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The next few months...

Started by Chris Savage, May 20, 2024, 11:24 PM

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Chris Savage

I got the cable line moved from the master bedroom to her office, put on a new connector, connected the modem and now the internet is working from her office. My old Linksys Router had been acting flakey for several months now, randomly shutting down the Wi-Fi service and requiring a restart. I replaced it with a TP-Link Tri-Band, however, the Linksys had eight ethernet ports, whereas the TP-Link has three. I needed 5, so I connected a switch to one of the ports and ran a cable for the living room TV through the basement and up through the floor behind the TV stand.

I also ran a CAT6 cable through the basement over to where the spectrum cable used to go, though I haven't brought it up through into the bedroom yet. The reason is needs to go there is that my workshop is directly above the bedroom and that's the only convenient place to get a wire upstairs. Below is a photo of the media rack now that everything is connected. This is an update to the photo in this thread.

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In this photo you can obviously see the router on top of the media rack. I left the next shelf down empty for my wife. The next shelf holds the cable modem, NAS drive, it's external USB backup, the switch (hiding toward the back) and the white box on top of it is the TP-Link Hub for my front and back doorbells. On the bottom are the two battery backup units. I could get away with one if it wasn't for the fact that all but one of the devices plugged in has wall-warts!

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Here's a shot of that wall almost done. The printer always has a "dust cover" on it when not in use. Adds years to the life of the printer! The shelf in the middle has additional shelves, but my wife needs to decide where she wants them. That hub is also the storage unit for the doorbell cameras as well as the remote "bell". So, when someone rings the doorbell, it rings in the office too. You can change the sound it plays.

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This is what the front doorbell sees (front porch). As you can see I'm still building a desk out there, so there's crap out there (and our freezer).

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This is what the back doorbell sees (driveway). You can see my car (don't have the truck anymore) and my metal shed that will hopefully be gone in a year or two. The garage / house beyond that is the neighbor. Anyway, hopefully tomorrow I can run the network cable upstairs and start on my workshop. Once I do, progress will be updated in the Office Evolution article.


        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

JKnightandKARR

Hope those aren't wireless and Ring cameras.....  I got 3 of them, sadly, and they are bandwidth vampires.....  WHY in the heck I "NEED" 1080 res, for a device that streams to phones is beyond me....  wish I could turn them down..  Good luck on the new pad!

Chris Savage

#47
Quote from: JKnightandKARR on Oct 07, 2024, 09:36 AMHope those aren't wireless and Ring cameras.....  I got 3 of them, sadly, and they are bandwidth vampires.....  WHY in the heck I "NEED" 1080 res, for a device that streams to phones is beyond me....  wish I could turn them down..  Good luck on the new pad!

The doorbell cameras are TP-Link wireless units. The resolution can be controlled within the app or even set to AUTO. I use this brand because of the level of control I have, as well as the number of device types they have. Most of my devices are under one app. I have Kwikset Smart Locks on the front / back and my air conditioners are GE.

I preferred the control and reporting of the August Smart Lock, however the connect hub died after 1 year, so I switched back to Kwikset, which is what I used in CA and ID. These are next generation. I did have a "Ring" Peephole cam at the apartment, only because they had the only peephole version. I gave it to my young neighbors across the hall when I moved out. They already had an Alexa, which is designed to pair more closely with the Ring stuff.

I gave up on the Ring brand when they dropped Google Home support (after Amazon bought them). Until then, I had been enjoying my Ring Doorbell and my Ring Floodlight Cam that I installed on my garage in ID. Got great footage from both at the time. As for bandwidth; I have a tri-band router and the 2.4GHz band is pretty much dedicated to the Smart Home stuff. The one TV is on the 6GHz band and the 5GHz band is used by a few computers. Everything that demands bandwidth is on the 1GHz ethernet (CAT6), including the NAS drive.

        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

JKnightandKARR

I got all cameras on 2Ghz, everything else on 5Ghz or cables.

Chris Savage

I've gotten so much done recently, but almost none of it has to do with my new workshop. Short of getting my wife's office done, which gives me access to the network from my laptop, I haven't yet run the ethernet cable upstairs so that I can connect my main PCs.  ::)

The weather here has been warm lately, so I thought I would get some outside stuff done, but the mosquitoes are voracious! I would think they would be done for the season, but they're still biting in the evening, so I haven't been doing stuff I need to do.

