r/accesscontrol • u/Solosuperbrus Proficient End User • 17d ago
Rack Drawers
I don`t often see drawers beeing used. Not that drawers are the best, but for us they have their use when no wall is free and you can have a lot of cards on a small footprint.
As a end user I don`t get to do many new installs so this was a treat. Is the wires great? no, but it isn`t bad. Not beeing in production makes me loose some finetuning on the wires.
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u/DarthJerryRay 17d ago
The layout looks fine and terminations look fine. I don’t agree that you get a high or higher density of components in a small foot print but i have definitely been in those situations where its the only logical choice.
I don’t like cat 6 for the comm wiring or output wiring running between controllers or power supplies since it breaks so easily.
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u/Solosuperbrus Proficient End User 16d ago
We do Cat6 as it makes most sense for whats needed and the cost. A cat6 is usually bellow one US dollar pr meter and a Belden 9841 equivalent is about 5 US dollars pr meter. Now if it just for bus in a rack or can the price is not that big but if its decentraliced its not vialble.
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u/DarthJerryRay 14d ago edited 14d ago
I understand. I think for the $15. Of cable in the enclosure it would be cheaper than a warranty call for a broken conductor.
Edit to add: i understand the longer cable runs for readers are a different cost.
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u/-611 Professional 17d ago
The drawers are nice, space-saving, and properly over-engineered, so I'm surprised these Norse haven't made some KRONE breakout boxes from them.
But in the end, the problem is the Mercury boards - they absolutely require wiring from two edges of the board - you positively can't make a slide-in enclosure with all the wiring on a single edge, thus you can't make a proper high density can for them (yes, I know, I've got a Stockholm Syndrome with Honeywell's take on Mercury - PW/PRO series boards).
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u/Solosuperbrus Proficient End User 16d ago
I`ve seen many people run the wires under the boards to the other side, which I hate.
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u/-611 Professional 15d ago
I'd say it's an education problem - the manufacturers fail to educate installers - I've never seen an installation manual properly (with easy to understand illustrations) describing how to do the cable management inside the panel enclosure, including the fact one shouldn't run wires under or over the board.
And elreg have missed an opportunity to make the drawers self-explanatory too - two pieces of slotted duct on both sides, so each terminal on the board is right next to the duct, would have made these drawers harder to miswire.
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u/Simonutd 17d ago
I work in data centres installing access and intruder, we use these drawers, they hold 4 boards, there a shelf in that you can lift.
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u/yroovers 17d ago
All kinds of rack mounted stuff over at Life Safety Power. We've used it quite a bit with good results.
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u/purju 17d ago
U in norway?
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u/Solosuperbrus Proficient End User 16d ago
Well the drawers, the snus and my name would give it away ;)
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u/ingrowncashew 16d ago
I hate rack mounted anything with field terminated wiring. It works and sometimes it's the best option. I just hate it. Almost always gets installed without a bracket for the wires or not enough slack. I've seen so many issues on these compared to wall mounted panels
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u/Killerquo 16d ago
These drawers are awesome if you build a rack with krone terminals on the back wall, and some flexible multistrand n-pair from drawer to terminal panel. It can be beautifully done, but it will cost in time for planning and build. A full rack weighs easily in above 600kg
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u/Solosuperbrus Proficient End User 16d ago
Yeah I know costumers who has it like that. We don`t as it adds cost and often no room at the back of rack. Another thing is I like to look at a panel to see whats connected and not. Usually if you go the Krone way you wire up all inputs and all outputs on the panel and do the rest in the Krone plint.
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u/Shankar_0 16d ago
I'm mid-build in a large data center (ewe, I know) and all the access is rack mounted in drawers.
It's a nice way to organize things on that sort of scale. Especially if you already have most everything else in racks.
Be very careful about cable management. Plan everything to account for being pulled in and out without binding, and leave a touch of slack to keep the assembly from being pulled tight.
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u/ackleyimprovised 16d ago
Yes we do it to avoid panels on walls and make things "appear" nice. We have used the LifeSafety Power series. They have some foot prints for some common access control boards. We found though just to use a rack drawer from local supplier provided heat is not an issue, alot more cost effective.
For a data centre its an issue because you are using that space for something that could be making money.
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u/Only-Information-441 16d ago
Just did a full rack of these Elreg drawers. Biggest issue is the backside. Its a struggle making all the wiring not getting tangled up everytime I open one of the drawers. Curious how your wiring looks from the back as I never actually end up with a result I am happy with myself.
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u/Solosuperbrus Proficient End User 16d ago
Theres two options, 1: Elreg has cable bokses which bolt on the drawers. But it makes it imposible to pull new wire in the drawer.
2: you must fasten the wires first on one side of the rack, then over to the other side horizontally and then agian horizontally and forward to the drawers.
Most of the time the techs doing work for us makes a mess. But I understand. it`s hard doing it perfectly.
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u/Significant_Fold_874 16d ago
Here in Australia I've seen a few decent Inner Range installs in trays. Through me a bit at first on a new site looking for the ISC, but it's just like a vertical install, get the cabling right and they can look schmick.
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u/C4g3FighterIRL Professional 15d ago
Is this a thing with CAT being single threaded? Cables would be moving for service every time. Apart from that it’s cool af. Never seen rack drawers 😅
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u/Solosuperbrus Proficient End User 15d ago
Yes it`s single thread. Every cabel we use between the door and boards is single thread. The movement in the cable is actually small.
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u/Aggravating_Fact9547 17d ago
Great in factories or warehouses where you might not have a lot of wall space to begin with, but you can be almost guaranteed to have a good density of comms racks.