After Hours Live: 5 common Common ICT Questions

What if mastering cable dressing could revolutionize your telecommunications setup? Join us on the Let's Talk Cabling Podcast with Chuck Bowser, RCDD, where we unravel the complexities of cable management, from the crucial role of acronyms like OLTS (Optical Loss Test Set) to the subtle art of choosing Velcro over tie wraps. Celebrate the industry's trailblazers with the Big C awards and gain valuable insights into maintaining the integrity of your cabling infrastructure. We promise you'll come away with practical tips to enhance airflow, reduce cable stress, and ensure your system is not just efficient but future-ready.

Our conversation doesn't stop there. We dive into the essential post-installation tests, exploring everything from basic continuity checks to the nuances of fiber optic evaluations. Discover why annual fiber testing can be the game-changer you didn't know you needed. Plus, unlock the secrets to planning networks for future scalability, with strategic advice on using higher-grade cables and the importance of meticulous documentation. Whether you're curious about the latest installation materials or the cutting-edge equipment in our podcast studio, this episode is packed with knowledge to boost your ICT design prowess.

Chapters

• 0:03 Cable Dressing Best Practices and Tips
• 15:38 Post-Installation Testing Procedures
• 19:38 Planning Networks for Future Upgrades

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:03

Don't hang up that phone. We've found what you're looking for. Welcome to the let's Talk Cabling Podcast with Chuck Bowser, rcdd. Well, seeing how we're pulling Category 6A the most powerful twisted pair in the world, you've got to ask yourself this one question Did I pull 295 or 300 feet? Well, do you feel lucky? Do you punk? What exactly does RCDD stand for? Registered Communications Distribution Designer? Just the expert you need to ensure your cable plant performs exactly as designed the elite, professional, knowledgeable and experienced in leading edge ICT design principles. Now send the new guy to the truck for a bucket of dial tone and the cable stretchers, while you listen to an informative program on telecommunications.

Speaker 1: 1:00

There we go, so welcome, welcome. One more time To Live After Hours with your favorite RCDD, chuck Bowser RCDD. Again, I'm struggling with a new platform. Hopefully this is going out to TikTok Facebook, linkedin, tiktok Instagram. I'm hoping it's going everywhere, trying to do it all from one platform now the podcast recordings and also the live stream, so hopefully it's going out to everybody. Let me know in the chat box. Evidently the chat box is working because I see somebody's already chatting in there. Here we go, open up the studio chat so I can see when people already chatting in there. Here we go, open up the studio chat. Do, do, do, do so I can see when people are talking to me. There we go. So it is open now. There we go.

Speaker 1: 1:54

So I always start off with the acronym challenge. The acronym challenge. This week's acronym is pretty simple, I think, for for most people. Uh, the acronym for this week is optical loss test set. Optical loss teps, test set. Sometimes I'd mess that up, didn't I? Olts. Olts was the acronym. See, it's got me so messed up. This whole thing is really just messing up big time. Try it again, go to live, and I don't know, I don't know. So the acronym challenge was OLTS, which is Obstacle-Less Test, set, which is a tester, which is a tester.

Speaker 1: 2:39

Now, before I get on with the questions, did you know? Did you know or I just discovered today, or was it yesterday, today or yesterday, I don't remember? No, it would have been yesterday that Big C has opened up their nominations for their awards next year. Yes, yes, that's very cool. So if you know somebody who you think is deserving of an award from Big C, make sure that you, that you nominate them. You can do that by going to bitly forward, slash Big C 2024 nominations. Ok, so that way you can actually go there and nominate.

Speaker 1: 3:27

So what are some of the awards? Well, if you know, I got awarded the Blythe Member of the Year last year, so there's that one. There's also the Harry Feister Award, which is the award for excellence in the telecommunications industry. You can also nominate somebody for the Larry G Roeming if they're a committee member for award of the year. There's also an Outstanding Global Member of the Year Award. There's also an award for Bixie ICT woman of the year, and I know a lot of people can get this one emerging ICT professional. So make sure that you go, and I've already nominated somebody already once I got some ideas for other people whom I want to nominate. So make sure you do that again. It's it's B I T dot L Y forward slash Bixie2024 nominations with an S on the end, so that way you can actually nominate people for an award. And I'm telling you right now it's just it's great to get public accolades, for when you know that you're doing things and you're getting, you're making a difference in the industry. So make sure that you nominate, because it really does mean a lot to the people that you nominate and to the people who are actually awarded.

