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You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Networking > Wiring to My NID from DSL/POTS Splitter

Wiring to My NID from DSL/POTS Splitter
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selowitch
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Sep 21, 2008, 06:58 PM
 
I bought myself one of these nifty Wilcom DSL/POTS splitters to split my signal from Cavalier telephone at the demarcation point into a dedicated DSL modem line and a second line for the telephones inside my house. The question its instructions doesn't answer is, how do I safely run cables/wires from the NID from the exterior of the house through the walls to the splitter?
     
ghporter
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Sep 21, 2008, 08:09 PM
 
I chose to go with an external splitter, which went right into the NID. In fact, SWBell (their name at the time) installed the thing for free.

So anyway, your process is probably going to include finding where the POTS line enters the building and inserting the device there. The incoming green/red pair goes onto the binding post screws labeled "Line," so all you have to do for phone service is find a convenient place where you can get at those wires, cut the JK wire (that's the two pair wire with green, red, black and yellow wires for those of you not familiar with these terms), split out the incoming side and connect tip and ring to the correct screws, then split the other side and connect T/R to the appropriate screws labeled "Phone." Now you get to add a line from the "ATU" pair of screws to wherever you're going to put the wallplate for your DSL modem.

These very basic steps are probably not in the instructions because the writer thought they were trivial... BAD techwriter! BAD!!! No coffee!

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
selowitch  (op)
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Sep 21, 2008, 08:15 PM
 
As helpful as your reply was, ghporter, I was really looking for advice on how to run wire from the inside of the house (where my splitter is) to the outside (where my NID is), going through drywall and aluminum siding. The answer I'm looking for would probably include turning off the main electrical power, drilling holes, pulling the wire, installing grommets, sealing the hole, etc.
     
dave108
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Sep 24, 2008, 01:03 PM
 
Some thoughts on this, having done this with a brick wall:

- Make sure that the wiring you use on the outside is suitable for outdoor installation (weather and sun). If you can re-use the existing cable, that should be fine. If you want to go deluxe, you can find outdoor cat5 network cabling on ebay.
- Home Depot and similar places sell long drill bits that are long enough to go through the width of an outside wall - buy one long enough for the entire width of your outside wall, of a suitable diameter for your wire/cable.
- Find a suitable spot to drill through the wall. For looks, it's usually best to have as short a run as possible on the outside, but this may be dictated by where you want to run the wire on the inside.
- If you have or can borrow a studfinder, you may want to check the inside wall to ensure that you don't go through a stud. That will make drilling/navigation a bit trickier, and if you had the bad luck of hitting a wire, it would be much more serious hitting a wire in a stud, as they have no wiggle room there, and can't be deflected by the drill.
- For neatness, it might help to site the outside hole just under a ridge of overlapped siding... the wiring can be run horizontally under the ridge, which might be neater.
- Take your best guess on a good spot to avoid any household wiring, and turn off the power as you suggested.
- Start the hole from the outside, using a regular high-speed drill bit suitable for metal, just piercing the aluminum siding. Could also use a hammer and pointy nail for this purpose.
- The goal now is to drill only as far as you have to in order to reach the space where any wires might be installed, but without actually drilling into that space.
- Switch to the long drill bit. Drill through the starter hole, and try to get a feel for what you're drilling through, based on your knowledge of the physical layers of your home's building materials. You should know when you're in the studwall cavity where household wiring runs... there should be no resistance. When you get there, STOP the drill, and just use it as a poker. You should have four inches of play inside the wall, before you hit the inside drywall, which should be solid but have a bit of give - you could have someone on the inside observing/feeling the wall while you tap the STOPPED drill against the resistance - if that happens then you know you are at the inside wall and can drill all the way through (but warn anyone on the inside before proceeding!).
- Variations on this theme: the studwall cavity may be filled with fibreglass or similar insulation, which will feel soft/mushy, and may wrap around the drillbit. Other variations: styrofoam, either as a physical layer, or between studs, or foam insulation sprayed between studs.
- Worst case, if you do encounter wiring while poking around in the cavity, it will feel like "wiggly resistance". Electrical wiring is covered in a tough sheath, and you should be able to knock it up and down or side to side with your poker. Or, if you're right on top of it, it will resist, kind of springing back if you gently push. If any of that's happening, STOP! Re-select your hole.
- Feeding the wire through the completed hole is like threading a needle and may require some ingenuity.
- To secure the wire to the house, I used 1/4 inch plastic cable guides, the kind that take a single screw, available at HD. I think you could secure these to siding with 1/2 or 3/4 inch metal screws, provided you drilled a small pilot hole through the siding. Ideally, screws that won't rust.
- I would seal the hole and all screw holes with the most expensive clear silicone caulking you can find, ideally intended for outdoor purposes.
     
