Blank Electrical Plate in Great Room

[tom_sjc]

Hello,

New veranda has a blank electrical plate in the Great Room ceiling. There is also one on top of the kitchen cabinets which has a Cat6 cable.

I'm thinking the one in the kitchen would be nice place for a WiFi router.

And then assuming there is another Cat6 cable behind the Great Room ceiling plate, what would you use that for, wired ethernet camera? (Aren't those usually Wi-Fi?)

Any other thoughts?

Thanks

[villagetinker]

I would remove the plate to see what is in there, this might be a mounting for a light or ceiling fan. If you find house (120 v) wiring, then next you will need to find the supply or switch. I was able to get our house plans from Sumter County, and one of the sheets had the electrical wiring on it. NOTE: low voltage was not shown on any of the sheets.

[Kenswing]

It’s another Cat6 cable. I think it’s there in case you want to put in a wifi extender. Check, they may have put one on your lanai as well.

[Altavia]

It’s another Cat6 cable. I think it’s there in case you want to put in a wifi extender. Check, they may have put one on your lanai as well.

Correct or more specifically, a wireless access point.

What is a WiFi Access Point? | Linksys: US (https://www.linksys.com/what-is-a-wifi-access-point.html)

Wifi/routers are fast enough now days and have enough range for most home applications here.

More range may be needed for wireless cameras. Mesh networks may be better for that application since you can add nodes where needed.

Home office networks: Are mesh or traditional Wi-Fi routers better? | ZDNET (https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/networking/mesh-vs-standard-wi-fi-what-is-best-for-your-home-office/)

[tom_sjc]

There are 9 cat6 cables in the garage low voltage box.

Two go to Master BR
Two go to Guest BR
One in 3rd BR
One in Great Room
One in lanai
One on top of kitchen cabinets behind a blank plate

So the 9th one must be behind the great room ceiling plate. Wi-Fi extender doesn't make sense as it's pretty close to the kitchen.

Has anyone contacted Galaxy as they put in security systems and one of the features of the home is Smart Home ready.

Thanks

[Altavia]

There are 9 cat6 cables in the garage low voltage box.

Two go to Master BR
Two go to Guest BR
One in 3rd BR
One in Great Room
One in lanai
One on top of kitchen cabinets behind a blank plate

So the 9th one must be behind the great room ceiling plate. Wi-Fi extender doesn't make sense as it's pretty close to the kitchen.

Has anyone contacted Galaxy as they put in security systems and one of the features of the home is Smart Home ready.

Thanks

Those wires are all of what is provided for "Smart Home Ready." Plus the wifi thermostat. It's more a marketing point than technical.

Someone like Galaxy, Xfinity, Comcast, ... can help terminate the wires if hard wired network is desired.

Home Security systems now days are usually wireless.

There should also be a 120 v outlet above the cabinets and another outlet controlled by a wall switch.

One side of the living room floor outlet and one outlet in each bedroom should connected to a wall switch.

FYI - A wireless irrigation controller like a B-Hyve is a useful upgrade.

[tom_sjc]

Yes, above the kitchen cabinets are 3 electrical outlets. Two are switched for above cabinet lights. The other is near the Cat6 box. So, a good place for WiFi router.

Still not sure why they put a Cat6 in the Great Room ceiling. There isn't power with it. So it would be for a battery operated ethernet device hanging from the ceiling. They must have thought a camera would go there.

Thanks

[Altavia]

Still not sure why they put a Cat6 in the Great Room ceiling. There isn't power with it. So it would be for a battery operated ethernet device hanging from the ceiling. They must have thought a camera would go there.

Thanks

Power can be supplied through the network cable using PoE

Power over Ethernet - Everything you need to know (https://intellinetnetwork.eu/pages/power-over-ethernet)

[rsmurano]

WAP (wireless access point) in the great room and a cat6 cable in the kitchen. Mine had to be terminated which I did. I setup a wired bridge mesh network with the cat6 cable above the cabinets so I don’t need a WAP. The xfinity modem/router is in a back bedroom with a cat6 cable so I go out from that bedroom into a switch in the garage network box, and there the cat6 connections go to all the rooms. Galaxy home solutions is lazy and didn’t terminate the cat6 cables for Ethernet, they punched down 2 pairs for phone (who uses a phone in each room nowadays?, plus galaxy wanted almost $900 to do the terminations. I bought the tools for $100 and did it myself.).
With my network I’m getting almost 800Mb wifi speeds throughout the house to the internet. Sure beats the 300-400Mb I was getting before I put in the mesh network

[PJfromCincy]

I asked the builder when we did our new home walk through with the builder. It has to with making the home a "Smart home". That stuff is beyond my technical abilities!

[tom_sjc]

WAP (wireless access point) in the great room and a cat6 cable in the kitchen. Mine had to be terminated which I did. I setup a wired bridge mesh network with the cat6 cable above the cabinets so I don’t need a WAP. The xfinity modem/router is in a back bedroom with a cat6 cable so I go out from that bedroom into a switch in the garage network box, and there the cat6 connections go to all the rooms. Galaxy home solutions is lazy and didn’t terminate the cat6 cables for Ethernet, they punched down 2 pairs for phone (who uses a phone in each room nowadays?, plus galaxy wanted almost $900 to do the terminations. I bought the tools for $100 and did it myself.).
With my network I’m getting almost 800Mb wifi speeds throughout the house to the internet. Sure beats the 300-400Mb I was getting before I put in the mesh network

When you terminate, you mean crimping the ethernet plugs onto the cable, correct? I have access to the crimping tool.

Somewhat confused by your comment about WAP in great room and then you said the wired bridge above the cabinets so you didn't need the WAP. The wired bridge has a built-in WAP, right?

I'm looking at Netgear products. Simple cable modem with one ethernet jack driving a switch in the garage feeding the rest of the cat6 cables. This allows TVs with a hard wired ethernet connections. Yes, use a netgear orbi tri band wifi router over the cabinets for wireless devices.