Speaker 1: 4:51

So this is going to get right on with the questions, because I'm having so many technical difficulties with this new system. I've got to play with this system a little bit to learn it. So the first question is Chuck, why is it important to follow the best practices for cable dressing and what are those best practices? So, number one one of the reasons why you should pay attention to cable dressing is it's going to allow for better airflow and cooling. So a properly dressed cable will help reduce buildup in equipment rooms. So it gives those servers and stuff, those rack mounted servers room to vent and get air, cold air and keep everything running right and it's going to help keep that telecom room a little bit cooler. It's also going to make it easier for maintenance. I've seen a lot of telecom rooms where literally they would just come down the racks and just dress right about, didn't even dress it, you can't even get to the stuff. So it's going to make it easier to manage and, don't forget, this also applies to patch cords as well. Neatly organized patch cords going to also help simplify those moves, adds, changes and even upgrades as well.

Speaker 1: 6:05

When you cable dress. It's also going to make sure that you're not putting undue stress on the cable because, remember, your duty as a cable installer is to keep this cable from getting kinked, crushed, stepped on, cut, burnt or painted. The closer this is from the way it comes from the factory, the better chances it's going to perform the way that it was designed. So make sure that you do that, both for patch cords and for the solid conductor cables, the horizontal cable. So what are some key practices? Practices I know that the standards say you can use tie wraps or Velcro. Velcro is the better option. With Velcro here's a debate for you Soft side in or soft side out. Right, velcro is going to really help keep you from crushing those cables. Again, when you crush the cables, you're going to bring those pairs inside the cables closer to each other and that's going to affect the pair geometry. It's going to affect the cables, have them start not working correctly.

Speaker 1: 7:13

Tie wraps it's real easy to over-cinch, right. So if you are using tie wraps, you really should have it so that the tie wrap is snug. Should have it so that the tie wrap is snug, but but loose enough that you can still spin it on the bundle and loose enough that it doesn't deform the cable jacket. Okay. So, and if you're using tie wraps, according to the camera is the standards or the tdmm. I have to look it back up. If you use tie wraps, you should place them at irregular distances, irregular distances.

Speaker 1: 7:49

The next thing you can do for key practice for cable management maintain your appropriate band radiuses. For a pair of UTP, it is four times the outside diameter of the cable. Four times the outside diameter of the cable. So find out what is outside diameter of the cable. Four times the outside diameter of the cable. So find out what is the OD of the cable. Open up your smartphone calculator, multiply that OD number by four and you will find out what that bend radius is. But here is a way that you can figure out what is the bend radius, the bend radiuses, even if you don't know the size. Take that cable that you're working with, flip it into a loop. Notice that loop's in a straight line with my hands. Slowly pull it apart where it kicks out by itself. That's the minimum bend radius, right there. Don't exceed it. Don't exceed it. That way you don't even have to do any math. Some of us don't like doing math.

Speaker 1: 8:47

Another tip is group the cables logically right. So when you think about a patch panel, the best way to address the backside of a rack is to have an imaginary center line. Any cables that are going to land on the left-hand side of the rack, they should come over and come down the left side. And the ones that are going to turn on the right-hand side of the rack, they should come over and come down the left side. And the ones that are turning on the right-hand side should come down the right side of the rack. So that way you get a split in the middle. But that's going to require some planning ahead of time because you can't just group cables 1 through 24. You can't do that right. And then 19 through no, 13 through 22. Gosh, I have to think about that now, because you're going to have to break them up. So on the right-hand side you'll have 1 through 12, right On the right-hand side, and then the 13 through 24 and the other side, so it'll be two separate bundles. So you've got to think about that, because it does require some, uh, some planning, some pre-planning. I actually did an episode on the podcast where I had sean rep pierce from all green lights and uh and tony three of the best, I think, cable dressers in the industry and we. We talked about this for an episode on podcast. So, so, make sure you go look that up. So it does require some planning and also, you need to make sure that you label them appropriately as well, too.