I'm hoping tomorrow to run the ethernet cable. It's going to be a bit complicated. I need to run it from the basement through the floor in the bedroom, up to the ceiling, then find where it will come out upstairs (probably in a closet), then get it from there to both rooms.

I have an endoscope that I am hoping will help me "find" the holes / cables once I drill the holes. It even has a hook attachment that may allow me to "grab" the cable to guide it to where I fed it through. Wish me luck!  :-\

Once the network stuff is done, I can actually start putting everything else together.  8)

        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

Chris Savage

#50
So, as I alluded to in my previous post, not having a network connection upstairs is really the inhibitor to getting anything else done up there. I didn't want to put everything together and then have to move stuff to get the network installed. Last night, despite being exhausted and sore, I went downstairs (basement) and ran the ethernet cable over to the bedroom where the Spectrum coaxial cable used to come in. Once I got that up through the floor I was essentially committed.

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This is NOT standard CAT6E cable, but rather FLAT CAT6E cable that I had at the apartment. I used the flat because, not only did it blend in with the paint over there, but I was able to run three cables in the same space as one along the hallway ceiling. I'm worried about longevity, especially if any critters might find this soft cable tasty.

I had no choice but to use the existing hole where the coax came up through the floor. It turns out the reason they had it so far from the wall is that there's a beam under the floor in the way along the wall. Once I got the cable up through the floor, I drilled into the ceiling and realized the same issue...

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...a beam along the edge, in the way. So you can see my first failed attempt at drilling into the ceiling.  :-[ 

I used a cotton ball for now to fill in the hole. Obviously this whole situation needs to be cleaned up. I used my endoscope with a hook attachment to fish the cable up through the floor upstairs. That worked quite nicely!

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Unfortunately, this puts the cable inside the closet in my media room.  ::)

The cable needs to run along the wall to the back of the closet, around behind the shelf and through the wall to the workshop. There it will connect to a network switch. Another cable will have to follow it back through the closet to come out in the media room where it will connect to my main PC.

        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

JKnightandKARR

I ran reg cat6e in my house.... got tired of the wifi issues

Chris Savage

#52
Last night I carried the parts to my new computer desk upstairs and moved the rack for the computer tower, the tower itself, the monitor arms and the monitor into the media room. I also found the UPS and the subwoofer for my speaker system.

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This is where I left off last night. I got the desk together and attached the monitor arms and monitors, as well as adding the rack and tower. The UPS is plugged in and connected to the tower, but nothing else is connected yet. I still have to find the other two speakers and the cord that connects to the tower. In that box should also be the power supplies for the monitors, as well as the video cables.

I am hoping tonight to be able to get this PC up and running, even if not everything is connected.

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Well, I found the cables and power cords and got everything up and running. This PC has been offline long enough that there were 7 Windows 10 updates, iTunes, NVIDIA drivers, etc. But, we're back up and running enough to do some stuff in between getting the house together.

        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

Chris Savage

#53
This afternoon (on my lunch break), I will be adding to the Office Evolution article so that you can see that I am making headway with getting the workshop back up and running. I took some new photos last night and formatted them. I just need to add them to the article.

        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

JKnightandKARR

I'm not the only one with a racing chair for a desk chair! lol Mine's red and black

Chris Savage

Quote from: JKnightandKARR on Oct 28, 2024, 10:57 AMI'm not the only one with a racing chair for a desk chair! lol Mine's red and black

That's the Media Room chair. The Workshop chair is this one (not yet in the room). Got it from Amazon.


        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

JKnightandKARR


Chris Savage

I had an extra chair at the apartment that I didn't really like. I gave it to my wife for use in her office.

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Since the floor is vinyl and the wheels are hard plastic, I removed the existing wheels.

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I replaced the original wheels with these roller-blade wheels I got from Amazon. The wheels do increase the height, slightly.

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This is what the chair looks like. This chair came from Staples.

        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.

JKnightandKARR


Chris Savage

By the way, as shown in my Office Evolution Blog entry, I am slowly getting the Workshop together. I hope to get more done tonight after work.



Here is what I have done so far. One (of three) sets of shelves installed.

        I'm only responsible for what I say, not what you understand.