selowitch  (op)
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Sep 24, 2008, 03:53 PM
 
^ truly awesome post. Thanks, DSL-Splitter-Wiring dude! Question: Do you find that spaces right up against doors and windows are less likely to have existing electrical wiring?
     
dimmer
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Sep 25, 2008, 03:26 AM
 
Feeding the wire through the completed hole is like threading a needle and may require some ingenuity.

Get a wire coathanger, unbend it, tie one end to the cable you are pulling through, use the firm wire to pass the connection throug, then just pull the cable as much as you need.
     
dave108
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Sep 25, 2008, 11:19 AM
 
Originally Posted by selowitch View Post
Do you find that spaces right up against doors and windows are less likely to have existing electrical wiring?
I'm assuming that you mean the framing material around the window/door, but still within the window/door opening itself.

You're pretty much guaranteed that there's no wiring there, except possibly for a doorbell if you have one, and you would know that.

I've lived in houses where the cable-tv coax cable was fed through the wood frame around a window, I think that's quite common, as well as straightforward.

However, if you're dealing with more modern aluminum or vinyl windows, it may not be so easy. There may be sliding mechanisms or structural considerations within the manufactured window frame. It really depends on the type of window you're dealing with, and how it's been installed and framed within the opening... and I don't do windows, or for that matter, Windows...

As for the area around the door/window opening, it's probably surrounded by wooden framing, and there's no telling whether someone might have routed wiring along the vertical studs. Same guessing game.
     
selowitch  (op)
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Sep 25, 2008, 12:43 PM
 
Anybody got some small lengths of outdoor Cat-5e cable they would like to sell me?
     
dave108
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Sep 25, 2008, 04:23 PM
 
There's a guy on ebay who will sell you outdoor cat5e by the foot. If you go to ebay, click on "store" and search for a store called cablesdotcom. List his items, and you will see a couple of listings for fixed lengths of outdoor cat5. Click on one of those, and you will see his blurb and instructions to contact him for custom lengths. I once ordered 30 feet of outdoor cat5 from this source, it all went well. Cheers.

Link: http://stores.ebay.com/cablesdotcom
( Last edited by dave108; Sep 25, 2008 at 04:35 PM. Reason: Add link)
     
ghporter
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Sep 27, 2008, 06:38 PM
 
Sorry I wasn't more helpful. I assumed you already had a phone line coming in through the exterior wall, and so you could just tap into it inside.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
selowitch  (op)
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Sep 27, 2008, 06:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Sorry I wasn't more helpful. I assumed you already had a phone line coming in through the exterior wall, and so you could just tap into it inside.
No, no -- that's okay. I didn't tell you and that's why you didn't know! There probably is a phone line coming in, but since I want to split things at the demarc I have to make some new connections from the splitter inside the house out to the NID by necessity.

UPDATE: Found some indoor/outdoor Cat-5e cable at Home Depot for 37ยข a foot!
( Last edited by selowitch; Oct 1, 2008 at 04:37 PM. )
     
   
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