Speaker 1: 10:12

The next question is what is the difference between following the NEC and the ANSI-BICSI standards? Okay, the NEC is the National Electrical Code. It focuses on safety. The codebook does not care how it performs. Okay, it does not care how it performs. You can always exceed the codebook. And there's many examples of where you might want to exceed the codebook, for example, tie wraps. It says the tie wraps are acceptable for supporting cables. Yeah, you don't want to use tie wraps on high-performance data cable. If you can't, you don't have to. Velcro is going to be the better option. Another difference is when you're putting cable in the ceiling. Code says it's got to be at least three inches above the ceiling tile. Standard says six. So if you follow the standard, you're exceeding the code.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Think of it this way the code book is minimum quality of construction, minimum quality of construction. And then you've got the anzi standard, the anzi bixi steam. So there got the ANSI standards, the ANSI-BICSI standards. So there's the ANSI standards, and then there's the ANSI-BICSI standards. So the ANSI standards are I don't happen to have my ANSI standards out Go above and beyond. Those standards guarantee you performance, performance. And then you do have the ANSI Bixie standards. They have about 15 of them. This one is the ANSI Bixie 008 Wireless Local Area Networking Right. So those standards focus on, like I said, performance. They focus on reliability and best practices.

Speaker 1: 11:59

Now, when it comes to compliance, you have to follow the codebook. You don't have a choice in the matter period and if you don't follow the codebook, you're going to have a really upset authority-having jurisdiction or electrical inspector when it comes to the ANSI standards and the ANSI Bixie standards. There's nobody from ANSI or Bixie. Maybe Bixie should do that. Have somebody go out and inspect their jobs. That'd be cool, I'd volunteer for that job. So go out and actually inspect the projects. Make sure you install them per the standards, and both those standards are complementary in nature. So realistically you really should follow both of them and you'll find that they are in sync with each other. But if you want to be the best of the best, make sure you follow the Bixie best practices.

Speaker 1: 12:54

Next question what is the proper way to handle power over Ethernet installations? Destructor cable. Number one make sure you choose the right cable. Make sure you choose the right cable. The best cable to choose is the cable. If you look at the label, it says dash LP. The LP stands for limited power, limited power. Now you can use the cable that's not dash LP. You can use the cable that's not dash LP. But if you use the cable that's not dash LP, you got to follow Article 725.144.

Speaker 1: 13:26

That's a table in the code book which tells you what size bundles you can have. Again, remember this is code. Code is for safety. Also, watch your bundle sizes. When you get a bunch of cables together, that's doing PoE, especially if they're doing like 60 watts, 90 watts or even more. Those cables can heat up if you've got large bundles. So do everything you can to stay away from doing really large bundles. That's why I said don't really follow the code as far as the bundle size. Go with smaller bundles, make it safer. Make it safer. And in the packet fuel guides it talks about keeping your cable bundle sizes to 24 or less. 24 or less, which works out perfectly, because when you're dressing out the patch panels it'll line up with one patch panel or half a patch panel, so it works well.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Also, ensure that the power capacity is not too much. Ensure that the network switches are designed for the cable and they're designed to handle the appropriate power levels. Make sure that you give those equipment room to breathe, room to breathe. That's going to be important. You also want to make sure that you do appropriate termination and testing. Now you can use your regular certification test. Absolutely, there are POE testers. You want to be super professional. I'd say use the PoE testers, because that's going to help you really avoid problems because of voltage drop. Because, see, even though they might say it might be a 60 watt PoE system, that doesn't mean that 60 watts is making it to the end device and if you have too much voltage drop you can have problems with the equipment working and also a problem with data loss. And also, I suggest, anything with PoE. Look up the PoE consortium, look them up, join them, be a part of a consortium that's helping drive the PoE industry and making codes and standards for them as well.

Speaker 1: 15:38

Next question what testing should be done after the installation is complete? So there's all different kinds of testing and this is always a subject that brings up a lot of controversy when you get technicians together. There are different tests. You can do your basic continuity testing, which is called verification testing, in which you're just testing the continuity of each of the eight conductors or four pairs and making sure that they all line up appropriately. Then you have verification testing. Then you have certification testing, where you use a certifier like the Fluke or the AM 100 or the Softing or the Wirescope 4500, one of those certifiers. They cost a lot more but they do more than just that continuity testing. They look at the electrical properties of that cable and they compare it to the standards and if it matches, then you're giving a big green check the electrical properties of that cable and they compare it to the standards. And if it matches, then you're giving a big green check. Then there's also performance testing you can do.

