Data Cabling and Outlets

My experience from building a new house during 2017 indicated to me that the house data cabling installation which was part of the standard house build, fell somewhat short of the mark. My volume builder's desk administrative representative couldn't explain what cabling was connecting to where.

For those of us who regard Wifi as a security risk (e.g. leakage of data, stealing internet bandwidth etc) I can seriously advise that at least some physical data cabling is desirable if not mandatory. By way of example, interconnecting security objects (sensors, cameras, door access units) over Wifi is in my opinion a very poor option.

Data cabling should be installed during the house build process but like other cabling, data cabling may be installed later.

Identify those areas of the house which will be provided with data outlets. Suggested areas where outlets may be deployed, are in the Theatre Room, Refrigerator Cavity, Lounge room and Office.

Power Outlets, Cabling and Lights

One of the early lessons learned in building a house is that there's never enough power outlets installed or that some are located in the wrong place. Invariably, a similar lesson is learned for the lights.

Your house has several areas where a seemingly large number of power outlets should be installed. House areas such as the Lounge Room and Theatre Room, Kitchen, Laundry, Outdoor Alfresco and not forgetting the Garage.

It is somewhat difficult to overestimate the number of power outlets required for these areas. The Kitchen, Lounge and Theatre Rooms all have multiple items of powered equipment deployed in each.

Furthermore, with the rise of hand-held peripherals all requiring charging, placement of power outlets with integrated USB power outlets conveniently near couches allows for device charging.

Data Cabinet

Many new houses are now being fitted with residential data cabinets. The purpose of the cabinet is being the central location for the termination of the data cabling and the housing of the NBN / Opticom Broadband Internet equipment.

On an increasing frequent basis, these data cabinets are being installed in the wall of the Garage. In addition these cabinets specifically require a cavity wall for the mounting.

HDMI Cabling and Outlets

Usually the large TV screens of today, are mounted directly onto the wall in the Lounge Room, Theatre Room and other rooms as needed in the house. Whereas TV connected peripheral equipment such as DVD players, SoundBars and other equipment are housed in a nearby furniture cabinet usually located below the TV screen.

The common way of interconnecting these items is usually by HDMI interfaces and HDMI cabling. For these cables to be hidden from view, they need to be reticulated up the cavity wall behind the TV and cabinet. Specialty HDMI Outlets designed for this purpose are recommended to be installed in the wall behind the TV and behind the cabinet.

A word about buying into proprietary network solutions

If you are going to deploy a new solution to interconnect all of those IoT objects in your new house, always remember that proprietary network solutions may have initial appeal but in time, these may be consigned to history as others become dominant (often these "winners" become a defacto part of an open standards based solution).

We all remember the $900 clock (er um Betamax Video Recorder) and may be some of us may remember Xerox's "XNS" LAN protocol. Over time IP over Ethernet (an open-standard) has usurped most other LAN protocols (e.g Banyan Vines, Token-Ring, Token-Bus, Netware etc). Now there's a plethora of Smart Home protocols appearing in the Automation space. Not all of these will survive into the foreseeable future.

Apart from Bluetooth, Wifi and Ethernet which are dominant local connectivity protocols, there are others which are jostling for prominence in a quite crowded Smart Home space. Protocols like Z-Wave and Zigbee appear to be cementing themselves into position but both have shortcomings (one has limited range and clashes with the Wifi 2400MHz band and the other having limited compatibility with 3rd-party devices due to it being a proprietary protocol).

Above all else, choose your protocol (wisely) .....