In new home construction, wiring for all electrical services can be easily installed before the walls are finished. In existing buildings, installation of a new system such as a security system, or home theatre, may require additional effort to install concealed wiring. Multiple unit dwellings such as condominiums and apartment houses may have additional installation complexity in distributing services within a house.
Services commonly found include:
- Power points (wall outlets)
- Light fixtures and switches
- Telephone
- Internet
- Television, either broadcast, cable, or satellite
High-end features might include:
- Home theater
- Distributed audio
- Security monitoring
- Security CCTV
- Automation
- Energy management
Power and telecommunication services generally require entry points into the home and a location for connection equipment. For electric power supply, a cable is run either overhead or underground into a distribution board in the home. A distribution board, or circuit breaker panel, is typically a metal box mounted on a wall of the home. In many new homes the location of the electrical switchboard is on the outside of the external wall of the garage.
How services are connected will vary depending on the service provider and location of the home.
Power point[edit]
Power points (receptacles, plugs, wallsockets) need to be installed throughout the house in locations where power will be required. In many areas the installation must be done in compliance with standards and by a licensed or qualified electrician. Power points are typically located where there will be an appliance installed such as, telephone, computers, television, home theater, security system, CCTV system.
Light fittings and switches[edit]
The number of light fitting does depend on the type of light fitting and the lighting requirements in each room. The incandescent bulb made household lighting practical, but modern homes use a wide variety of light sources to provide desired light levels with higher energy efficiency than incandescent lamps. A lighting designer can provide specific recommendations for lighting in a home. Layout of lighting in the home must consider control of lighting since this affects the wiring. For example, multiway switching is useful for corridors and stairwells so that a light can be turned on and off from two locations. Outdoor yard lighting, and lighting for outbuildings such as garages may use switches inside the home.
Telephone[edit]
Telephone wiring is required between the telephone company's service entrance and locations throughout the home. Often a home will have telephone outlets in the kitchen, study, living room or bedrooms for convenience. Telephone company regulations may limit the total number of telephones that can be in use at one time. The telephone cabling typically uses two pair twisted cable terminated onto a telephone plug. The cabling is typically installed as a daisy chain starting from the point where the telephone company connects to the home or outlets may each be wired back to the entrance.
Data[edit]
Data wiring has two components, these are:
- Data service delivery
- Data network cable
The three most common ways data services are delivered to the home:
- ADSL service on the back of the telephone cabling
- Cable Modem
- Fiber
ADSL service
Cable Modem cable modems are typically installed in location where there is an existing Pay TV service outlet. The installation requires the installation of a Pay TV outlet (F connector).
Fiber Fiber is the least common but it is growing in numbers. If the home has fiber to it then the fiber terminates on what is known as an Optical Network Termination unit (ONT) and it has a data port on it. Cabling from the street to the point where the ONT is installed is fiber and is typically installed by the service provider.
In all three cases the equipment supplied by the Internet provider will have a connection to the computers installed in the building. This is the data network cabling or LAN cabling.
If more than one computer or device (PC, printers, TV etc.) is to be connected in the home, LAN cabling will be required. The cabling used for data networking is similar to the phone cabling as it is twisted pair but of a much higher quality. The cable is known as Category (Cat) 5 or Cat 6. The cabling must be installed as a star wired configuration, that is the cabling runs from the point next to the modem, hub, or router uninterrupted up to the outlet next to the device that needs to be connected. Computer network wiring cannot be chained from one outlet to the next; each outlet is wired individually back to the hub or router next to the modem. If only one computer is required, it can be directly plugged into the modem. An alternative to a wired LAN especially useful for mobile devices is a wireless LAN, which can reduce or eliminate all the fixed wiring.
Television[edit]
Cabling for free to air TV requires the following:
- TV outlets
Antenna types vary depending on location; an urban area with nearby transmitters will require a smaller antenna than a rural site with distant stations. The antenna is often mounted outdoors on the roof or a tower. A coaxial or twinlead cable is run from the antenna to the location where the television is located. One common type of cable is designated RG-6 Tri-shield or quad-shield cable. The cable is terminated on a television outlets, typically an F connector mounted on a face plate. If there are multiple outlets, an RF splitter is used to divide the signal among them; outlets on the splitter are connected to television outlets at each location (living room, rec room, bedrooms, den, for example). RF splitters come with different types; some include amplifiers for multiple outlets.