Speaker 1: 16:46

Some people call it qualification testing. Now the difference here is with qualification testing is you actually put data across the cable. You're not measuring the cable's electrical properties. You're not measuring crosstalk. You're not measuring the cable's electrical properties. You're not measuring crosstalk. You're not measuring return loss. You're not measuring insertion loss. You're actually putting data across the cable and it goes back and forth and it looks to see if any of it drops signals. Any of it drops signals. So you might actually get a cable to pass a qualification test or a performance test, but it may fail a certification test because of length. Oh, by the way, I've got a good episode coming up on going beyond 100 meters. I'm still putting it together. I'm in the last parts of writing that show.

Speaker 1: 17:32

When it comes to fiber optic testing, you've got the optical loss test set, which is the reason why we had that acronym challenge today, even though I totally messed it up with the new system Tier one testing, tier two testing, tier one testing. You're using the optical loss test set, which does three things it measures the actual power loss, verifies the polarity and verifies the length of the cable. Most manufacturers, for manufacturer warranties, are going to want to have a Tier 1 test. Then you have the OTDRs optical time domain reflectometers. Now they're great for troubleshooting. Great for troubleshooting, but they're not as accurate as a Tier 1 tester. And you might even get asked to do what's called spool testing or reel testing. And you might even get asked to do what's called spool testing or reel testing, in which you would measure that spool before you sign for it when the tractor-trailer backs up to your office. That way, if it is damaged because of shipping, you identify it before you accept responsibility of it. Because after you sign that bill of lading done, you're cooked. You're going to be trying to file a warranty claim and they're going to say left here, good Must happen at your place or during shipping. So make sure that you follow that procedures. I've even heard of customers doing yearly testing. What they'll do is they'll test their fibers once a year and then they'll compare those test results to the previous year's tests and if it even looks like it's going to fail, then they will give you. That gives them time to figure it out before it actually goes bad, before it actually goes bad. Poe verification testing. Now they do have POE testers. Fluke has one, softing has the ability to test POE, I believe, and so does, I think, aem too as well. I really got to get better informed on my POE testing because I don't do much of it, but there are testers out there that you can do that.

Speaker 1: 19:38

Next question, chuck how do you design a network for scalability for future upgrades? Follow the standards, follow the Bixby best practices. Again, here's another example between code standards and best practices. There's nothing in the code book that requires us to put in plywood, nothing. The standards say that at least one wall should be covered with three-quarter inch AC gray plywood, one wall. The best practices tells us that at least two walls should be covered with three-quarter inch ac gray plywood. So that's, that's another difference between codes, standards and best practices.

Speaker 1: 20:24

And I see I'm getting some comments, but I can't figure out how to get them to show on my screen so I can answer them for people. Again. I'm struggling with new software tonight, guys. I really apologize for that. I don't know why it is One of these days I'll figure this stupid thing out. There we go.

Speaker 1: 20:42

So, getting back to my questions, yes, so follow the best practices. That's going to help you a lot, because you're not going to be able to remember how to do everything and make everything work for the future, it's not. So follow the best practice. What are some things you can find in there? Put in extra conduit space. It is a lot easier to put in conduits during new construction, so it's not that much of a price difference to put in three conduits instead of two conduits, especially during new construction. So always add in that growth. As a matter of fact, in the standards it tells us plan for 33% growth, 33% growth. So always add that extra conduit. Also, try to use higher-grade cable. If you look at the standards, it says that for horizontal cables that a minimum of a Category 5E cable shall be installed, but you should install a Cat6 cable. If you do the Cat6, then that's going to help you future-proof that job.

