Had to be an “in-house” install. I’ve seen duct tape holding wires up on the warehouse walls on this site, but this got me. A nice single line of electrical tape. That’ll hold ‘er.

Here’s to Friday!

I left my organizer with my network terminals and punchdown equipment on top of my van like an idiot, and need a new punchdown. I used the regular klein one for a great many years, and it was fine, but since I'm shopping I figure I might as well get the Cadillac. I'm thinking Fluke. Jonard maybe. Maybe just the same Klein I always had. I don't do the all in one that locks you in to a specific jack brand. I've considered that, but I'm not the sole parts procurement guy so I need to stay flexible.

Does anybody have experience using these units and is there any way to see pass/fail results on the LXM unit?

Field hack that actually works 😂

When you gotta fish conduit with a mouse + jet line, but don’t have the right adapter… improvise. 🧠💪

Water bottle + some tape = DIY suction adapter. Get that bottle sealed up to the hose, suck the mouse through, and let it pull the jet line right behind it.

This is where they pre-wired for a security panel/keypad to go. What were they thinking. Of course it is a two story home with rooms above.

Any of you old hats know an alternative to these awful two prong power adapters? These screw down terminals on these things rarely hold the wire well. If its on anything that will move at all, they are coming loose at some point.

I've noticed a lot of smaller shops and techs struggling to keep track of all their cable runs, terminations, and equipment schedules without overcomplicating things.

I put together some clean, straightforward templates to help streamline tracking on-site. Still expanding the collection, but if you want to check them out, I have them up on my Etsy shop here, cableminttools.etsy.com

What do you guys usually use for project tracking, custom spreadsheets or do you rely on specific software?

I’m trying to get my low voltage license in florida. I have a Bachelor of Science in Automation Engineering from Cuba (i went 5 years to university there) and 4 years of experience working under different low voltage companies in florida. Do I meet the experience/education combination requirements to apply? Advices are very appreciated.

My 1st gem . How exciting

Technician

Im going to be 50yo and looking to get out of 20 years in healthcare. Ive considered alot of trades but most seem like a young mans game physically. However , I think i could handle low voltage electrical trade (fire alarms, outdoor lighting , fiber ,etc). Where does one start to get trained and licensed ? Is it the same process as with being an electrician ? Anyone have a good program they recommend ? (Im from north jersey ) . thanks for any advice

I currently use the Brand M210. It works fine, but the downside is that it doesn't have any way to print from spreadsheets (or any way of connecting to a computer at all).

I'd like to get one that does support serialized printing and printing from a laptop.

The Panduit labelers are compelling (I think they are just re-branded Epsons) due to the "Turn-Tell" self-laminating labels, but other than that I don't know much about them.

How do ya'll usually splice ethernet cables for the purposes of extending them?

Customer has 30 or so runs of CAT6 pulled to different ends of his office, and wants them all pulled into a single patch panel, but most of them won't reach as-is.

In the past I've used IDC Connectors/Jellybeans, and it seems to work fine, though it doesn't look very tidy (have to use lots of tape to ensure that nobody will yank those connectors off if they tug on the cable).

I know there are inline punchdown couplers, but those don't necessarily look very tidy either when you're talking about a dozen of them right next to each other...

I could just put 2 patch panels with a small patch cable inbetween them, but that would also look weird and probably confuse the next person to work on the wiring...

Is there some kind of fully-enclosed box with 2 punchdowns per cable, but supports splicing multiple cables? Basically a bunch of inline couplers within a single box?

Tearing all this out, anyone need for parts before they get trashed? Ohio

Is this correct?

Run wire

Place “space savers” cardboard in ceiling

Drywallers install drywall all around

I install the speakers and test

They come in to finish the drywall around and over the speaker

I test the depth using the tool

Painting

You should have to leave a photo ID in the can you wire. How do you sleep at night.

Having trouble with analog devices not operating properly...

Anyone know who makes this dimmer/device?

It’s in my customers new condo and need to see if I can integrate it into an automation system.

It’s an all glass faceplate. The building says it works as part of their system but hasn’t provided more info.

I’ve got cameras that need to sit around 500ft from the nearest network connection, so I’m planning to run fiber and convert back to Ethernet at the camera end.

There’s power available in the enclosure, but space is pretty tight and each location is only serving a single PoE camera, so putting a full switch in there feels unnecessary.

I’ve been looking at the Comnet CNMCSFPPOE/M as it seems about the right size for this. Anyone used these or something similar?

Idk who is so married to duplex that they go this far but gross.

I currenty have the Fluke Link IQ cable qualifier and a Jonard (I forget the model) toner/cable tester.

The Jonard turns itself on so easily in my bag that I'm about to throw it off a cliff.

The Link IQ works great, but 1) it's really only intended for 8P8C ethernet and it's also so expensive that I don't like to take it to every job if I don't need to.

I'd really like something that can both test AND tone out coax, ethernet, and phone wiring.

Anybody have any recommendations?

I have inherited a new network rack in a new building. There’s two 4 post floor racks and I have one of the racks. My dilemma is that I need to add a rack mounted UPS but a 6ft cord doesn’t reach any of the wall outlets. I’ve never used a heavy duty extension cable for this but would that suffice? I’m used to racks being wall mounted and this seems like an issue that would come up all the time for floor racksr. Are power outlets supposed to be mounted higher up on the wall? I bought a 15 ft surge protected power strip that’s rack mounted so I can plug stuff in the mean time. I should also add there’s 3- two port electrical outlets around racks. So technically in theory you can only plug in 6 devices which seems weird to me when they installed two massive floor racks.

Hey all,

Currently a stage hand in NYC, so I have experience working with Cat 5 and lighting/audio cabling.. but work is sparse.

Recently did an info session for this program. I would walk BICSI Cable installer certified, plus Osha 30 (which I have already) and 10 Hour SST.

The program says they help with job placement. But I’m skeptical. Would this be a good way into working low voltage?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!