OpenHab2: Setting Up the Home Network Final Install
Setting Up the Home Network
Final Install:
Hey guys Matt here from mksmarthouse.com and in this video we are going to be finishing up the network by installing it the home.
So what do I mean by final installation, well I mean put all the components where they need to go such as putting the access points in their final locations and mounting the rest of the equipment on the wall. Also, when each one of these 4 videos in the network series hits 100 likes I will release the video of setting up the home automation server with OpenHAB 2 sooner than it is planned. The materials we are going to me using are an impact driver, a tape measure, some random screws, an Open Slot Wiring Cable Raceway, CAT 6 ethernet cables, a label maker and label tape. The links to where to get all the materials and products I use will be in the description. So, let's start off by discussing where I am going to mount it, well I am going to mount it here right next to the power panels. Now I know what some of you may be thinking, electrical interference that's not good. Well, I have had my previous network down here and I have not seen any quality issues or anything so I am going to continue to have it down here, I mean it is my network so I can do it how ever I want and you too can do your network however you want and put it where ever you want. Anyway, as you can see there are currently wires all over the place and the old equipment on the wall. So I am going to start by taking it all off to have a clean and cleared workspace. And there, I tucked some of the wires and removed all the old equipment. I am going to start off by mounting the power strip, so my power strip has 4 holes so I put 4 screws in the wall and just slid it on. Once the power was mounted, I took the router and the modem and played around with its placement to see how I like it. Once I found where I like it, I took a screw and put it in the wall using the impact driver, then I took a tape measure and measured the distance between the two holes on the router. Then I took that measurement and used it to put the other screw in the wall. Then once both screws were in I put the router on the wall. For the modem I applied the same process of putting in a screw, measuring distance, put in the other screw and finally mounting. Then I took the Ethernet switch and played around with its placement. Once I found where I like it I applied the same mounting technique as before. Now that everything is mounted it is time to manage all the cables. I have this cool cable management raceway thing with many holes and slits to run all the cables, it works really well and when I am done I just put the cover on and all the cables are gone. I am going to start off with the power cables. I just put them in the race way and ran them to there destinations. Next is the ISP Coax cable and the yellow ethernet cable in between the router and the switch, I just put them in the raceway and tucked them. Now that we are adding cables it is time to start labeling so we can keep track of all of them and tell where they are going. So, I am going to use this simple DYMO label maker to do so. To make a cable label, I just type in where the cable is going and then I press the print button wait for it to print, and then I press the print button again wait for it to print and then I press the cut button. The label now has the text twice and is very long with a big white space in the middle which is good. Then I just take the backing off of the label and fold it over the cable to create a little double sided flag. I do this for all my cables before I plug it in. Speaking of now I ran all my ethernet cables to the switch using the raceway. As you look at these clips you can clearly tell everything is labeled and can tell where it is going. Now that all the cables are ran we can now put the cover the raceway to hide all the cables. There we go all the cables are managed and labeled! So now it is time to label the hardware starting with the power bricks. If you were to label anything I high recommend labeling the power bricks so that way if you need to unplug it you know exactly what is what. Next I labeled all the hardware and the IP addresses of the devices. I even labeled the access points so I know which is which as well as where as where they go. Speaking of it is now time to install them. The first one we are going to install is on the second floor in my room. To install the access point all we have to do is plug in the power adapter into the wall, then plug an ethernet cable into the ethernet jack in the wall that goes to the ethernet switch in the main network, I used a black CAT6 ethernet cable. Then we take the ethernet cable and plug it into the yellow wan port of the Netgear AC1750 router / Access point. After that we take the other end of the power adapter and plug it into the access point and press the power button to turn it on if it is off. Now this access point is installed and is time to install the Garage Access point. So in my garage I have an ethernet cable running to it from the main house going into the ethernet switch in the main network. I also have an extension cord running from an outlet on the wall to the upper level of the garage so that we have both ethernet and power up there. So, the first thing I did is connect the power adapter into the extension cord so now I have two leads the ethernet cable and the other end of the power adapter. All that's left is to connect the ethernet to the WAN port of the Access Point and connect the power to the DC jack and turn it on. To finish it up i just tucked it away and we are done! The network is now complete, we now have full fast wifi coverage on the whole entire property, as well as a fast ethernet going through the fast ethernet switch. We are now ready to start the home automation and smart home journey. Alright thank you for watching and If you have any questions leave them in the comments section below or head over to mksmarthouse.com/forum where you have a better chance of it getting answered. Good Bye!