6 ms·

I think it’s time to re-wire the house

46 points by edward 6y ago

dazhbog 6y ago
Sounds like a paradise. Having a stable house that you can undertake these makery projects. For me, I'm still trying to find a country that I can even settle :))
- Google234 6y ago
  A snide comment like this isn’t very nice. I don’t get why people think this is the appropriate place to complain about this Twitter user’s privilege...
  - cpach 6y ago
    It doesn’t seem like a complaint to me. Just a reflection over different situations.
- asadlionpk 6y ago
  Same. Maybe later in life, I will have resources and time for all the hacks I have in mind.
  - vocram 6y ago
    Go for it. Don’t postpone what you could achieve now. You don’t know what will come later in your life.
    - nikodunk 6y ago
      I always wanted solar. But I live in an apartment. I found some solutions, and now sell simplified versions of them. Go for it - great advice IMO
- Hamuko 6y ago
  As a studio apartment dweller, it seems downright foreign to me to even have a space for where to stick a rack.
  - swiley 6y ago
    I guess calling what I have a studio is a stretch, I think they really do that to have it meet fire code. Regardless, I've managed this (although I don't have anything loud and maybe that's what you're talking about.) Personally I put the rack in the middle of the room and use it to partition sleeping space from workshop space. IMO the advantage to having everything as a single room is that you can define what space is used for what much more precisely this way (which is pretty great when you're working from home.)
    - Hamuko 6y ago
      Yeah, I personally love the one big room layout but it makes some things harder. I'd like to put all of my noisier stuff in the corridor, as it's the furthest point away from the alcove where my bed is, but there's a lack of network and electricity connectivity there. My four-bay NAS is currently in my media cabinet that's not too far from my bed and sometimes the vibrations of the disks annoy me as I'm trying to fall asleep.
      - avh02 6y ago
        i used to get a resonant rumble from the TV stand the NAS was in/on when the disks were spinning (only 2) - I can't remember what i did at the time but I managed to isolate the NAS to reduce that noise.
- daxfohl 6y ago
  This was me years ago. Now I have the house but still don't do any of these things. It feels like why do I want a bunch of stuff that I'll just have to get rid of someday once my kids grow up and I can be a nomad again. Physically I've been settled for almost a decade now and locked in for another decade plus, but mentally I don't think I ever changed and this just feels like a longish stopover.
  - nikodunk 6y ago
    How interesting!! Thanks for sharing this. Let me get back to you in 20 years on how settling went for me. Yours sincerely, Nomad
mNovak 6y ago
Is PoE to everything a common layout? I didn't realize it could support anywhere near that much power.
- brtkdotse 6y ago
  PoE is dark magic to me. How can you send any amperage at all through those hair thick leads?!
  - CodeWriter23 6y ago
    It’s ok, the cable will act as a fuse when necessary.
    - 29083011397778 6y ago
      Aircraft fuses exist not to save the several hundred-thousand dollar avionics install, but specifically to protect the wire from melting, shorting, or starting fires where fire does not belong [1] (page 11-15, para. 11-51). This is relevant because fire also does not belong inside the walls of your home. I assume you're just having a laugh, but just in case others take you too seriously: wire is not a substitute for a fuse. [1] https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_43.13-1B_w-chg1.pdf https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/...
      - CodeWriter23 6y ago
        Correct on all points, sir or maam.
    - bleepblorp 6y ago
      Hey, hey, we're not talking about USB-PD here. :-) PoE actually works.
  - hinkley 6y ago
    They split the amperage across multiple wires. I think PoE is always DC so the runs can’t be as long as with AC. Actually why can’t you run PoE as AC? Embedding a high frequency signal on a lower frequency carrier is older than dirt at this point. At 120 volts, 30 watts is only a quarter amp.
vocram 6y ago
I really like his workshop. Tools are well organized. No dirt. Enough space for working. That’s one of my life goals.
jonah 6y ago
A non-profit org I'm involved with expanded their facility and I got to plan and install a bunch of stuff before they closed up the walls. * Rack in a specially built wall recess. * PoE switch. * Cat 6 everywhere for network and IP phones. * Empty conduit for future expansion. * PoE mesh APs. * Ethernet for internal and external IP cameras. * HDMI from podium to TV and projector locations. * Giant powered projection screen. * Raspberry Pi powered dashboard displays throughout. That was something I don't get to do every day and a lot of fun.
- albertop 6y ago
  Why would you put Cat6 when Cat7 is priced almost the same. Future proofing.
  - tuananh 6y ago
    where i live, cat6a is double price of cat6. cat7 price is even higher.
hinkley 6y ago
We should bring back crown molding and big chunky baseboards. There’s a lot of cool wiring tricks you can do if you have an inch at the top of the wall and a couple at the base, without necessarily removing the drywall to do it. Was a company years ago that did hollow molding and triangular mounting brackets that gave a bunch of space to run wiring. I wonder if they’re still around.
- bleepblorp 6y ago
  I'm not sure if there are any hollow moldings still around. The closest equivalent I'm aware of is Legrand's Wiremold[0] line, which includes cable raceways that are functionally equivalent to hollow moldings. However, these parts are designed for the commercial electrical market and would be difficult to fit into residential decor. [0] https://www.legrand.us/wire-and-cable-management/raceway-and-cord-covers/plugmold-systems/2000-raceway-base-and-cover/p/g2000bc https://www.legrand.us/wire-and-cable-management/raceway-and...
  - hinkley 6y ago
    I'll admit it's been a few years, but every time I've looked at molding, it's either carved out of 1x6 stock or pressed out of some fiber material and shaped as if it were. There is a small triangular void that you fill with a triangular piece of wood [backing strips, that's the phrase I was looking for] or some wedges at intervals in order to support it. In this age where rare earth magnets are getting cheap, it'd be cool to have wood or coated MDF trim that's secured with magnets and little ferrous iron inserts. Then you just need a stronger magnet (like those passive stud finders) to pop the whole thing off and run more wires. Of course the next problem is you have a narrow, concealed raceway full of plastic insulation, which is something that rodents like to chew on... If I try to look for crown molding, I'm seeing a lot of accent light solutions built into plastic molding (you leave a gap for the light to come out from behind the molding). It's... okay. I'd rather have 10g ethernet in my house though.
paledot 6y ago
I appreciate his attitude towards the support people he's working with. Too many customers see it as their right/responsibility to make support people's lives miserable because of someone else's screwup or because their employer sucks.

