In the living room there are in-wall wires (hdmi, etc.) including 2 ethernet cables that run from a corner of the room up above the hearth where a TV might mount. The problem is none of these wires go to the wiring closet where all other wires converge.

At first I thought this was a fluke, but my coworkers brand new house in Durham has the same setup. Whats the purpose of these wires to nowhere?

4/16/2018 8:28:28 PM

They should go to low mounted outlet location that is suitable for a media console, or stand, for your cable box or video game console or some other equipment that would require HDMI direct to the TV.

4/17/2018 8:47:45 AM

You wouldn't want your HDMI cables going to a closet anyway, most things are IR and it doesn't work through walls.

kinda dumb not to run the ethernet to a central location but that's home builders for you...

4/17/2018 3:12:08 PM

the ethernet runs are probably just generic data cable extensions, you can find all sorts of adapters to use with them

4/17/2018 4:02:05 PM

^^ IR repeaters are a thing.

4/17/2018 4:44:14 PM

HiJack ...

Wiring a basement office (to start with)...

SHould I just go with a 15amp breaker and 15 amp outlets, or go up to 20amp for both? Is there a real need to use 20amp outlets or breaker really?

I assume I have to use 12/2 with a 20amp circuit vs 14/2

4/20/2018 8:13:11 PM

What are you plugging in down there? If you're going the high-end PC route, give it its own 15 amp circuit. If servers, go 240 V. If it's standard office stuff, a single 15 is likely fine.

4/20/2018 8:19:03 PM

dual monitor, multiple laptops likely, maybe a gaming pc someday...

if I go 20, do I need 20amp outlets too?

4/22/2018 5:32:54 PM

https://www.nachi.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=18525&d=1202766810

Signs point to no from the home inspector people, but I'm no EE.

Check your devices... if no single outlet/device is requesting 20A of power, you should be good. Especially if you put 2-3 outlets on a run and spread the love around.

Nothing you've listed other than an uber gaming PC would pull a fraction of enough power to worry 15A runs. My 24 inch monitor pulls ~80 watts, most laptop power bricks are rated for 100w or less. Graphics cards are usually the most thirsty thing in a gaming PC, I would guess about 200w for the system + 300w/card.

My UPS reports 405w playing a game for computer, 8 hard drives in NAS, monitor, sound, desk light, router, wifi.

4/22/2018 9:58:01 PM

You have to be in the dual or triple GPU category to even come close to breaking 1000W.

You can put 15 amp outlets on a 20 amps circuit. That's pretty much every kitchen circuit. Also, you have to pull 12 gauge for a 20 amp circuit.

4/23/2018 12:26:26 PM