We're building a new house and I'd like to pre-wire for a satillite system. We've never had satillite, and won't have one initially, but I'd like to put the wiring in place so that it'll be easy to add down the road.

What wiring do I need? Two RG6? Anything else?

What are the requirements for dish location so that I can figure out where a dish would potentially go?

Thanks...

This message was edited by Larry in TN on 10/25/01 16:06.57.

in addition to the coax, you might as well prewire for connecting your HT system as well;the primary requirements for any dish is a clear view of the SW sky;it can be put anywhere as long as it has a clear line of site to the lower SW sky

I'm not sure what you mean regarding connecting to my HT system. What do you mean in addition to the two RG6 from the dish to the entertainment center?

My "clear view" does that mean no trees at all?

Consider running 4 RG-6 for Satelite (HDTV uses a second LNB) and possibly a run for a Local HD antenna. Rumors are Direct TV will be possibly going to 3 LNB's which could mean up to 7 RG-6 runs, I have 5 right now. The stuff is cheap now is the time

Seven! Wow... That's a lot. Does that include the one of the HD antenna or would that make eight?

Larry!!!!! Don't worry, you only need two RG-6s to each tuner location. (You could get away with one, but if you ever use a dual-tuner unit, you'll need two). You only need 4 (or 6) from the dish location to the place you'll have your multiswitch, which is what lets each tuner tune individually, and two to each TV from there. The HDTV and local-signals can 'piggy-back' on the same cables.

Plan for a centrally-located closet for the multiswitch, power supplies, antenna splitters and/or amps, phone distribution, maybe whole-house audio or audio/video, etc. One electrical outlet should be fine, since you can use a power strip (surge-protected), and these electronics don't require much power. I would recommend a separate, dedicated circuit, though, for less noise interference. 15 amps is fine.

By the way, Virginia isn't THAT far away from Tennessee, so if you don't have an electrician lined up, maybe you'd be interested in discussing having me do all the wiring, power, standby generator, indoor and outdoor lighting, automation-planning with you, and all the stuff I mentioned above. I can do it all, and extremely well. More importantly, it would be done to suit you and your family, not the general contractor.

Let me know if you're interested. If you don't think this is crazy, I would consider the job big enoug to not charge extra for getting there. Of course, if building a new house means it's already under way, then I guess it's a little too late.

Larry

OK, four to the comm panel isn't too bad. I'm going to use the Home Director panel for that.

Regarding dedicated circuits, what would you recommend for the entertainment center location? 15A? 20A?

The house is being built by a tract developer so I can't bring in my own subs. It's kind of a pain but until you get up in the $500,000+ range that's how it works around here. They don't even have a structured wiring package so I'm kinda pushing them on that. Definitely will plan to be on site when they're doing the low-voltage stuff.

Whoops sorry Larry in TN I guess I forgot to say the runs I was talking about were from the switch to sat dish sorry for the confusion

Matt

Thanks, Matt. I figured that's what you meant. It was just the first time I'd heard of more than two from the dish to the switch. I'm still pretty fuzzy on the details of how the sat systems work as I've always had cable. I just want to put in the wires I'll need now then I'll figure out the details later.

Next question is how do you handle VCR tuning with a sat system? That's the main reason I've never gone with the premium cable service. I need indapendant tuning for my VCRs.

Cool, Larry, I understand. I hope I wasn't out of line with my offer. I'm not sure if it was 'over the line' with the forum rules and regs. : - )

For circuits, here's my suggestions (assuming your electrician will do what you want):

For any theater, the lighting and regular around-the-room receptacles should be separate from your system power, unless you might have active (powered) speakers. In that case, I'd allow one 20 amp circuit for all of the satellite.

Otherwise, I'd do this:

For a receiver based system:
One 20 amp circuit for the receiver.
One 20 amp circuit for the rest of the rack of components.
One 20 amp circuit for the TV or projector.
One 20 amp circuit for the rest of the room (lighting, the popcorn machine, etc).

For a separates system:
For each power amp, one 20 amp circuit., and the same as above for the rest: (Rack, TV, lighting)

Each circuit can have more than one receptacle, if need be, and, although pairs of circuits can share neutrals, I'd forgo that here, and use individual cables for each, to reduce electrical noise and interference. These days, 12-3 cable costs twice per foot what 12-2 does, so you wouldn't save money, anyway.

Even though the components may not require the ampacity this scheme will provide, and you can always use 15-amp breakers on 12 ga. wire (but, not 20-amp breakers on 14 ga.), the added wire size will reduce voltage drop, especially on longer runs. (On any circuit approaching 100 ft, I always oversize the wire)

If you may have any antenna or satellite equipment (multiswitch w/ power, signal amps or splitters, etc.) in another location, such as a closet, utility room, attic, etc., you should run a separate 15-amp circuit to that (or those) location(s). Again, if you have two of these types of places, such as attic and closet, they can share a circuit, since signal equipment requires very little current.

I can't think of anything else right now, except to try to decide on locations for speakers and/or audio-video runs throughout the house. The walls are open now, and wire is cheaper than labor. Of course, don't forget the RG-6, CAT-5e (or better), phones, etc., and remember the rule: HOME RUN EVERYTHING to a central location, like the afore-mentioned closet or utility room.

About the satellite questions, I will have to post another post, it's supper time!

Speaking of labor, we'll all keep our fingers and toes crossed for a happy and healthy baby and parents!


Larry

Be sure you run a phone line to each location for the SAT cable outlets. You will these for the SAT receiver. I have my phone line in the same box as the coax cable. I have 3 coax cables at the locations with the SAT receivers. One for the SAT, one for CATV and one for the output of the SAT receiver. I ran this one to another room to cut down on the number of receivers I needed to have.

Kris

Larry,

I wish I could bring you (and Bill) in for all the wiring but even if I could convince the contractor to allow me to bring in my own subs he definitely wouldn't give me a reasonable credit for it. Oh, well. There are always compromises.

I'll definitely go with the 20A circuits. Wouldn't have thought of doing that many.


Kris,

I'm going to use a 2x2 structured wiring bundle so getting a phone line wherever I need it won't be a problem.

Larry, which builder are you using?

I just fought long and hard with my builder about structured wiring. But I finally prevailed. My house will be the first in the area with it, and since they were fairly clueless, I was able to layout my own runs. I have two coax + 2 Cat-5e to everyroom, plus two cat-5e to every room for keypad/Ir, plus an additional two cat-5e to the larger rooms for alternate phone locations. I have speaker wire into every room, and coax + cat-5e to every door for video surveillence. I plan to add myself cat-5e to various other locals (HVAC units, Alarm System, Doorbells, Garage Door Openers, Water Heater, Sprinkler and low voltage lighting locations, etc.). Plan ahead and Push hard with your contractor. It will pay off.

The Builder is Fox Ridge Homes (http://www.foxridgehomes.com/)

How much did all of your wiring cost?

Larry,
You can't switch sat channels with a VCR. Except for a couple D-VHS/Sat combo units. It's just like cable with a box, there is no version like cable without a box.