# New Construction Wiring



## Tulsacoker (Jun 1, 2010)

Hello everyone, have a question for you all out there. Just purchased a new construction house and have D* set up with the movers connection plus to install the whole home DVR. As the house is wired, each room has one coax connection, one Ethernet, one telephone and one HDMI connection. All these wires originate to the upstairs media room closet. Right now I will have four receivers activated but want two additional room ready to go with D* service. Now I'm guessing that D* will run four coax from the dish to the closet the with a mutiswitch run (SWIM) each to the rooms. (Is that correct?). Also I'm assuming they will have every with them when they show up for this type of install even though I didn't tell them how the house is wired. Thanks for any input you all have.

Edit: also I will have my cable modem/router installed int he media room close and connected to the ethernet in each of the rooms.


----------



## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

If you don't have more than 8 "tuners" [DVR=2], they'll use a SWiMLNB which only has one coax.
If you HAVE [not plan to] more than 8 tuners, then a SWiM-16 would be used, which has four coax from the dish and would be most likely located in your media room closet.


----------



## Tulsacoker (Jun 1, 2010)

thanks old school. the most receivers I would ever have is 7 with one of those as a DVR. Will there still be four wires coming from the dish into the house?


----------



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

If you want to plan for the future (SWM16), you'll need to have the Mover's Connection work order modified to include an additional receiver. That way you'll have 9 tuners (assuming you currently have 4 DVRs) on your account (and as VOS pointed out) and you'll be setup with a SWM16.

- Merg


----------



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Tulsacoker said:


> thanks old school. the most receivers I would ever have is 7 with one of those as a DVR. Will there still be four wires coming from the dish into the house?


It's not the number of receivers, but the number of tuners that determines the setup. A DVR counts as 2 tuners, a receiver as 1.

- Merg


----------



## Tulsacoker (Jun 1, 2010)

The Merg said:


> If you want to plan for the future (SWM16), you'll need to have the Mover's Connection work order modified to include an additional receiver. That way you'll have 9 tuners (assuming you currently have 4 DVRs) on your account (and as VOS pointed out) and you'll be setup with a SWM16.
> 
> - Merg


Thanks, I'll will call and inquire even though I do not wish to have all receivers installed now.


----------



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Tulsacoker said:


> Thanks, I'll will call and inquire even though I do not wish to have all receivers installed now.


It will need to be installed at least long enough for them to set everything up. You could even deactivate the receiver the day after your installation is done. If you were lucky, DirecTV might even have given you the receiver for no up-front cost too. Just be aware that since the new receiver is a lease, you would need to return it after you deactivate it. Also, your commitment would be reset to 2 years since you did activate the receiver, even if just for a day.

- Merg


----------



## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Tulsacoker said:


> the most receivers I would ever have is 7 with one of those as a DVR.


Once you get used to playing with WHDS, you'll probably want more than one DVR.


----------



## Tulsacoker (Jun 1, 2010)

The Merg said:


> It will need to be installed at least long enough for them to set everything up. You could even deactivate the receiver the day after your installation is done. If you were lucky, DirecTV might even have given you the receiver for no up-front cost too. Just be aware that since the new receiver is a lease, you would need to return it after you deactivate it. Also, your commitment would be reset to 2 years since you did activate the receiver, even if just for a day.
> 
> - Merg


that's fine on the 2 year comit....been with them since 96'. Plus there already throwing in one free HD receiver and swtiching two H10 with new ones for the MRV.


----------



## Tulsacoker (Jun 1, 2010)

harsh said:


> Once you get used to playing with WHDS, you'll probably want more than one DVR.


That's what my original thought was....get one more DVR but thought one would suffice since really it's just my wife and I at home and our son home for school this summer. Guess well fight who's streaming a recording :lol:


----------



## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

If your upstairs media room closet is not directly accessible to the outside (on an outside wall), then you will be looking at some form of non-standard (i.e., not free) installation to get the wiring from the dish to the media closet. If the house is still under construction, have your contractor run four RG6 coax (with solid copper center conductor) from the media closet to someplace outside in the general area of where the dish will go, leaving plenty of excess slack (or even better, open conduit that you can pull coax through). If you expect you'll want off-air reception also, run a fifth coax line (as well as a second coax to any tv location where you will want off-air).


----------



## Beerstalker (Feb 9, 2009)

Another option would be for him to buy a SWM 16 and standard LNB on his own and have it there when the tech arrives (eBay has them pretty cheap). In my experience the tech won't mind installing it for you if you want to use it instead of the SWMLNB on the work order as long as you are supplying it. Don't expect the tech to give you a SWM16 when a SWM LNB is on the work order because that won't happen.


----------



## Mike500 (May 10, 2002)

My favorite wiring new construction for low voltage work is a wiring technique that I developed called the "open work" method.

Basically, the system goes like this;

Run each wire separate and straight.

Do not twist tie any of the wires together inside a wall cavity. Do not staple to the studs or any wood inside the wall cavity. *Use small strips of masking tape.*

Do not use any conduit.

All holes through the wooden top, bottom and floor plates should be two or 2-9/16 inches in diameter. One side of the wall stud usually has the "new work" low voltage wiring orange or green open fraames. Run the low voltage cables down the other side of the stud.

Cables can be fastened and bundled in locations outside of enclosed cavities, so that they can be unfastened and unbundled, and easily removed and replaced.

The top of holes can be covered by cutting pieces of galvanized steel flashing and folding one edge. Place this folded, while clamping the cables to the edge of the hole bored through the wood. Fasten down to the sides of the hole with 1/4 drive hex washered sheet metal screws. Make sure that this plate is accasable from outside the enclosed wall cavity after the house is completed. This will allow the install to meet code.

Use the same green or orange open frames, where you will eventually have access to the cables. Have the installer staple a wire tie, wrapped and bundle the cables to the stud, so that cutting the wire tie will let you release all of the cables.

*I've gon back to many of my customers' homes, where I installed the wiring this way and fid it really easy to remove and add low voltage wiring when needed.*
If going two or more floors, install a removed back "new work box" at the same level as the other outlet boxes over the cables coming down the wall next to the stud. You can install a blank plate over this frame. Removing two screws on the blank frame will allow easy access to the cables for pulling.


----------



## Tulsacoker (Jun 1, 2010)

carl6 said:


> If your upstairs media room closet is not directly accessible to the outside (on an outside wall), then you will be looking at some form of non-standard (i.e., not free) installation to get the wiring from the dish to the media closet. If the house is still under construction, have your contractor run four RG6 coax (with solid copper center conductor) from the media closet to someplace outside in the general area of where the dish will go, leaving plenty of excess slack (or even better, open conduit that you can pull coax through). If you expect you'll want off-air reception also, run a fifth coax line (as well as a second coax to any tv location where you will want off-air).


Thanks Carl, well the upstairs media closet is open above when you're in the attic. Unfortunately the house was pretty close to completion when we found it. The builder thought it was wired for the use of satellite however I could not find where 4 wires are punched through the outside. However, there are some places in the soffit where plates are....may need to investigate to see. Thank you all for your help


----------