46 points by edward 6y ago

Sounds like a paradise. Having a stable house that you can undertake these makery projects. For me, I'm still trying to find a country that I can even settle :))

Google234 6y ago
A snide comment like this isn’t very nice. I don’t get why people think this is the appropriate place to complain about this Twitter user’s privilege...
- cpach 6y ago
  It doesn’t seem like a complaint to me. Just a reflection over different situations.
asadlionpk 6y ago
Same. Maybe later in life, I will have resources and time for all the hacks I have in mind.
- vocram 6y ago
  Go for it. Don’t postpone what you could achieve now. You don’t know what will come later in your life.
  - nikodunk 6y ago
    I always wanted solar. But I live in an apartment. I found some solutions, and now sell simplified versions of them. Go for it - great advice IMO
Hamuko 6y ago
As a studio apartment dweller, it seems downright foreign to me to even have a space for where to stick a rack.
- swiley 6y ago
  I guess calling what I have a studio is a stretch, I think they really do that to have it meet fire code. Regardless, I've managed this (although I don't have anything loud and maybe that's what you're talking about.) Personally I put the rack in the middle of the room and use it to partition sleeping space from workshop space. IMO the advantage to having everything as a single room is that you can define what space is used for what much more precisely this way (which is pretty great when you're working from home.)
  - Hamuko 6y ago
    Yeah, I personally love the one big room layout but it makes some things harder. I'd like to put all of my noisier stuff in the corridor, as it's the furthest point away from the alcove where my bed is, but there's a lack of network and electricity connectivity there. My four-bay NAS is currently in my media cabinet that's not too far from my bed and sometimes the vibrations of the disks annoy me as I'm trying to fall asleep.
    - avh02 6y ago
      i used to get a resonant rumble from the TV stand the NAS was in/on when the disks were spinning (only 2) - I can't remember what i did at the time but I managed to isolate the NAS to reduce that noise.
daxfohl 6y ago
This was me years ago. Now I have the house but still don't do any of these things. It feels like why do I want a bunch of stuff that I'll just have to get rid of someday once my kids grow up and I can be a nomad again. Physically I've been settled for almost a decade now and locked in for another decade plus, but mentally I don't think I ever changed and this just feels like a longish stopover.
- nikodunk 6y ago
  How interesting!! Thanks for sharing this. Let me get back to you in 20 years on how settling went for me. Yours sincerely, Nomad

mNovak 6y ago

Is PoE to everything a common layout? I didn't realize it could support anywhere near that much power.

