skip to Main Content

Rewiring the Network Core: The Tale of a Terrible Terminator

terminatorOccasionally I just have to face facts. There are some things that I don’t do well. That I will likely never do well. Terminating Ethernet cables is one of these things. It’s just not a skill that I’ve been able to develop. I suck at it. I find it frustrating. I try to avoid it. But it’s occasionally unavoidable. So, it’s nice to find something that reduces the frustration of my reality as a terrible Terminator.

We recently did some minor renovation in the central hallway in our home. It got a new attic access ladder in the ceiling and a fresh coat of paint, in a bright new color. Some nice new lights. It’s looking much improved.

The hall is where I have the household portion of my little network installation. Up against one wall there’s a small Ethernet patch panel and 24-port Ubiquiti POE+ switch, and a couple of small IoT hubs. Also, a 1RU UPS for safety.

I’d include a picture, but it’s not a pretty scene. Everything mounted to some prefinished white shelving, screwed flat to the wall, so it take up as little space as possible. It was only meant to be temporary.

I believe that anything that can connected via Ethernet should be connected via Ethernet. Wi-Fi is only for those things that don’t support Ethernet. Ethernet home runs from the various rooms & security cameras end up at the patch field in the hall. A couple of strands of Ethernet run underground in conduit to the garage apartment where they meet the main network core.

In the reworking of the hall, the Mrs wanted my little network patching and power setup tidied up. Preferably hidden. It’s something I had thought about in the past. So, I’ve gone ahead with a latent plan.

A Containment Strategy

All the gear in the hall will be relocated to a 2RU tip-out, vertical equipment rack. This to be located where the switch is now, but all the equipment and wiring will be completely contained, hidden from view.

2RU tip out vertical equipment rack

This tip-out rack comes in two versions; the RP version is designed to be recessed into a wall cavity, and the SP version that’s surface mounted. The recessed version would be nice, but it requires a 2×6” wall. Since this our hall has only 2×4” walls I have to stick with the surface mount version. Even so, it intrudes into the space less than the old surface mount ethernet patch panel.

These things are not cheap. On Amazon they go for $650. I was able to find one on ebay for $220 plus $112 shipping. The Ebay listing is a bit confused. It shows pics of both the SP and RP versions. And the pics show it upside down. They actually delivered the SP version.

This tip-out rack is only 2RU. In the rack rails I’ll mount the 1RU patch bay and the switch. The rack comes with a mechanism for mounted non-rack mount equipment. This can be used to hold the UPS, behind/below the patch bay, which is very shallow.

Ventilation is provided by slots in the top and bottom of the cabinet. The switch and the UPS are both convection cooled. So there are no fans. No fan noise.

When the cabinet is unlocked, it tips open about 6 inches, revealing just the front face of the gear. It’s a few inches recessed, which allows for short Ethernet patch cables. It’s all very tidy indeed.

I’m hopeful that some miscellaneous gear can be stashed out-of-the-way in the bottom of the cabinet. This would be idea for the RPi4 + HifiBerry AMP2 that handles music on our front porch. The power supply for the AMP2 is sizable.

Paint It Blue

Polar Blue Spray PaintThe rack comes only in basic, boring, beige. Like a desktop computer from the 90s. That just won’t do. It needs to better blend into the space.

I considered having it powder coated to match the walls. Investigating powder coating, a local company told me it would be difficult to do, and likely cost as much as the rack did itself. Eek!

Another option would be to have a vinyl wrap made for it. There’s a neighbor that had vinyl wrap made for their Generac standby generator. Printed with an image of the famous “Be Someone” bridge over I-45, it puts an artful spin on something otherwise drab.

When paying a visit to Texas Art Supply, I happened to find that they have a spray paint that’s an exact match for our new hallway. So, to start, I’ve just sprayed the cabinet.

The results are not perfect. In fact, it’s a little splotchy. Spray painting is apparently something else I’m not very good at. Still, it’s better than beige. The rack is largely out of sight. I can always revisit the idea of a vinyl wrap in the future.

Wiring

Most recently, I’ve torn out the small surface-mounted patch bay. This is a step toward installing the new cabinet. It required that I terminate the existing Ethernet leads in new keystone jacks that can be clipped into a new patch bay.

Instead of using punch-down style keystone jacks, I found these nice, tool-less jacks that have a simple lever-style closure.

Toolless Keystone Jack

These are very nice. I was able to make all the changes I required in an hour or two, with zero frustration. That’s certainly a change for me.

These jacks are sold as “not compatible” with a patch panel. The back-end, where the wire enters, is slightly wider than a normal keystone jack. So they don’t fit side-by-side in a standard patch panel. I’ve found that I can put one in every second opening in this 24- position patch panel.

24-position patch panel

That’s ok. I can mix them with the existing Cat6 through connectors, which will be available for future expansion.

Power

There’s an AC power outlet on the very same wall where the rack is mounted. My plan was to access it through the wall, but that has proven difficult. All the wiring enters the rack through a large square hole that leads to the wall cavity. But there’s a stud between the rack and the outlet. To drill through that stud would require opening up the wall more than I’d like.

Instead, I will go down through the bottom of the wall, under the house and come up in the wall cavity on the other side of the stud. There are already a few holes where Ethernet cables come up into the wall from below.

This is one of those times that I appreciate our old house being on a pier-and-beam foundation. It’s really easy to get under the house to pull cables.

Work In Progress

That’s all for now. More to follow, as the project winds its way to completion. I look forward to a time when the hall will be completely dark at night, with the status lights of all the gadgetry tucked away safely within the vertical rack enclosure.

Back To Top