New Home Construction - Structured Wiring

[heckler08]

New to this forum so please excuse the ignorance. Any help or links are greatly appreciated.

I am in the beginning stages of building a house and want to make sure I get all the necessary wires in the wall to support future home automation. That would include lighting control, window shade control, security system control, whole house audio, and home theaters. I would like to control devices wired (ethernet or other) or via IR blasters to the greatest extent possible but am not planning to install all of the final devices immediately. I understand that there are many RF products out there but I want to minimize their usage and potential conflicts with other wireless stuff.

With regard to lighting and window shades, I'd like to be able to have a few button pads around the house to set some general scenes in different rooms (some scenes would affect multiple rooms). Are there a few wiring diagrams for each of these types of devices (keypads, light switches, shade locations) that I can use to prewire the house? I'd like to use standard residential wires (cat6, 3+gnd pwr cable, RG6) to the greatest extent possible rather than proprietary bundled cables recommended for some devices.

I was also thinking of having as much wiring home run to a central automation and home theater equipment closet in the basement. The main breaker box is there as well but I probably wouldn't push to have every light/socket home run there before ganging into the breakers. Would it help to have an IR sensor in each room that are run back to a multi-room IR hub over cat6? I have one of these already and it works great.

http://www.channelvision.com/index.php/Multi-Room-IR-Control/P-1205/flypage.tpl.html

My home theater systems will be typical racks. I am happy with my setup that uses an Onkyo receiver to manage both audio and video (HDMI in and out) and I'm leaning toward a media player like the WD HD TV to do all of my NAS/internet audio and video stuff.

If there are general guidelines or wiring diagrams that people have created for my type of situation, any help or documentation would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[amazatron]

Not sure what you need for wiring, but as far as the home theater rack goes, I would highly recommend www.customavrack.com for Middle Atlantic home theater racks. Also check out Middle Atlantic's custom rack shelf faceplates: http://customavrack.com/Category/20-middle-atlantic-custom-rack-shelves.aspx

[spugh]

I get my Middle Atlantic rack shelves and faceplates from www.AValive.com . Slightly better pricing, but very close after you factor in shipping.

[AVHomeInstalls]

Omnimount has come out with 2 full racks at very good prices. Have a look at www.omnimount.com

[dannyboy]

I was in a similar place to you recently, I've been running control 4 for about 6 months testing, but just got my completed house with cabling I ran,

In terms of AV, I've ran 3xcat6 stp (1 for tv Internet, 2 for distribution of hdmi, or future technology) & 1 cat5e( for ir, wii - easier to work with etc) to my 4 tv locations. Also ran hdmi 1.4, component, stereo leads all back to Comms cupboard.

I'm not planning on using blasters, just rack mounted controllers with ir buds to rack mounted players, eg DVD, then using cat 5 to get ir bud to remote location tv.

For windows, this is the last thing I suspect I will do, so I just predrilled studs and left string to pull cables, just beneath surface into roof cavity.

Security, I've ran 4 core security cables to all locations I want sensors and keypads. I've ran figure 8 pair to above all doors and predrilled window frames for magnetic reed switches.

Audio, I have the control4 8x8 matrix amp with speaker cables in roof to 8 locations back to cooms room. I found a table on the internet that recommended the gauge wiring(awg) for the distance required and paid the extra for the thick stuff.

I prepurchased all my c4 keypads and had builders sparky wire them. I Included on wiring diagram to give him so minimal confusion. They only need power, control signal is via wireless zigbee pro.

I prepurchased some c4 dimmers, but mostly installed cheap levitron decora switches so I can upgrade to c4 over time if I remain excited by the idea. Again only need power, control is via zigbee pro.

My heated towel rails and ceiling fans are wired on switches, that can also be replaced to c4 switches to control also.

My heating is on c4 thermostats, pre ran 5 wires core to each zone.

I also ran cat5e (cheaper and easier than cat 6) to multiple locations in each room for phones, shared pcs and periferial devices, touch screens etc.