Are all patch panels created equally?

If I need one in 48 ports, which one should I look for? Is there features that some have and some don't? Any recommendations?

This is for home, will be mounted in a rack.

 

for home use I like the mono price ones... cheap and they do the job.

 

You can buy a generic patch panel on eBay for $25 or you can spend $500 for a Amphenol patch panel. You get what you pay for. If you need the difference, or even know what it is - is your prerogative.

EMI Shielding, modular keystone jacks, overall quality and finish, etc.. Are some main differences.

I personally exclusively use Amphenol products for all my ethernet cabling needs.

 

Where do you buy most of your amphenol stuff?

 

All over. There is a small learning curve to purchasing Amphenol parts as there usually is no description and only a part number with little to no photos. I study the catalogs on their site then purchase the majority of Amphenol products on: mouser.com, digikey.com, & onlinecomponents.com Though occasionally you might find a cheaper price on cdw.com and possibly eBay - though be careful of counterfeits there. The key is knowing the specific part number then searching for it.

 

we just get the krone panels, they aren't overly pricey and seem to do the job without any issues.

 

Any Value for Money recommendations for Patch panels for a SMB/ Non Profit org 20-40 points.

 

For inexpensive home installations, pretty much any non branded/ little known panels work fine, providing they at least meet the required specs, i.e cat5e/ 6/ 7 etc. They might not have all the nice cable management features, or be quite so well finished etc, but they get the job done. Once you get to doing any kind of professional installation, you should really be looking to use good quality branded and traceable products from the likes of Leviton, Amp/ Tyco, Siemons etc, but where a compromise has to be struck on the money front, one of the offerings from Monoprice, Panduit or Tripp Lite etc will get you by

 

I also strongly recommend Monoprice Patch Panels, we've had great luck with them. We recently started using the Modular Ones that use Keystone Style Jacks as we are adding more and more fiber so we just use the proper Keystone Style Jack in the same panel. Monoprice also sells both the Modular Panels and the Keystone Style Jacks. My personal opinion is to stay away from the "Tool-Less" Models of their Keystone Jacks. We've had nothing but problems with them but some people say they have no problem so YMMV.

 

It seems that you need 48 Fibers 1U Rackmount Fiber Enclosure. FS.COM offers this product at $66 with 4 slots FAPs, which provides a comprehensive line of fiber distribution enclosures that provide a flexible and modular system for managing fiber terminations, connections, and patching in all applications.

 

Thanks. Interesting points.

 

Once again I ask - do you work for fiberstore? I'm pretty sure OP is asking for Cat5/6 patch panels

 

Taking note of the above points I had one more question..
Do patch panels come with in built female RJ 45 connectors i.e. They dont need RJ 45 keystone blocks to be installed behind do they?
Or do Patch Panels come in both varieties, with and without?

PS: I guess you already answered part of it.

What would you recommend for a Small SMB who has need for 25-30 maybe some day 35 drops?
I am thinking 2 x 24 (due to length space of 48 being too long)
Do you recommend a Patch Panel with inbuilt keystones or without? Pros & Cons?

 

Some patch panels come with ports in them permanently and some don't, it only depends on which type you get. Some are also modular but the modules have 6 ports vs individual ports.

I've hag good luck with both versions but personally think that I like modular better as they give you more options. With modules you can put in different types of connectors in the same port, Copper, Coax, Fiber even home audio connections.

I am not sure what you mean about the 48 port panel being too long. All of the patch panels are standard size they will just get taller / taking up more U Spaces. The one thing I can't stress enough is to make sure you leave space for cable management. Depending on how many ports you might want it above and below. You can never have too much cable management.

Pro / Cons - Keystone if a Port Goes bad you can replace it, in the others that isn't possible. They are usually a little less dense as the ports are bulkier. Keystone would also be a little more money.

 

Plus you can get diff color keystones if you want to diffentiate your ports easily

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

Hmm.. I guess modular would make sense. I sensed that it might be easier/ better to stack 2 x 24 port patch panels instead of 1 48 port. Will have to look into the options a bit more.

 

So looked up patch panels on Monoprice just for research and I cant seem to figure out if they are modular or fixed with keystones or they have both in the catalog.

Can someone link me to clear examples of both and how one could distinguish between when shopping for them? - DONE.

Now I need a little help picking a Patch Panel and Keystones out for a small org. I'll try to post some pictures of the location.