Cat5 infrastructure cable strain relief

My Ethernet home network cabling terminates at a patch panel mounted in a 4U rack/case behind which the cable is dropped from the ceiling and then fed through the cutout underneath the rack and into the patch panel. There�s a significant amount of excess cable which I�ve looped and laid flat on the bottom of the case under the patch panel, but there�s a fair bit of cable dangling below the case and I�m wondering if this needs to be affixed the the wall in order to avoid the cables being strained over time?

Don't worry too much about the cables, just make them neat using Ty-wraps or the Velcro equivalent.

However you do need to make sure that the IDC/punch-down connections are not strained. Most patch panels have location points for Ty-wraps that will hold the cables securely and alleviate any strain on those connnections.

+1 for cable tie on the patch panel, just make sure its working before and after installing the tie

In reply to a post by MHC:

Don't worry too much about the cables, just make them neat using Ty-wraps or the Velcro equivalent.

However you do need to make sure that the IDC/punch-down connections are not strained. Most patch panels have location points for Ty-wraps that will hold the cables securely and alleviate any strain on those connnections.

Thanks for that.

I do have ty-wraps on all the connections so shouldn't be any worries there. My reason for concern was that I read that cat5 solid core cable has a limited life of about 10 years so I wanted to try to alleviate that to get the maximum use out of the ethernet cabling that's now throughout the house.

The cable I'm most concerned about is the one you can see dangling below the patch panel box in this pic I took whilst terminating 10 new cables.

In reply to a post by joconnell:

My reason for concern was that I read that cat5 solid core cable has a limited life of about 10 years so I wanted to try to alleviate that to get the maximum use out of the ethernet cabling that's now throughout the house.

Do you have a link? I cannot think of any reason why it would fail after that time ...

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by joconnell:

My reason for concern was that I read that cat5 solid core cable has a limited life of about 10 years so I wanted to try to alleviate that to get the maximum use out of the ethernet cabling that's now throughout the house.

Do you have a link? I cannot think of any reason why it would fail after that time ...

This was one that I read, though I guess I should be referring to the manufacturer warranty to get an idea of how long the cabling should last - this is what I installed.

I was pleased to find that I could run 1Gbps over my home network cables which at the time were just over 10 years old. Another change in technology could be a problem.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

+1 for cable tie on the patch panel, just make sure its working before and after installing the tie

As you can see from this pic all terminations are secured with cable ties.

The end result is this where you can see the older cables coming from the right after the patch panel was moved to make way for half the garage being converted, with the newer cables coming down from the ceiling in trunking, behind the patch panel and up into the case. You can see that the cables are bundled together using PatchSee velcro wraps.

My concern was about the cables just handing below the case and also those coming out from the trunking on the right exiting from the studwork, with the cables pressing down one the sharp edge of the conduit, I'm a bit worried that long term damage may occur to the cable outers.

Another pic of the setup showing the 5 port switch that'll be replaced with a 20 port Cisco managed switch that I picked up very cheaply on eBay.

Being like that is not really a problem, unless they get snagged and dragged. My only objection is that they are unsightly! Maybe get some P-clips and fasten them to te wall.

The Cisco Managed switch - is is rack mounted? If so, you may want to get some shorter patch leads.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Being like that is not really a problem, unless they get snagged and dragged. My only objection is that they are unsightly! Maybe get some P-clips and fasten them to te wall.

The Cisco Managed switch - is is rack mounted? If so, you may want to get some shorter patch leads.

Thanks, p clips would be a great way to stop movement of the cables and provide some support - I'm thinking maybe best to mount a sheet of MDF below the 4U rack rather than mounting the p-clips to the brickwork, hopefuly that'll make life a bit easier and thinking beyond that, I could then box in the cables with another sheet to tidy it all up and protect the cables.

As for the Cisco switch, I'm not sure I'll rack mount it as the rack only a little deeper than the switch itself so mounting it would mean it'd push against the cables and having the mains lead for the switch pressed against them so I'll just sit the switch on top of the rack and put the OR VDSL box on top of the switch.

The patch leads are 50cm, are you suggesting I get 30cm ones so that there's less cable sticking out or is there another reason for suggesting shorter leads?