Does anyone know if there are rackmount inline splice panels? I have a potential small cabling project for a client where the client needs to move a patch panel from a 1st floor closet to a 2nd floor closet without pulling new cables. There are finished walls and ceilings and it would be cost prohibitive to wall fish new cables to each office. The client doesn't want network equipment in the 1st floor closet either. Right now the client terminated cables to one patch panel, then used 1ft patch cables to jumper to a second patch panel where those runs go to the 2nd floor. All scabbed together with mismatched cable types and patch panel types. They know they need to fix it due to some wallplates not coming up at 1gig, not passing PoE, or not working at all. I've used single inline splices before and they've worked great. But I have 40 cables that need to be punched down and the inline splices aren't practical in this situation.

That is what I'm talking about, but I need it on a rackmount panel.

We've talked about this before. Your only choices are those things and patch panels. So the client doesn't want anything in the old closet huh. Well you don't move data wiring around like you move furniture and besides, it's a closet! They have no choice. Two patch panels, correct length patch cords- make it look nice or else walk away.

-Hal

Not rackmount but I was at a client where somebody used 110 blocks one cable in the bottom other half in the clip. I don't know what the speed or integrity is but the client says it is working.

I would tell the IT weenie that set the specs for the job to do it himself , that way its done the way he wants done . When nothing works right then bid twice as much you make money and he gets canned .

Yes, there are 66 blocks that are supposed to be CAT5e too but I've never seen what the outcome is when you go to certify. Besides, where are you going to put all this stuff if the customer doesn't want it on the wall? Throw it up in the ceiling?

-Hal

Code violation Hal. You know better.

It's only a violation if you get caught .Then you play dumb . I have never seen an inspector lift a ceiling tile and calif has some strict rules

When the OP said rack mount I thought they were o.k. with cable in the closet just not hardware switches and stuff that gets plugged into power.

Siemon makes rack-mounted S110 and S210 series blocks, which are rated for CAT5e use. I'm not sure if they have a CAT6 version, but it would be the easy solution to this dilemma. Punch down the station cables on one side and the outgoing cables to the other rack would punch down on the other side of the blocks. Place this panel at the top of the existing rack, or on a wall-mount bracket. Place an industry-standard cover on it and *poof*, nobody would mess with them, in theory of course.

TAKE A LOOK HERE

That's what I was implying. I was just waiting to hear that that's where it was going.

Ed, that's nice but it really isn't any more good looking than a patch panel. So if you are going to mount that at the top of the wall might as well do a patch panel. But the customer doesn't want anything in the closet, right? How about cutting a hole in the wall and recessing it then install an access panel or one of those recessed data boxes? Hang a picture of the customers grandmother over it and call it a day.

-Hal

You guys have worked around it. Siemon makes an S110 or S210 product that terminates 100,200,300 pairs in a rack mount strip. S110-db1 is one of the Cat-5e parts for 100 pairs in a 1U arrangement.

Carl

Hal how about a picture of Hillary Clinton , no one would touch that .

Except an IT guy.

-Hal

That is funny Hal my friend an I got a good laugh . He has also dealt with these pimple faced IT people .

Sorry for the late response. This Siemon solution looks like as good as it will get. The S210 on their website says it "exceeds category 6 specifications". So that should cover the CAT6 wiring and S110 would cover the CAT5e wiring. I'll be honest that I think I've only seen a handful of 110 blocks used in my travels. All of them were for phone wiring. I'm much more comfortable with 66 blocks, but obviously those wouldn't work in this situation.

To clarify for everyone, the 1st floor is a copier room with limited space. It originally was the IT closet until things were moved out. My friend and colleague is the "pimply IT weenie" who asked me to bid on the job. I can understand why he'd rather have all network equipment in a locked 2nd floor dedicated room/closet for IT where there is going to be one big UPS installed soon (just needs batteries and 30A circuit installed). The client is a non-profit, lots of people coming and going. They do have a licensed electrician that helps out time to time, and he can run any wiring that absolutely has to be replaced in the finished walls. Some of the existing runs have some "creative" connections when I took a brief look above the small drop ceiling (end connectors to couplers) in one area of the office. They use VoIP phones and many of them won't work on PoE, only link up at 100Mbit, etc due to various wiring issues.

We have a large customer that has probably 40 IDFs of which data cabling has been extended from 110 blocks to patch panels on relay racks. Some closets use cat5e 25 pair cabling with amphenol connections to patch panels that have amphenol connections and some have just 4 pair cabling for each connection. It's cat5e and they use POE no problem. No problems having drops certify with my Fluke DSX either. Certainly any hacked in cabling from sparky could cause an issue at your site.....

Before touching anything I would make them get a list of existing problem locations to you so you aren't chasing your tail trying to fix problems that were already there.

Update:

I got the cabling done for the annex building which had fewer cabling issues than I suspect will be at the main building. Main building will be done at another point. I looked high and low for Siemons branded 110 Blocks, but Graybar was sold out, and two local electrical suppliers don't carry it. Amazon doesn't have it either. My colleague ended up getting Panduit branded 110 blocks and they worked out good. Here's a photo of my work.



Left hand side of the block are the new cables coming from the new rack in the basement/1st floor. Right hand side are the existing runs to jacks on the 2nd floor/main floor. Most of those cables had no slack and some were CAT6, so I did the best I could with leaving a small loop at the bottom. I hate mixing category wires but that is what was dealt to me. Plugged in all of the PoE phones, PoE accesspoints, and a copier and everything came up. The brown wire is a thermostat wire or something else. I left it alone as it wasn't something I needed to touch. Thanks for the advice all.

Nice job!

-Hal

Very nice!

You probably couldn't find anything made by "Siemons" because there is no such brand. It is either 'Siemon', the manufacturer of structured wiring hardware, or 'Siemens', the manufacturer of systems. There are way too many people in this industry who use the two interchangeably. They are two completely different entities offering completely different products!

Looks great!!

It was a mistype on the forum. I did search for Siemon brand (using the part numbers from their website) and couldn't find anyone with it in stock locally, Graybar, or Amazon. Panduit 110 block seemed to work fine though.

I have used Cat5e and Cat6 punch down junction boxes before and found that they passed certification just fine. I had one job where I had to extend 40 cables and we bundled up the couplers and placed them in the ceiling, neatly.

https://www.amazon.com/InstallerPar...26859799&sr=8-13&keywords=cat+5e+coupler

https://www.amazon.com/InstallerPar...8-11-spons&keywords=cat+5e+coupler&psc=1

Siemon seems like it's a special order all the time around here. I don't see a difference using Panduit or a Leviton 110 instead. Looks good.