Wiring home network patch panel (568A vs 568B)

I just did a search for John Woods thermostat wiring and found the John Wood website.

Then I used it, and your pictures to create the modified picture below.

It looks to me like you have it wired right. Also, it looks like the original wiring was done so that both the upper and lower heating elements would be on at the same time. With it wired the way you have it now, the upper element should go off when it reaches its set temperature, and simultaneously turn on the lower element. I would check this with a voltmeter if I were you.

I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN: JUST A DO-IT-YOURSELFER OF ABOUT 50 YEARS. So, you might want to wait for a real electrician to respond.

^{Click for larger view}

The yellow cables are probably Cat5e, which has 4 pairs of wires. (The beige cables are probably Cat 3, which might only have 2 pairs of wire). A single phone line only requires 1 pair, so as you can see the other pairs are just twisted off.

You definitely can reuse the cable for ethernet access, but you will lose the phone jack obviously.

Here are some things you should know about working with ethernet cabling:

• Unlike phones with are relatively low-bandwidth, ethernet cables need to be in good condition with the pairs twisted around each other properly and with properly terminated connections. The mess you show is fine for phones but will cause lots of interference with ethernet data. If you want to reuse the cabling for data you need to cut back the cable all the way to the yellow sheathing and start over with new CAT 5e terminations. The proper way to do it is to terminate all the cables at a patch panel, but you could also just crimp a regular RJ-45 on the end and connect them that way. You cannot just twist the wires together and expect to get a good signal. Also, at the other end of the cable (in the room with the jacks), you will need to do the same thing: cut back the cable to where it's clean, and start over with new RJ-45 jacks.
• Also unlike phones (and household electricity), you cannot split a cable into 2 cables just by joining the same color wires. If you have more than two devices you want to connect, you need to use an ethernet switch, which is a small appliance that will properly route the data packets between 2 or more devices.