4 Years In The Making (Punggol Emerald)

[dandelion1976 5]

Home Networking

Being the geek, I insist on having this post for the other geeks out there as I understand the frustration when searching for technical information on these forums.

Having considered the various options available to use as the backbone of our home network, we have concluded that structured cabling offers the most consistent and reliable performance over wireless and powerline networks. The difference will be best noticed during transfer of large files between 2 systems or during HD media streaming. If you have intentions of laying structured cabling around your home, there is probably no better time then during the renovation as false ceilings and light boxes will help conceal part of the cable trunking. Of course, if you have the budget for it, it is also possible to cut grooves into the wall to totally conceal the cabling. For our home, we plan to have the contractor/ID lay the cables for us with trunking and leave the termination to be done by ourselves.

Home Network Plan

From the TP (Termination Point) in the distribution box, an optical fibre will be laid to the TV console to allow the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) to be housed in that area. From the ONT, it will be connected to the wireless router in the study using category 6 cable. From there, the wireless router is then connected to the 24-port switch which will act as the central distribution point and provide network connectivity to all the data points around the house. For better cable management, an 8-port patch panel will be used for the living room while a 24-port patch panel (or 2 x 12-port patch panels) will be used for the study as this will reduce the time taken to terminate the cables. Face plates with keystone jacks will only be used for the other 2 bedrooms as they are meant more for future usage.

Cable Connections List

Optical Fibre (SC/APC-SC/APC)

TP to ONT x 1

Category 6

ONT to Wireless Router x 2

TV Console 8-Port Patch Panel to Switch x 6

Bedroom 1 to Switch x 4

Main Bedroom to Switch x 4

Study Desk 8-Port Patch Panel x 8

Wireless Router to Switch x 1

The last 2 connections will be done by myself when the study desk is up as I plan to run them at the back of the desk.

Network Equipment List

Router - Linksys WRT1900AC

Switch - Dell PowerConnect 2824

NAS - Western Digital My Cloud EX4

Cable - 3M Volition Cat 6 UTP

Distribution Point Patch Panel - TRENDnet TC-P12C6 12-Port Patch Panel x 2

Study Desk / TV Console Patch Panel - TRENDnet TC-P08C6 8-Port Patch Panel x 2

Thanks for sharing this piece of extremely useful information. Due to your post I have finally decided to lay structured CAT 6 cable at my unit. 8 points to TV console and another 8 points to my Study Desk (DIYed, just lay them before cement screeding is redo by HDB sub-con). Will be running Apple TV and a few NAS too. Will follow your post closely as I am quite new to structured cabling.

[HanTu 0]

Perfect. You're the man!

Yes, we got the Philips E27 downlights from Taobao along with the other lights. For the E27 LED bulbs, we will just get them locally.

[HanTu 0]

Edit: Double post sorry.

Edited April 26, 2014 by eno

[mavicaste 58]

Thanks for sharing this piece of extremely useful information. Due to your post I have finally decided to lay structured CAT 6 cable at my unit. 8 points to TV console and another 8 points to my Study Desk (DIYed, just lay them before cement screeding is redo by HDB sub-con). Will be running Apple TV and a few NAS too. Will follow your post closely as I am quite new to structured cabling.

You actually laid the cables along the floor before covering with cement screed? Saw that this is possible from a blog post I shared but decided against it as I was concerned it may cause the screeding to crack.

[mavicaste 58]

We spent Labour Day labouring away on adding a second coat of Nippon Momento primer before applying the top coat. We found that the top coat was much easier to work with than expected and it is relatively easy to achieve a uniform application by having only one person do it. However, my wife had this idea of a gradual change of tone from a light to a dark one and she did the lighter area while I did the darker one. Here it is.

As we are doing the carpentry measurement this coming Saturday, the loot of kitchen appliances and sink, bathroom basins and fittings from Heritage had to be delivered. The hob won't be in until late May as both the hob and oven were discontinued but only the replacement model of the oven has available stock. We shall make do with the schematic diagram provided by Ellane for the cutout size.

We are currently waiting for the Taobao lighting shipment to arrive as the flooring will be laid right after the lightings are installed. All the remaining small works should be carried out while waiting for the carpentry to be fabricated after measurement. Stay tuned...

