10 common mistakes in integrated wiring, see how many you have made

Integrated wiring is a modular and highly flexible information transmission channel within a building or between buildings. It can connect voice equipment, data equipment, switching equipment and various control equipment with the information management system, and also connect these devices with the external communication network. Therefore, network integrated wiring is a very tedious task, and the current industry workers generally lack relevant knowledge and experience. For example, a large number of telephone engineers and electricians also take care of network wiring work.

It turns out that this approach has many hidden dangers. For telephone systems, the possibility of sudden errors can be tolerated, but in data lines, this situation needs to be avoided as much as possible. Here, the editor summarizes the top ten common errors in network integrated wiring in weak current projects. I hope everyone can avoid them as much as possible during construction.

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1. No effective management of lines

It is often assumed that adding more lines will help an existing system. The addition of ladder racks and the subsequent rack-based line management does lead to higher operating costs. But it can also make daily maintenance very simple. It is important to note that line management does not automatically end because the project is finally safely completed. When more and more lines are added, the reality will change. Therefore, we must insist on labeling cables, sorting them by color, or taking some other type of specialized treatment to ensure that the relevant lines can be easily identified in any case.

2. Use different lines for voice and data services

Considering the cost, many companies used to use different specifications and types of network cables for voice and data services. Since voice services do not have high requirements for line conditions and can meet the standards with a single wire, providing cheaper lines for voice services can ensure that data lines get a larger part of the budget.

To this day, although the cost of integrated cabling is still a considerable expense, the largest part of the cost has become human resource costs, and the lines themselves no longer account for the largest share of investment. In addition, with the popularization of voice telephone technology, voice services have become projects that rely on data-level network cables to support data needs in many environments. In fact, if a company does have this need, as long as it chooses the right voice telephone equipment, it can use the existing data lines and the Ethernet switches built into the voice telephone equipment to meet the corresponding requirements, thereby avoiding the waste of funds caused by repeated wiring.

In short, before we start working, we can't simply assume that voice service can only be met using the old Category 3 wiring. If you need to install a separate line for telephone, you should ensure that its performance can reach the level of supporting data lines.

3. No forward-looking planning for the overall network

At present, Gigabit networks have become popular, but many companies still need to continue to use 100M network connections to the desktop. For example, some companies need to move to a new office location, which requires the redeployment of network lines. At this time, we should choose whether to use traditional network cable technology that can meet current applications or choose new network cable technology that can be continuously upgraded in the next few years.

What we need to pay attention to is that in the process of project operation, human resource cost is the most expensive part. Although it seems unreasonable to choose a more advanced wiring solution in the actual project implementation, we recommend that you still consider using better quality products as much as possible. This will prevent your company from being embarrassed when facing higher network requirements for a long time. Therefore, ensuring that the network wiring technology used will not be outdated too early is also a problem that network wiring personnel must consider.

4. No reasonable planning for new lines

When we need to use Ethernet switches in the network to handle newly added lines, it is necessary to specifically point out that the rash use of Ethernet switches without scientific and reasonable planning will bring unknown factors and unstable risks to the entire network. Usually, users who use micro switches often only need to add one or two ports, so there is no need to plan the traffic. However, due to the addition of additional ports, problems may occur. If a new service requires a large amount of network resources to support it, it is necessary to try to avoid bottlenecks. Therefore, it should be noted that if there is no absolute need to add switches and network ports, other methods should be considered to increase network capacity, such as adding new lines to expand the network scale.

5. The network cable and the "interference" device are in the same area

In real life, it is not only electrical wires that can cause interference to data lines. Fluorescent lamps, motors, and related equipment that can generate electric or magnetic field interference can have a serious impact on data transmission via network cables. Therefore, when wiring, we need to ensure that the lines are away from areas where these interference sources are located.

6. Not considering the actual distance limit

Before you start cabling, you should first confirm the distance and range of the connection you need to achieve. For example, using ordinary twisted pair cables for typical Ethernet cabling, the distance limit in a Gigabit network is 100 meters. If the company chooses 10G or 40G technology, it must follow the corresponding specific design distance as the standard. For example, if the company intends to run a 10G network using twisted pair cables over a distance of more than 100 meters, it must choose a 6A or higher grade network cable.

VII. Violation of laws and regulations

Laws and regulations play a decisive role in many aspects, so if local regulations are not met, it may bring safety risks. For example, most places prohibit the use of PVC-sheathed lines in air-cooled environments. Since PVC produces toxic gases when burned, this may cause harm to firefighters and other emergency personnel. If local regulations are not followed when deploying low-voltage lines, companies may face serious consequences such as fines or even demolition and rewiring. Therefore, before work begins, you should understand your responsibilities and ensure that all relevant contractors have met local regulations.

8. Neglecting to test the circuit

After the cabling work is completed, various tools should be used to test each line to ensure that they can meet the predetermined requirements. The work involved includes verifying the transmission distance and the specific specifications of the cable. If it is a Gigabit network, the line needs to be verified to ensure that it can meet the corresponding requirements.

9. Network cables and electrical cables are laid in parallel

Data transmission is done in a "twisted pair" (unshielded twisted pair) mode. The magnetic field generated by the low voltage running through the wire is an important part of the communication chain. When the unshielded network cable is parallel to the wire, there will be a problem of magnetic field interference, which will cause a lot of repeated and garbled information in the transmitted data. In many cases, this will cause the failure of effective transmission between the two places, the transmission rate will drop rapidly, and the problem of repeated transmission will frequently occur.

If you must deploy network cables near power lines, make sure they are run vertically rather than parallel. In the late 1990s, I encountered a case where a newly installed coaxial cable did not work properly. This line was originally responsible for connecting two buildings that were very close to each other. After various troubleshooting, I suddenly found that the overhead power line between the two buildings was entangled with the coaxial cable, which caused the line to be severely electromagnetically interfered and could not transmit data normally.

10. Not following industry standards

As we all know, there are eight separate wires in each network cable. Therefore, as long as we can ensure that the same mode and type are used at both ends of the wire, we can connect them arbitrarily. It turns out that this belief is wrong. There is a reason for setting industry standards, and the wiring standards need to take into account the influence of wire distortion and external environmental factors. If these standards are not followed when wiring, problems such as interference and inefficiency may occur, which will have a negative impact on the overall performance of the network. The standards mentioned here are EAI/TIA-568-A and B, which specify how data class lines are deployed.