Structured Wiring | Technology Backbone

Today's new homes are much more technologically advanced than in the past. One of the biggest advances lately is the use of "structured wiring" in homes. Structured wiring consists of installing a bundled wire package that typically contains two RG6 and two Cat5e or Cat6 cables. The cables are bundled together into one larger plastic sheath to make it much easier to install as one unit. Some of the new structured wire bundles even include fiber optic cables as well.

Each room of the house will have a home run structure wire group run to a central location (basement, utility room, closet, etc.) The beauty of this system is you can run almost any technology over this system. The new wiring becomes the backbone of your electronic components. Some homeowners may not use all of the wires in the beginning, however as new products and technology develop the structured wiring will allow simple upgrades in the future.

In my new house we are currently using the structured wiring in the following way. Each room has a outlet with 4 ports, two RG6, one telephone and one Cat5e. In this configuration we run two telephone lines to each room, one cable TV line and one Cat5e line that has Internet and network signals. The second RG6 cable is inactive for the time being. In the utility room in the basement the Internet service is over the cable service. A cable modem is installed next to the structured wiring panel and then it is connected to a simple network router. The network router is then connected back to the structured wiring panel and distributed to each room.

The structured wiring method will allow us to add many features in the future as we need them. We could add video cameras, who house audio, play DVDs in one room and watch them in another or create a simple home network. The possibilities are endless and as more electronic components are created with IP addresses and ports it will become much easier to integrate all of our favorite electronics into a smart home feature.

If you're interested in this new technology ask your electrician for more information. If you're interested in installing it yourself, read How Do I Install Structured Wiring.

Todd Fratzel, P.E. is a building superintendent for a construction firm in New Hampshire. In addition to supervising the construction of new homes Todd is a registered professional engineer in the New Hampshire and Massachusetts and has an extensive back ground in building structures. For additional articles like this one see his blog at http://homeconstructionimprovement.blogspot.com

Essential Electrician Services

 

There are definite markets for electrician services all over the United States. In fact they exist, with slight modifications in knowledge, all over the world. After US forces ousted Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, the very next thing that was attempted in the country was the restoration of electrical power to the country. Almost nobody had running power after all the bombs fell on Baghdad and without electricity the entire country had come to a stop. Who performed the work?

Trained electricians from all branches of the military were flown in and immediately started putting the pieces back together. In addition, entire electrical departments from independent contractors were sent over there to get things running again. Almost all of these jobs were initially established in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding areas. The area is famous for hiring electricians for military applications and any other area of expertise it deems sensitive in nature. If that’s your cup of tea, this is the area to come to first.

Each major US city has a general need for common electrician services and a specific need due to some circumstance peculiar to the area. In Chicago, for instance, due to the high winds and frigid cold weather in the winter, electrical wiring has always been underground. Consequently, the city employs a huge force of electricians to maintain that wiring, that is the largest city employed electronic worker group in the country.

In Los Angeles, the considerations are the intense heat generated by the desert environment and the need to protect, maintain, and repair electrical services from earthquake damage. Los Angeles is the only city in the country other than San Francisco that actually has an electronics department specialized in dealing with earthquakes. In Philadelphia and New York, two of the oldest cities in the United States, the bulk of city employed electronics engineers focus on rewiring old buildings to bring them up to code. It has been estimated that the current city employed electronic work force could work around the clock for the next twenty years before it could have the entire city brought up to code – and of course by then things will have changed and they’d have to start all over again. So, if you’re looking for a job that will never end, in an industry that will never stop needing you, check out electrician services and you may find the satisfaction and security you’re looking for.

Electricians Info provides detailed information about electrician jobs, schools, training, tools, licenses, and services. Electricians Info is the sister site of Circuit breakers Web.