brtkdotse 6y ago
PoE is dark magic to me. How can you send any amperage at all through those hair thick leads?!
- CodeWriter23 6y ago
  It’s ok, the cable will act as a fuse when necessary.
  - 29083011397778 6y ago
    Aircraft fuses exist not to save the several hundred-thousand dollar avionics install, but specifically to protect the wire from melting, shorting, or starting fires where fire does not belong [1] (page 11-15, para. 11-51). This is relevant because fire also does not belong inside the walls of your home. I assume you're just having a laugh, but just in case others take you too seriously: wire is not a substitute for a fuse. [1] https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_43.13-1B_w-chg1.pdf https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/...
    - CodeWriter23 6y ago
      Correct on all points, sir or maam.
  - bleepblorp 6y ago
    Hey, hey, we're not talking about USB-PD here. :-) PoE actually works.
- hinkley 6y ago
  They split the amperage across multiple wires. I think PoE is always DC so the runs can’t be as long as with AC. Actually why can’t you run PoE as AC? Embedding a high frequency signal on a lower frequency carrier is older than dirt at this point. At 120 volts, 30 watts is only a quarter amp.

vocram 6y ago

I really like his workshop. Tools are well organized. No dirt. Enough space for working. That’s one of my life goals.

jonah 6y ago

A non-profit org I'm involved with expanded their facility and I got to plan and install a bunch of stuff before they closed up the walls. * Rack in a specially built wall recess. * PoE switch. * Cat 6 everywhere for network and IP phones. * Empty conduit for future expansion. * PoE mesh APs. * Ethernet for internal and external IP cameras. * HDMI from podium to TV and projector locations. * Giant powered projection screen. * Raspberry Pi powered dashboard displays throughout. That was something I don't get to do every day and a lot of fun.

albertop 6y ago
Why would you put Cat6 when Cat7 is priced almost the same. Future proofing.
- tuananh 6y ago
  where i live, cat6a is double price of cat6. cat7 price is even higher.

hinkley 6y ago

We should bring back crown molding and big chunky baseboards. There’s a lot of cool wiring tricks you can do if you have an inch at the top of the wall and a couple at the base, without necessarily removing the drywall to do it. Was a company years ago that did hollow molding and triangular mounting brackets that gave a bunch of space to run wiring. I wonder if they’re still around.

bleepblorp 6y ago
I'm not sure if there are any hollow moldings still around. The closest equivalent I'm aware of is Legrand's Wiremold[0] line, which includes cable raceways that are functionally equivalent to hollow moldings. However, these parts are designed for the commercial electrical market and would be difficult to fit into residential decor. [0] https://www.legrand.us/wire-and-cable-management/raceway-and-cord-covers/plugmold-systems/2000-raceway-base-and-cover/p/g2000bc https://www.legrand.us/wire-and-cable-management/raceway-and...
- hinkley 6y ago
  I'll admit it's been a few years, but every time I've looked at molding, it's either carved out of 1x6 stock or pressed out of some fiber material and shaped as if it were. There is a small triangular void that you fill with a triangular piece of wood [backing strips, that's the phrase I was looking for] or some wedges at intervals in order to support it. In this age where rare earth magnets are getting cheap, it'd be cool to have wood or coated MDF trim that's secured with magnets and little ferrous iron inserts. Then you just need a stronger magnet (like those passive stud finders) to pop the whole thing off and run more wires. Of course the next problem is you have a narrow, concealed raceway full of plastic insulation, which is something that rodents like to chew on... If I try to look for crown molding, I'm seeing a lot of accent light solutions built into plastic molding (you leave a gap for the light to come out from behind the molding). It's... okay. I'd rather have 10g ethernet in my house though.

paledot 6y ago

I appreciate his attitude towards the support people he's working with. Too many customers see it as their right/responsibility to make support people's lives miserable because of someone else's screwup or because their employer sucks.