Patch Panel questions

[biggiesmallz]

Two questions:

1. What are the better brands.

2. How many ports would you recommend for a home training network?

thanx

 

[ScottMac]

AMP & Ortronics are pretty solid, well within spec, not too expensive (for a commercial panel)

Avaya (formerly Lucent) more expensive, Considered among the best.

Don't go too cheap on the panel if you're expecting to punch and re-punch over and over .... even the expensive panels have a service life to the IDC (Insulation Displacement Connector), but they're more likely to hold up to a "training load.". The contacts get dull or bent and stop contacting the wire effectively.

Get a good punch, and most panels that I've ever worked with request/require the "low" spring tension setting on the punch (punching too hard will deform the contacts).

Good Luck

Scott

 

[cmetz]

Cheezy though it is, if you get a surface-mount box, some faceplates, some 110 punch-down RJ45 jacks, and connect the RJ45 jacks with some short cables you can make yourself a pretend 110 punch block for learning/playing. The upshot to this method is that if you destroy the 110 block punches on RJ45 jacks, they're only a buck or two to replace. Boxes like this make good training props because they're cheap and can be fixed in small increments.

Then once you or whoever is learning has the hang of things, you can graduate up to a real panel.

Panduit is also a good brand. They've been making a push deeper into the data networking space.

How many ports? How many things are you hooking up? The only thing I'd suggest is that you make sure to get a high density patch panel to get used to working with the tighter spacing. I think you can get 48 x RJ45 in 1U high density.