Edited May 12, 2014 by mavicaste

[bhin0527 0]

Hi Mavicaste, great work.

I am planning to have a simple reno work such as false ceiling and lighting stuff.

Do you think you can tell me your contractor? or does your ID do this kind of simple job too?

Appreciate your help a lot.

Thanks and congrats for your house.

[starzdu5t 0]

Hi, can you pm me your ID contact pls? Thank you

[mavicaste 58]

Hi Mavicaste, great work.

I am planning to have a simple reno work such as false ceiling and lighting stuff.

Do you think you can tell me your contractor? or does your ID do this kind of simple job too?

Appreciate your help a lot.

Thanks and congrats for your house.

Hi, can you pm me your ID contact pls? Thank you

I have sent AL's contact to both of you. It will be best to direct your questions at him as well as to obtain a quotation more suited to your needs, especially in the case of bhin0527.

[mavicaste 58]

We just spent 6 hours at the unit on Saturday and are totally wasted from the heat and humidity.

The first 2 hours were used on carpentry measurements and requirements gathering before finalizing on the proposed solutions. There was a slight difficulty with communication initially as the carpenter and myself were on different wavelengths but that was ironed after a while. The study desk and the connecting shelf was the most complicated by far due to the need to house the switch and patch panels.

Once that was done, the remaining 4 hours were spent on waiting for Ah Boon's team to arrive and complete the second installation of the air conditioners. Once again, Ah Boon's team did a neat and tidy job with the installation. Just an observation, the outdoor unit was surprisingly silent during operation as compared to the systems from 10 over years ago.

Living Room Unit

Study Unit

Bedroom 1 Unit

Main Bedroom Unit

Compressor Unit

The carpentry is expected to be ready for installation in just under 2 weeks and we just can't wait for them to be up.

The lights from Taobao should be arriving anytime in the next couple of days and that will mean flooring will soon be laid as well.

On a sidenote, I just started a new job on Friday and having been tasked to lead a project, will need to spend plenty of time scouring through documentation to get myself up to speed. Couple that with the beginning of my freelance wedding photography business in 2 back to back weekends in end May, it is safe to say that I will have as much time as in the past to blog on the renovation process.

Edited May 12, 2014 by mavicaste

[razzberrie 3]

I like your lights!

[mavicaste 58]

I like your lights!

Thanks for the compliments!

They are finally here and we did a quick check on the condition just outside our unit as we moved them over. The glass parts all arrived in one piece and we are so relieved as it took a month from the date of order for the lights to arrive due to delays caused from having to return damaged merchandise received at Peeka's China warehouse.

We have a few days to decide between 2 lights which will be fitted in the study and the other in the spare bedroom, as AL has scheduled for their installation on this coming Saturday. This means we will be able to have the flooring laid next week as well.

Edited May 7, 2014 by mavicaste

[4ddd 18]

Love your network info... Awaiting your showcase of crimping skills...

[mavicaste 58]

The lights from Taobao were installed on Saturday without the cove lights as we have yet to get them. It was only then we realized one of the lights for the service yard and household shelter was missing a part. It was a little frustrating considering that we chose Peeka as the agent because of the inspection service that they offer. Anyway, I will update on how will they resolve this matter.

And then there were lights...

Living Room

Kitchen and Bedroom 1

Bathrooms

Service Yard and Household Shelter

Study

Main Bedroom

[Takaishi 44]

heya i suppose the track lights didn't come with bulbs one right? what bulbs did u use?

[mavicaste 58]

heya i suppose the track lights didn't come with bulbs one right? what bulbs did u use?

I won't actually consider the study light as a tracklight since only some of the holders can be rotated. We actually bought it thinking that the holders are fixed.

Anyway, all the lights we bought, including the downlights, run on E27 and we got the Philips E27 5W LED bulbs to go with them.

Self-Fix is currently selling them at a promotional price of $7.95 each which is reasonable enough for me considering they are going for around $6 on Taobao. Since the store is just at the neighbourhood mall, I didn't bother looking around further just to save a few dollars.