Hi there,

I'm new to this board but i'm excited that there looks like good support here! I don't normally take on Phone system work and like to stick to Data most of the time. However the new Hotel going up in my area would like me now to do all the BIX panels and prep them for the Phone company for when they put in the PBX. I'm sure I can figure this out on my own, but I thought I would simply ask some experts before I tackle this wiring job, so if anyone know of some good tutorials or guides or perhaps previous postings that could provide some guidence. I'd really appreciate that folks. Any suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks for your time!

Cheers!

Please fill out your profile completely. Canada is not good enough. We like to know who we're helping out.

First time here, just looking for some wisdom, any suggestions are very appreciated.

Thanks.

I would strongly suggest you running the cables and terminating with Cat 3 jacks and leave the other end for the telephone tech.

It's not going to take him long to terminate the cables as he will do it in no time at all compared to you, therefore not costing the hotel owner any more $$$.

Having said that, if you insist on doing the terminations:

Use the proper mounts & blocks
Use proper terminating techniques
Use the proper NORTEL BIX punch down tool
Label every block properly.

Do a search for BIX on this board & you'll get a ton of threads that come up.

To sum up, let a pro do it, get a telephone tech in there to supervise or teach or do your homework. If the next guy has to rip it out & start over (I've seen it done), it'll be at the owner's expense.

ill add my 2 cents
make sure your bix blocks are genuine northern telecom or nordx. there are chinese ones floating about and as moore says learn first dont learn on the job

Good point Jay....

I will give you one tip in case you think you want to try this....

The cables must be attached to the block with a couple of small tyraps & punched down in a manner that permits the block to be flipped or rolled later to add/remove cables if need be later. If you can't easily do this BEFORE X-connects are added, you'll never be able to do it later.

and one final word, buy yourself a bix probe, best 20$ you will ever spend.

Thanks guys, i'm writting down all of your suggestions for when I have to wire this up. As well I've found other articles and specs on the Belden/IDC procedures for wiring BIX, this shouldn't be too bad as I already have most of the tools others have made mention. The telco side of this project consists of wiring the BIX(which we have been discussing) and then terminating 3 wallplates in each room(103 rooms total) where i'm going with this is that the owners have asked what it will cost for this work to be done, i'm not sure as I have not wired and terminated a telco job like this. I have a tech that it should take him the better part of a week to terminate all the rooms and then I will deal with the BIX part. If anyone can help me with an estimate on this it would help me out alot and help for future projects such as this. I am not putting in the PBX(Mitel system) and the electricians have already wired the Hotel with CAT6 in case you are wondering. Sorry for all the questions, just wondering what I may want to charge for this project.

Thanks again.

So what, this isn't the right way to terminate Bix??

[img]https://conxtel.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album01&id=nova_2][/URL][/img]

Electrician did not want the "added cost" to purchase all the required hardware so terminated only one pair. 200 cables terminated where only 60 should be.

Bix can be done very nicely or very, very badly!

Oops, pic did not work.

[IMG]
https://conxtel.myphotoalbum.com/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album01&id=nova_2#Bottom [/IMG]

AHHHHHHH that is hurting my eyes! i looked at the other pics, the rings for bix are designed to snap in like legos in many configs, not to be just left floating on the wall. as napoleon dynamite would say IDIOT

I viewed all the pictures, that so bad!! Are you doing clean up?? Where in slave lake is it?

Owners won't pay to have it repaired. We've offered. I guess they will pay later when it starts failing.

I can only say one thing..... WOW.

That was a bad WOW, not a good one.

If you put Bix in like the pic in the above post it ends up being a nitemare and nothing but trouble. Here is a job we added the lower right Bix for a nurses call system. The rest had been put in before for phones over the months by the local telco. Maybe not perfect but compact compared to 66 blocks.


Keep the cables to one side as much as possible so its easier to add later on.




Tie the cables on the Bix so that you can open each strip to add more cables. The jumpers should come off only on the side that the strip bends open.

1-So, where are Bix labels?

2-IMHO Cables attached to the lower mount should not have been stripped back to the upper mount.

There on now.

Thanks for sharing the pics...hey are those SQUARE screws I see? Or should I say robertson?!

jeff, i was doing some moonlight work at a company that makes construction trailers, we were told ones that were built for US export could not use our standard robertson screws and had to use phillips!

Wow, what a mess. I'll admit that the new stuff is much more professional than the original stuff.

If we are going to crank up the BIX/110 argument, here is my only gripe about BIX based upon this installation (bear in mind, I'm not anti-BIX):

With BIX, unused areas in an arranged or non-arranged layout result in bare naked cables or pairs being visible. The left side is indicative of this in the picture. Unless cables/pairs are neatly dressed throughout the layout, it's going to be visible, right there in view. I assure you that "Leon" the CLEC installer" isn't going to have a clue, nor care about keeping things neat and organized. A comparable 110 installation would have resulted in those bare pairs or cables being out of sight.

If I recall correctly, the entire concept of BIX and 110 systems was to provide a true "dead-front" design, where the cable core or multiple cables were terminated one time and fully-protected from the fingers of non-professionals. The only damage that the untrained could do was on the front face which is easy to identify and fix.

"As long as the back side is installed per the system design, there should never be a reason to approach the back side of either system again".

With 110 blocks, the wiring blocks themselves provide a separate front/rear area so that even unoccupied spaces simply appear as white empty space. There are no "flying cables" or "pairs" that won't be hidden until the field is fully populated with blocks AND proper labeling as with BIX.

The problem is that both BIX and 110 hardware can be screwed to the wall "on the fly" by any untrained yokel, just like 95% of the 66 blocks out there. If 66/110/BIX systems are aligned using their intended mounting systems and labeled properly, they are incredibly compact and efficient. All of those "I can't pick up a tone" complaints are due to the improper installation BEHIND the installation.

Back to the photos: Writing cable origins or terminations with a Sharpie on plywood is the epitome of unprofessional. Ten years from now, those markings will read "2ae8cg57nRE$#A$Em%age" as the ink gets done soaking into the wood.

While I'll give the original installer credit for their attempt at cable sheath bonding, it looks like something that was done after nap time in Kindergarten class. Bad, just bad, but at least they made an effort.

How about that green sparkie ground wire (green=sparkie, telco gray=telephone professional, Bare copper=acceptable medium) going down to the bottom-left blocks? I'd love to know how they made the transition between a #10 THHN wire and a BIX block. A hundred beige staples on that green wire makes it even prettier.

I will say that the new installation looks much more properly done with the lacing to allow the modules to be tipped out (assuming jumpers are routed properly). I would not have allowed the naked pairs of the cables to be exposed in the inter-bay routing. The cable jackets should not have been opened until about one inch into the next mount.