Speaker 1: 21:45

You see this argument a lot in Reddit. You see this argument a lot in the social media platforms where people say well, you don't need Cat6 for residential 5e, it's just fine In a residential install. It's more important, more important to put the higher grade cable in, because after those walls are shut, it's not like pulling cable in an office building, we just lift out ceiling tiles. So why not put in Cat6 cable in a house? Why not put Cat6A cable in a house? Why not Now? Cat5e cable can do 10 gig up to very, very short distances, but it can't go out to that full 295 feet. If you do the Cat6A, then you'll have the ability to go to 10 gig in that network in your house and nobody's doing 10 gig right now. I mean, I think the best you can get is one gig for a residential network. But if you've got the cable plant already in place, when the walls are shut, when stuff comes out, it will go away. Eventually two and a half gig will take over, eventually five gig will take over and then at some point in time 10 gig will be the norm. It will be the norm and it's best to have that cable put in now, especially since people are buying houses and they're living in them for 20 and 30 years. In 30 years I guarantee you they will have networks running that Maybe design the network in structured zones.

Speaker 1: 23:11

There you go, so that way you can easily upgrade. This is more of a commercial one than a residential one. So if you have a big floor and you break it up into multiple zones, you can actually upgrade a zone, move people out to a swing space, upgrade that zone and then people back in again and then work your way clockwise around the floor. So break it out in zones and then also make sure you document it thoroughly. If you've been to my website, letstalkatmoneycom, you know that my number one pro tip is document, document, document, document. Yes, it's even higher than pro tip number two, which is communicate, communicate, communicate. It's funny.

Speaker 1: 23:56

We work in the communications industry. What are we? Horrible at? Communicating? So document everything, keep detailed records up to date of the installation, moves, adds, changes. You know a lot of times what we used to do is when we would finish a project, we would recreate the as-builts and the red lines and print them and actually post a copy on the wall in the telecom room so that way when the service tech would come in to do some service work, they can actually look at those things and see where the cable pathways are. They weren't having to take, you know, pop ceiling tiles everywhere. They can actually look to see what hallways. The stuff went down. So documentation, documentation, documentation, that is going to be key, key. And then we flip back over. There it goes. I finally got it open.

Speaker 1: 24:50

Shotzi, I wonder, if I highlight these, will they show up in the thing like the other software does? No, it does not. There we go. So you know, there we go. So Shotzi rules in and says, hey, soft side out. Yes, and then ZD says what if your customer doesn't want plywood on the wall? Okay. So if you're putting in a two post rack like that one back there wow, my light is way overdriven there we go. If you're putting a two point post rack, I got back there. Now don't put in plywood. Remember, the standards are voluntary. Customers don't have to follow the standards if they don't want to. It's in their best interest to follow the standards.

Speaker 1: 25:41

But if you're mounting, for example, like wall mounted cabinets I got one coming, I got one coming. I got one coming, for the new podcast studio should be here this week super excited I'm gonna start putting in the static flooring and and the plywood and all this stuff. You know I'm gonna be filming all that stuff. So I got a wall mounted cabinet coming in from chatsworth. Can't wait to, can't wait to show it to you guys that something like that should be mounted to the wall with plywood. Because if you just use toggle bolts on the four bolts on the wall-mounted cabinet, you've got a really small piece of drywall holding it on. If you put a plywood up and you install it per the best practices manuals like the Bixie Pocket Field Guides, it's going to tell you yeah, that's the copper one. It tells you in here that when you mount that plywood that you should put toggle bolts with fender washers or galvanized screws no more than two feet apart, at least two inches away from the edge, all the way around and down the middle. And it also suggests that you should use construction adhesive. So now think about that. That plywood is permanently mounted to that wall. So now when you run lag screws in, there's less chances of that rack falling off the wall.

Speaker 1: 26:58

I've been collecting pictures of horrible workmanship for years. I've got several pictures, several pictures of where people mounted them, mounted a wall-mounted rack to a wall without plywood. And guess where the rack was. If you said on the floor winner, winner, chicken dinner, you win, yes, yes, so, yeah. So plywood is always good. But again, if the customer says they don't want it. And again, I would push for it if the customer didn't want it and I would explain why. But if you're just putting in data cabling and it's a two-bus rack, like I said earlier, okay, I wouldn't put in plywood because, remember, standards are indeed voluntary. Great question, by the way, number one.

Speaker 1: 27:46

The last question, and we've got two minutes left how do you balance cost efficiency with high-quality installations? This is a huge argument that you hear a lot of times when people talk about Velcro and cable dressing, and I've said this more than one occasion. When Cat 6A cable came out and we went to the whole randomization model because of the high frequencies, a lot of people got used to just laying the cables in the tray to avoid problems with like alien crosstalk. Well, again, cable manufacturers are always revising how they construct their cables to to alleviate those problems. So in today's environment, many manufacturers, many manufacturers, will give you a warranty if you cable comb.

