Wall mountable patch panel wtb?

[KBtrade]

I am looking for a wall mountable patch panel (at least 12 port) for my home network. Any suggestions for a reasonably priced panel? What brands to look for or avoid? Any online deals found would be appreciated ....Thanks!

 

[ScottMac]

Most commercial electronic stores will have them.

Home Depot might even have them. They carry Lutron stuff for the home.

Depending on how much room you have, if possible, don't mount the block directly to the wallboard. Put a 2X2 foot (or 4X4 foot) 3/4" ply-wood backing board up, then attach all your stuff to that.

Also, while there are a number of patch blocks available, you might ultimately be better off (hanging on your backing baord) a wall-mount panel rack. They're usually only about 8-10" deep, and have room for 2-10 rack spaces (size varies). Using a wall-mount rack will give you some room to grow in case you want to add, for example, a panel of "F" connectors for your TV/cableTV/Satellite signal distribution, or, another panel of video jacks....

Either way, putting up a backingboard will save your walls, and gives you someplace to screw-down cable management stuff, or other small accessories.

FWIW

Scott

 

[KBtrade]

Thanks Scott, My network is in the basement and I already have 4' x 4' piece of plywood attached to the concrete wall. I have a shelf attached to the plywood backing board that holds my cable modem, router and switch. The wall-mount panel rack sounds like a good idea since I have plenty of room...Is the Lutron stuff sold at Home Depot about the same quality as sold at commercial electronic stores?

 

[ScottMac]

Most of the stuff I've seen at Home Depot is "Home Cabling" stuff, based on a (usually) white medicine-cabinet-looking box, with snap-in options for data cabling, phone bridges, coax video distribution...I believe they have some stand-alone six or twelve port RJ blocks with 110 punch connections. It's been a while since I've been through my local HD.

I have been buying most of my stuff either through Anixter (they have a pretty good catalog on the website) or from a local place (local=Mt. Prospect, IL) called Tri-State Electronics. They also have an online presence, but I can't remember their URL (I tried a couple iterations while typing the last post, but didn't get a hit).

Edit: Greybar or Grainger also carry this kind of stuff, and both have online catalogs & ordering.

Check your local (real or virtual) Yellow Pages for Electronic Suppliers. For networking, Video, Satellite, cable, etc these kinds of places have better, commercial-grade stuff for the same price or lower than Rat Shack.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[netsysadmin]

Hey if you are looking for a cheap but nice patch panel here is a good one...both units are Belkins...I just bought one and they are brand new in the retail box box....they are a much cheaper price than what you will find locally...the local Home Depot had a consumer patch panel in the $90 range...now they are not wall mountable but Im sure you can find a used wall mount cheap or make one up yourself...good luck!


48 port Belkin Patch Panel
12 port Belkin Patch Panel

 

[netsysadmin]

Hey here a cheap Belkin wall mount kit

Belkin wall mount kit

Here it is on the Belkin website
wall mount bracket pics

 

[KBtrade]

Thanks netsysadmin, That 12 port patch panel with the wall mount bracket looks like it will do the trick. Why is the wall mount twice the price of the patch panel?...LOL, Still looks like a good deal

 

[netsysadmin]

Yeah that funny about the price of the patch panel being less??..I guess they have a ton of them and are trying to get rid of them??...I bought one of 48 port ones for my house...try searching around a little more for the wall mount...you just might find it cheaper...I found that wall mount on www.pricewatch.com

 

[netsysadmin]

Hey here are 2 more cheaper generic mall mount brackets...just go to pricewatch.com and type in "hinge" in the search and you will find a ton of them...good luck!

bracket 1
Bracket 2

 

[vi edit]

Graybar

Hit the locator in the top left and see if there is one nearby. Good selection at great prices.

 

[KBtrade]

Thanks everyone for your help