply/distributor up the road a piece. I doubt they'd carry the cheap CCA stuff. Trust, but verify. :)

Out at work there's been an outfit pulling a lot of new Cat6 for some office expansion. I've snagged a few usable chunks of drop. Definitely all copper. Sorta stiff and bit of a PITA with the X filler but price is right.

If nothing else, be sure any special requirements/conditions are in writing on the quote/contract.
 
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Is there any point to using cat6? Might as well use cat5e as cat6 gives you nothing extra, if you wanted extra then cat6a is what you should be using.
 
Cat6 has better specs all around. In many cases it might be no noticeable difference. But, same probably can be said for 6a too in the typical case.

Differences would tend to exhibit in more demanding applications, or if one works to move to higher network speed. Frankly, I can't see an individual camera run ever being more than Cat5/5e, but often the price difference to 6 is minimal anyway, and 6a just another incremental increase. Maybe more of a factor is the termination requirements/practices to keep any potential benefit of what you paid extra for.
 
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There are many valid points mentioned here. For example, the contractor could've installed a cheaper cable.. but I would've known because I WILL ask and find the price/source/quality.
In any event, I do have some experience in minor framing and running electrical wires in the past. The difference here was that exterior wall is man-made stone and porch's soffit area is quite narrow. Added to this, there were power wires going through nearby. The door frame is large so limited space on both sides of door to facilitate a cable run. Either myself or a contractor would have to do exactly the same as I did at this location. OTH, could it be run through another way? Yes. But, I'd have to tear walls in multiple locations in the garage. Granted it is garage, but it would've been more work afterwards. At the end, I decided to go the way I did and it worked out.

Perhaps doing this all by myself was the issue. Many times I had to run up and down, run snake with camera few times until ideal location is found etc.

Anyway, Thanks for the feedback!
 
At the risk of beating a potentially dead horse, the key takeaway for contracting/hiring a job is to put all special requests/conditions/requirements in writing, up front. Then, be sure those have transferred through to the written quote.

If it ain't in writing you don't really have a leg to stand on other than for general things like reasonable expectations for workmanship. Special requests/special requirements are a whole different matter.
 
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Apologies for potentially taking the thread off topic, possibly? I understood that running the caf6 cable was a pain rather than the actual environment which is why I posted as 5e can be easier to install.

I still maintain that for me it’s either 5e or 6a as 6 really provides nothing that I can see.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Apologies for potentially taking the thread off topic, possibly? I understood that running the caf6 cable was a pain rather than the actual environment which is why I posted as 5e can be easier to install.

I still maintain that for me it’s either 5e or 6a as 6 really provides nothing that I can see.
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Cat-6 uses thicker wire which can be desirable for PoE, especially with things like power hungry PTZs. It's also harder to damage during installation, it won't kink like 5e.
Cat-5e certainly works too. Cat-6 is a little slower to terminate (maybe 5-10 seconds).
 
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One tip I'd give people is to use multiple boxes. Instead of buying a single 1000ft box, buy 2 500ft boxes instead so that you can pull 2 strands at the same time (Granted 2 1000' boxes would be even better). Also, insure you pull a 'pull string' with your first run as well. That way, if you find yourself needing to run another drop 6 months down the road, you only need to attach the cable to the string a pull. It would suck to fish a cable through the wall again.

Between Cat6 and 5e, it doesn't really matter. Cat6 is my goto now, only because it's the standard stuff I use.
 
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+1^^.
I might add that try to make that second roll/box a different color; blue and gray are most easily found.
 
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I, generally, pre-measure every cable run, add some "SWAG" for any oops problems and LABEL both ends of every run as they're cut. I use a P-Touch and add a wrap of clear packaging tape to make sure the label stays put. That way a single box of one color works out for me. When I'm ready to make the pull, I lay the wire out to make sure it doesn't snag, hopefully, to minimize trips up and down ladders. I've also gotten into the habit of pulling a CMR rated 18-2 cable to each location for auxiliary power, just in case. When ever possible I terminate the "far" end to minimize terminating on a ladder, CAT6 can be a PITA on a ladder. It's all in the planning and prep work.
 
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I agree that having multiple boxes of wire always makes pulling a bunch of cable over the same routes much easier. When wiring labs with sensor cables, I was able to have 10 or more boxes at times. Different colors would be fantastic.

But in many cases, all we could get was grey.

So I wrote numbers on each box, and then used a Sharpie to write actual numbers or a series of dots or slashes on the exposed ends of each cable to match the box no.

I always make these markings three times on each cable, about 6 inches apart, starting 6 inches back from the end. That way if one gets smudged or scraped, I have backups.

Once pulled, I mark the box ends before cutting, and then mark the new ends for each. You can get pretty fast at marking the cables this way.

I just wired up two new VFDs for a couple of 75HP pump motors, connecting them to a PLC type control panel and a telemetry cabinet. We only had two rolls of the wire used for most of the low voltage control signals. I spent a lot of time stringing out and cutting wire to the lengths estimated for each conduit run, and then marking it at each end before pulling it. It would have been so much easier if I'd had multiple rolls of unique colors, but I would have had to special order it, and we didn't have the time.

The Sharpie slash-marking method served me well.

You can always ohm cables out later, too. That is especially easy with multiple-conductor cables like CAT where you can twist pairs together in a unique way at one end and then identify which cable is which at the other end by which pair is shorted, etc. That sort of thing works with individual wires, too if you start out with all but one connected, and identify the loner first, then work your way through them, or something similar. It's never a lost cause if you end up needing to identify non-marked cables after they've been pulled.

Having a cheap toner isn't a bad investment, too, if you're going to do a lot of this.

But different colors and multiple rolls is sweet!
 
I used to run installation crews on large network installations I gave up on the Sharpie method after having to go back and ohm things out when the markings got scraped off. A label with tape, about eighteen inched back from the end, has yet to fail. Trust me, I've had underfloor ducts packed pretty tightly and never lost a label or had to go back and ohm/tone one out.
 
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The Sharpie marks can get scraped off, and sometimes pulling compound will wash it off. You have to match the method to the situation. The tape over a label can get snagged up, too.

This is why I always use the triple redundant markings. I've never had that fail. But it takes more time, of course. The other thing is that you must allow the sharpie to dry fully before pulling it. And that, too can take some time.

We used to be able to get wire with numbers printed along the entire length. It was all white wire with printed numbers. That was really nice, but its expensive if you can find it now.

They should (maybe someone does) make CAT cable with numbers on it like that. If they made runs of different numbers, from 1 through, say, 999, and then always just made sure to ship all orders such that there were no duplicates in any order, that would be handy. Or have enough color or color with stripe combinations that you could have plenty of different markings for any job.
 
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