Speaker 1: 28:32

So now what you hear is a lot of guys arguing about is why would you spend all that time cable combing? Pride of workmanship and if you do the work that efficiently? And because most customers, most customers, equate quality visually and they see that nice, beautiful cable coming in, then they're not. They're going to think, okay, well then the cable behind the walls are done that wall's way as well. Quality, quality, quality, right. I just had a customer cancel the plywood. They had a four post rack. We finished the job before the ISP came in to connect Four post rack, wall-mounted rack or floor rack. Let me know which it was. If it was a floor rack, okay, fine, wall-mounted, they really should have done it on plywood. Really should have done it on plywood. It must be 630.

Speaker 1: 29:24

Another answer is invest in training, training. Good companies get this and I can name several of them off the top of my head IES, vision, chapel, romanoff there are several of them out there that they get it Training their people. Yes, you're taking somebody out of the field and they're not making revenue that day, but it's going to make them more efficient Training. Also, make sure that you do what's called value engineering Focus on the areas that's going to make it better. Right, the design is the biggest thing. The design is the first step of that process. If it's designed incorrectly, that's going to cost the field people time out there to do the project. And if your design is bad. Your project might cost more than the competitors and customers.

Speaker 1: 30:17

While they always tell you they want the best contractor, it always boils down to price. Always, every single time, every single time. Make sure you choose appropriate materials. I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen people use plenum rated cabling for riser cables. Yeah, you can do that, but plenum cable costs more money than riser cable does. So make sure you understand the environment. So if it's a ceiling that you can put riser rated cable cable in use riser-rated cable, I get it. Some people no plenum all the way, chuck, because that way I don't have to worry about if it's a plenum or not. That way I know I'm covered. I get that. But just also understand your price is going to be more expensive than other people's prices and you might lose the project just because of that.

Speaker 1: 31:11

Investing in quality testing Test equipment Absolutely, absolutely Right. So again, we talked about the verifiers, the qualifiers and the certifiers. The certifiers stay with one of the big names AAM, softing, viavi, fluke. Some people even tell you well, you know, fluke's the best, fluke is the most well-known. I don't know if I would qualify them as the best. They're absolutely great testers and they got a really great training program to use those testers. But as long as you're testing per the standards, you know, hey, but use one of those good quality testers.

Speaker 1: 31:50

Same thing when you start talking about, you know continuity testers Like. So, for example, I've got my softening continuity tester here. Will this work? You know you can also use a toner, but this will cost a little bit more than a toner. But you know what this is going to give me my readings bam bam, bam, bam boom. I know exactly what's wrong with it right off the bat. Winner, winner, chicken dinner rock on. So invest in good quality test equipment. Stay, don't go anywhere.

Speaker 1: 32:22

And then also invest in future-proofing. We talked about that earlier as far as the cable plants, but also, why not invest in future-proofing for your people as well? Right? What do I mean by that? Look at the testers, right, make sure that when you, let's say, you're in the market to buy a new certifier, make sure that that certifier has the ability to test up to two gig, that's cat eight. There's not a lot of cat eight out there right now. There's some, but not a lot. But, like everything else in our industry, it's going to become more and more prevalent, more and more prevalent. So, absolutely, you know why not get the two gig tester, so that way, when the industry starts shifting towards Cat 8 and moving away from 6A, you're not stuck with a very expensive $20,000 paperweight Right, why not? I get it, they're expensive, they're expensive.

Speaker 1: 33:24

But if you want to be the best, you've got to invest in your people, in your equipment and in your processes. Those are the three big keys. The three big keys, and in that order, take care of your people. That's the big one. That is the big one. All right, we're at 634, so I'm a couple minutes past and again, I'm really struggling with this new platform. I'm going to have to practice it a couple times. Let's see if I can do my outro correctly without making a mess out of myself. Anyways, I'll just do it later. Thank you everybody for coming and watching tonight's episode. Until next time, remember, knowledge is power.

Speaker 2: 34:13

That's it for this episode of today's podcast. We hope you were able to learn something. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future content. Also, leave a rating so we can help even more people learn about telecommunications. Until next time, be safe.