Live data from Hacker News

Wiring my home with fiber

sschueller.github.io

231–240 of 305 posts

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#231
post #229
post #5

This article is great overall, but there is some stuff you should do differently, if you're wanting to follow in the author's footsteps: 1. Just use UPC connectors everywhere unless you have really good reasons not to. 2. Use single mode fiber (SMF) everywhere, including internal wiring. SMF is infinitely scalable for future needs, multimode (MMF) is not. These days the cost differences for cabling and optics is negl…

what's the big difference between single and multi mode fiber? Why is it scalable but multi-mode isn't?

It comes down to multiple factors but this article covers them well.

https://www.tlnetworx.com/blogs/news/single-mode-vs-multimod...

And to be clear, there will be hacks that scale MMF a bit, but it’s not really “infinitely” scalable due to relatively poor attenuation and light mode. Keep in mind, there isn’t one MMF spec, there’s many: eg. OM1 through OM4

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#232
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may someday use shiplap instead of drywall in specific rooms, simply because you can make it so you can take it off and put it back on relatively easily.

I have a couple of large plywood sheets in closets for this purpose. Paint it the same color and nobody knows

One of the big benefits to drywall, that often gets missed in the typical libel it gets, is its fire resistance. It's basically a water-containing gypsum powder.

Some areas where plywood would be preferrable for durability, like a garage, are often prohibited from using something other than sheetrock due to the fire risk. Probably not a big deal unless you have entire walls of it.

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s some very hypothetical talk. The master bedroom in a typical home is likely and forever going to remain a bedroom, at least if there is sufficient other space available in the home. If you buy a couple of iPads (you and your spouse or kids or whatever) and upgrade them every x years, springing for an extra $100 on each one every time adds up. You never need the cellular module, though it might be nice to have…

> there are always other, less convenient options (hotspot on phone, standalone hotspot, public Wi-Fi… Until you’re driving, hypothetically, through rural Arkansas, where there's no Starbucks and your iPhone has juuuuuust enough signal strength to receive the WhatsApp telling you that you need to turn around a couple of slides but not enough bandwidth to download the deck. Your iPad, though, for reasons known only to…

Hindsight is 20/20. There’s a reason why insurance policies exist. You can (and should) save money skipping comprehensive insurance on a beater. Unless you are going to get into a car accident found to be your fault in the first year of the policy, in which case it would have made more financial sense to get that comprehensive coverage. But that logic doesn’t hold.

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#234
post #5

This article is great overall, but there is some stuff you should do differently, if you're wanting to follow in the author's footsteps: 1. Just use UPC connectors everywhere unless you have really good reasons not to. 2. Use single mode fiber (SMF) everywhere, including internal wiring. SMF is infinitely scalable for future needs, multimode (MMF) is not. These days the cost differences for cabling and optics is negl…

[deleted]

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aesthetics aren't the same as quality, right? Also, I would say writing bad code makes the code very inaccessible...just like burying important infrastructure in a wall. Did that water leak last year cause mild growth in the wall? Don't know without some demolition! Want to upgrade your piping or electrical? Gotta destroy some wall, hooray, and then do more work to hide it again. Lunacy.

They aren’t the same but are highly correlated. You can have wrong opinions or poor taste.

I disagree, it's much easier to inspect cables or machinery when they're not hidden.

One of the apartments I looked at recently had this really annoying buzz in the kitchen, turned out it was a transformer that the previous owner plastered in. Definitely a big minus for me.

In my current apartment all cabling and piping is outside the walls because it was built before electricity was everywhere and I find it really handy <3. If the look bothers you it's not for you obviously but I don't think it's inherently worse.

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just redid my whole kitchen to the studs. You're making it out to be a bigger deal than it is. Now I'm onto a bedroom where I removed two whole walls that had been weirdly built to cut the room into a smaller room. This is going to require a bunch of repair work, all the way to the ceilings. Certainly, if you're looking for perfectly smooth walls, then you're never going to be happy regardless. My place is Santa Fe…

Sure, it’s easy when you have the wall texture that is designed to look like a bad drywall job. If you’re trying to match the wall type found in 90% of American homes, there’s a huge difference in efficiency and quality between a DIYer and a professional mudder. A good feathering job saves a ton of wasted sanding effort and drywall dust. When I ask GCs and tradespeople which job they would would never do themselves,…

"When I ask GCs and tradespeople which job they would would never do themselves, drywall is far and away the most common answer."

Electrician is the answer I usually get, largely because if you do electricity wrong, you can kill yourself or burn down the house.

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#237
post #42

I always end up green with envy that people seem to have pre-existing conduits in their walls for running new cables. There's no way, in my old house, of doing this without some invasive smashing in to walls.

> I always end up green with envy that people seem to have pre-existing conduits in their walls for running new cables. There's no way, in my old house, of doing this without some invasive smashing in to walls. I don't own a house and have never owned a house. This will probably sound stupid and I am sorry if this is something obvious. Is it that my spouse will leave me or my parents will disown me if I run a conduit…

Don’t mean to be sexist but in my personal experience wives would consider cable conduit across a nicely painted wall in a nicely decorated room a hard no.

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren’t the same but are highly correlated. You can have wrong opinions or poor taste.

I disagree, it's much easier to inspect cables or machinery when they're not hidden. One of the apartments I looked at recently had this really annoying buzz in the kitchen, turned out it was a transformer that the previous owner plastered in. Definitely a big minus for me. In my current apartment all cabling and piping is outside the walls because it was built before electricity was everywhere and I find it really h…

I think you may have replied to the wrong person.

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, it’s easy when you have the wall texture that is designed to look like a bad drywall job. If you’re trying to match the wall type found in 90% of American homes, there’s a huge difference in efficiency and quality between a DIYer and a professional mudder. A good feathering job saves a ton of wasted sanding effort and drywall dust. When I ask GCs and tradespeople which job they would would never do themselves,…

How about flooring?

I'm teaching myself that one too. Will replace with luxury vinyl. I just pulled up the oak floor in the bedroom. It had asphalt paper under it. Sigh. Date on the wood was 2001, so not terribly old, but definitely could use an update.

Since the house is old, it is plywood floors and they aren't even enough for vinyl. Going to have to learn how to fix that too. From what I can tell, it is basically just mud like on the walls... but portland cement on the floor.

Re: Wiring my home with fiber

#240
post #5

This article is great overall, but there is some stuff you should do differently, if you're wanting to follow in the author's footsteps: 1. Just use UPC connectors everywhere unless you have really good reasons not to. 2. Use single mode fiber (SMF) everywhere, including internal wiring. SMF is infinitely scalable for future needs, multimode (MMF) is not. These days the cost differences for cabling and optics is negl…

Good advice. I’ve had the same policy with regard to SMF vs MMF for quite a while now, when I saw each new speed dropping in distance with multimode. You just know SMF will do what you need.

We’ve been using the FS modules too for years, they are very reliable. It does totally make a mockery of the vendors who claim they need to lock out other brand’s modules (from their 100% standardised port) for reliability etc.!

Post reply on HN