Wiring the Smart House
Today, our homes are more than just a place to eat and sleep. Our homes have become our office and entertainment centers. Communications, entertainment, and security are all important parts of the home environment. Information is the key element of each of our lives. Instant information allows us to be just as effective at home as at our work location.
The cost of a new home today has grown to six and seven digit numbers. However, when it comes to providing communication, security and broadband service to our home, our efforts are oftentimes an afterthought that could use a little more pre-planning. Proper infrastructure ensures safe and reliable service whenever it is needed.
The service provider’s equipment generally terminates on the outside of your home. The outside wall is generally the demarcation point of what the homeowner owns and what the service provider provides.
A homeowner’s second most expensive purchase is probably transportation. The purchase of a new car today can start at twenty or thirty thousand dollars -- and you know what, all of the wiring to the lights and the on-board computer systems are designed to be hidden inside the automobile.
In too many cases, the utility companies are forced to surface mount equipment and run wire and fiber optic service connections on the outside of the premise. This can be solved at the pre-planning stage by incorporating low voltage enclosures built into the structure itself. These cabinets are inexpensive and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Semi-recessed and surface mounted cabinets are now available in a variety of sizes for copper and fiber communications.
Fiber to the home is rapidly expanding across our nation. The “smart houses” we are creating require larger cabinets. These larger cabinets are needed to house the optical network terminal and the battery backup for use with 911 emergency communication systems.
During construction, these cabinets are easily mounted on studs before the exterior walls are finished. This recesses the equipment and cable to protect it from vandalism and the environment. The major benefit of these exterior service boxes and enclosures is the elimination of the unsightly wires on the outside of the home. New homes are a significant investment that should not be cluttered with surface mounted wires. New homes built without an internal wiring network are essentially obsolete.
So where do you go to find these enclosures? The company that pioneered the development, design and manufacturing of these products is a little company in Wickenburg, Arizona. Benner-Nawman, Inc. (BN Products) offers a wide variety of sizes of structured wiring cabinets for the outside and inside of the home to meet most any need.
Their cabinets are designed to provide universal mounting patterns for most major brand modules such as Leviton, OnQ, Home One, Suttle and others. They distribute their products through major electrical wholesalers throughout the country.
BN Products has a variety of termination cabinets which provide the demarcation point for the provider and a safe and protected connection to the home. If you are interested in seeing what Benner-Nawman has to offer, you can check out
Benner Nawman :: BN Products :: Low Voltage Enclosures + Boxes
