Home Automation - network hub location

I am planning out running cat 5e wiring in my house. Based on layout the best place to run all the wires is to a bedroom closet, is there any sort of code problem with locating this wiring, and a hub/router in a bedroom closet? I would locate the jacks and equipment up high to sit on a shelf.

thx,

jim norman

Shouldn't be. This is low voltage wiring and as such doesn't have the fire or electrocution hazards present with standard electrical wiring. AFAIK, there are no codes that cover this.

Thank you much for the reply.

jim norman

Actually, yes there are codes for low-voltage wiring. And I know California is a lot tougher on LV than most states, including GA. Check with Cali state contractors licensing board for specific codes.
Now, here's the catch. If you wire the house BEFORE the final inspection, the certificate could be denied for LV wiring, and actually, it's the wiring itself that is the problem, not the location of the demark in the house (your bedroom closet shouldn't be a problem.) If you wire the LV AFTER the inspection (which could be hard to do, since this would include the phone lines) then it doesn't matter. The biggest thing with wiring LV is just to keep it away from your 110 lines and make sure it secure. Don't use the same holes to run the wires, staple the wires every 12" or so, etc. Check with a local Alarm company or electrician, they can tell you more about state and local codes than I can, seeing as how I'm on the other side of the country.

But, simply, to answer your question, you won't have a problem Demarking in the bedroom closet.

what are you going to plug the hub into? running and extention cord into the closet isn't a great idea. Probably ought to put an outlet in there. Are there any codes restricting outlets inside a closet?

I've seen "data centers" before that ran all the cable/telephone/sattelite/cat5 for the entire house. They usually mounted in a wall and looked a lot like a breaker box. might be a better option than the closet.

something like this is what I was considering. Need to read up but I think you can move the hub to whatever room you want it in with this.

http://www.smarthome.com/8680P4.html

Here is how I did all this. It might be worth a look.

http://www.ac5r.org/cat5.html

Eventually, a closet might be a bit small for a central structured wiring center.

Hope this helps.

take a look at channelvision.com. They have some structured boxes that might do what you need too. They're somewhat less expensive than the Leviton units from Home Depot.

I'm in CA. No problem running a 120V line to the closet. The 'hub option' built into our house has a dedicated 20amp circuit right next to the mass of cat5 cables. It's physically mounted in the other side of the stud of the wall cavity where all the cat5 wires are.

In fact, our house alarm sensor connections are terminated in our master bedroom closet and is run off of a 120V outlet just below it.

If you're doing this with the walls wide open, I'd highly recommend getting all your cable, phone, and data wiring for the whole house to terminate in one box if feasible. It's much easier to manage that way.