As LSLGuy suggested, you need something like http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=105&cp_id=10513&cs_id=1051308&p_id=5371&seq=1&format=2 clipped into a single keystone plate like http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=105&cp_id=10517&cs_id=1051703&p_id=6725&seq=1&format=2. Total cost under $2.
You can get these, or an equivalent, at Home Depot or Lowes. They even come with a disposable punch down tool.
I’ve even done it with a small flathead screwdriver and some scissors, no other tool required. I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide if that’s clever or just ghetto.
How about efficient?
The right tool makes it a lot easier… even the little plastic one.
I honestly have more luck with the tiny screwdriver sometimes. The blades on punchdown tools often suck, and won’t cut heavier-gauge cat 5 and cat 6. Of course, many/most punchdown blocks are not well-made. I would usually rather put an RJ-45 end on and just use a pass-through male-to-male wallplate insert.
Now I’m a bit frustrated. I connected the RJ45 keystone end (female) and punched it down. But I’m not getting a signal. Yes, the wires are in the right slots and they are punched down well. I did it to both of the Cat5 cables that are in the wall behind the TV. Neither works. I am using a known good ethernet cable between the new punch down and the the TV. All 4 Cat5 cables that come into the box where the On-Q module is located are connected to the router. I suppose it’s possible that the cables in the wall by the TV are not coming back to the On-Q module, but I don’t see why. The router is fine. If I connect my computer directly to it I get a connection.
It’s very difficult to do this kind of repurposing without the right tools - a good punchdown tool to make sure the connections are tight, a sniffer to trace the cables to the right boxes and a cable tester to make sure you’ve connected everything right. I doubt you want to run out and drop that $100 (for cheap-ish stuff) but maybe you can borrow it from an IT pal.
ETA: It’s hard enough when starting from a “known-good” wiring plan intended for networking. It’s into la-la land when trying to figure out a weird custom cabling scheme and standardizing it.
I work in IT (not a networking role, obviously…) and can probably borrow a cable tester and a sniffer on Monday.
If it was me, I would ‘borrow’ the guy who owns them as well.
I would double check the wiring pattern at both ends, you can use EIA568 A or B. It doesn’t matter which, as long as both ends are the same.
This is the best idea yet!
Based on the colors of the RCA jacks, I don’t think the Cat5 you want to use for Ethernet actually goes back to the On-Q module.
Instead, I think it came from the location of the AV Receiver & video sources like a Cable Box, DVD, BluRay etc. Look for a Cat5 wire in that location (perhaps behind a blank outlet plate) and hope that there is another one nearby with Ethernet and you can wire them together.
Yep. This is my thought, too.
Red, Green and Blue are the standard connector colors for component video and orange is digital audio. The off part is that it’s entirely the wrong wire on the back side for any of those.
This. You basically can’t send video over unshielded wire. The whole thing looks like standard connectors used in non standard ways… which is common in niche applications like home automation and networking.
Which is why I’ve said from the beginning that it’s a choice between rebuilding the original system (meh) or repurposing the wiring using a more standard plan.
Making any assumptions about the setup because this or that connector is standard for this or that purpose is going to go 'orribly rong.
Exactly - instead of running 4 shielded coax cables, the previous installed cheated and used a CAT5 cable to run from A to B. (in the days before HDMI)
The question is, you’ve found B, where is A?
Likely they had a central cable converter box or PVR, or it runs to the box in the bedroom or whatever. You have to find and punch down both ends and make the connection at each end to Ethernet (I.e. from router to TV.)
Cat5 is sufficiently twisted… the induced noise tends to cancel…
Try it sometime. It might do well enough with VGA for control and monitoring purposes, but entertainment vid will be degraded… quite so at 720 and up.
Update: I removed the wall plate where the coax comes in near the TV and sure enough, the other ends of the 2 Cat5 cables were buried in there. Neither one was connected to anything. I can only assume a project was started to run another component jack to that area for some equipment, but was never finished. So, part of the mystery is solved. There does not seem to be any connection from that area back to the On-Q module though, so it doesn’t really do me any good. Thanks for all the info though!