Seeking Best Practice running outdoor ethernet cable into home

[ejn1]

Hi All,

I'm running for the first time a few network cable runs to my pool controller and future backup generator from my inside home network.   My current plan is to you run outdoor rated shielded Cat5e from the outside equipment up my brick exterior wall through my soffit into a switch that is in my attic crawl space.   Before the switch, I was going to insert inline one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Ditek-DTK-WM4NETS/dp/B07NCRR4HB

Then run a grounding wire from the above device back outside down my wall and bonded to my grounding rod nearby.    I'm mainly trying to protect a lighting surge travelling through the cable into all of my networking equipment.   Is this an acceptable approach or any other suggestions?  

Thanks in advance!

 

[zaphod]

I normally hear advice to use fiber when running between two buildings if you are worried about lightning strikes.  Fiber doesn't conduct electricity.  But then you need a switch that can take fiber or a way to convert back to ethernet.

[ejn1]

22 minutes ago, zaphod said:

I normally hear advice to use fiber when running between two buildings if you are worried about lightning strikes.  Fiber doesn't conduct electricity.  But then you need a switch that can take fiber or a way to convert back to ethernet.

Thanks, I read that also but not practical in this application for the points you note.   I'm not overly worried about lightning but want to do what i can practically on the front end to reduce the risk.

[Topfox]

I just ran burial grade cat 6 for my outdoor stuff and stuff between buildings. I’ve had zero issues with it. Probably 5 years strong so far. 
 

For your generator look up a project call Genmon. That what I use to monitor mine and best of all it’s free. 

[Shoe]

Burial fiber often has a locator wire in it so its not the silver bullet for lightning protection.

You can save some money with one of these:

https://store.ui.com/us/en/collections/unifi-accessory-tech-poe-and-power/products/ethernet-surge-protector

I'd just get regular burial cat6.

[Andrew luecke]

At this point of time, if you want WiFi 7 at maximum performance, you realistically need Fibre anyway. I'd be running fibre if there is power at the other building, simply because its a similar cost these days anyway (provided you're using 2 switches with SFP, which in general is likely) You can also quite easily run many cores simultaneously too for future use

 

[lippavisual]

10 hours ago, ejn1 said:

Hi All,

I'm running for the first time a few network cable runs to my pool controller and future backup generator from my inside home network.   My current plan is to you run outdoor rated shielded Cat5e from the outside equipment up my brick exterior wall through my soffit into a switch that is in my attic crawl space.   Before the switch, I was going to insert inline one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Ditek-DTK-WM4NETS/dp/B07NCRR4HB

Then run a grounding wire from the above device back outside down my wall and bonded to my grounding rod nearby.    I'm mainly trying to protect a lighting surge travelling through the cable into all of my networking equipment.   Is this an acceptable approach or any other suggestions?  

Thanks in advance!

 

The DiTek works great.  We use them all the time when we transition from outdoor to indoor.

the Ubnt one’s have failed for us several times.  You get what you pay for!!

[ERDrPC]

12 hours ago, Topfox said:

for your generator look up a project call Genmon. That what I use to monitor mine and best of all it’s free. 

Thanks for this...looks awesome. I wonder if there is a way to pull into C4

[Dueport]

14 hours ago, ejn1 said:

Hi All,

I'm running for the first time a few network cable runs to my pool controller and future backup generator from my inside home network.   My current plan is to you run outdoor rated shielded Cat5e from the outside equipment up my brick exterior wall through my soffit into a switch that is in my attic crawl space.   Before the switch, I was going to insert inline one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Ditek-DTK-WM4NETS/dp/B07NCRR4HB

Then run a grounding wire from the above device back outside down my wall and bonded to my grounding rod nearby.    I'm mainly trying to protect a lighting surge travelling through the cable into all of my networking equipment.   Is this an acceptable approach or any other suggestions?  

Thanks in advance!

 

That’s how we did it but ran through conduit to the pool house (about 200’ I think) and cat6 to pool controller, WiFi AP etc. generators are in a different location but also through conduit. Our exterior runs (these plus cameras) run through a bunch of rack mounted surge protectors that work great. Never had an issue with any of them. 

Edited February 7 by Dueport
Added link

[ejn1]

7 hours ago, Andrew luecke said:

At this point of time, if you want WiFi 7 at maximum performance, you realistically need Fibre anyway. I'd be running fibre if there is power at the other building, simply because its a similar cost these days anyway (provided you're using 2 switches with SFP, which in general is likely) You can also quite easily run many cores simultaneously too for future use

 

Thanks, this is not running to another building per se, its just running down an outside wall to devices that dont require high speed.  

[ejn1]

5 hours ago, lippavisual said:

The DiTek works great.  We use them all the time when we transition from outdoor to indoor.

the Ubnt one’s have failed for us several times.  You get what you pay for!!

Thanks for the advice, I wasnt familiar with the DiTek but it looked a lot more robust than the Unifi and you only have to run one ground wire to the outside for multiple ports.   I will likely place also on the exterior wall a Ruckus T310 since I'm pulling the wire anyway it's nice to get a better wifi signal outside as well.

[ejn1]

1 hour ago, Dueport said:

That’s how we did it but ran through conduit to the pool house (about 200’ I think) and cat6 to pool controller, WiFi AP etc. generators are in a different location but also through conduit. Our exterior runs (these plus cameras) run through a bunch of rack mounted surge protectors that work great. Never had an issue with any of them. 

Thanks, i was going to run the cat 5e in a conduit as well for protection.

[ejn1]

13 hours ago, Shoe said:

Burial fiber often has a locator wire in it so its not the silver bullet for lightning protection.

You can save some money with one of these:

https://store.ui.com/us/en/collections/unifi-accessory-tech-poe-and-power/products/ethernet-surge-protector

I'd just get regular burial cat6.

Thanks, I had already purchased a spool of Ubiquity Outdoor Shielded Cat5e so will run that as they were not super long runs to the attic switch and dont think I need Cat6 speeds for this application.

[Cyknight]

https://www.larsonelectronics.com/product/273417/100-meter-hazardous-location-metal-clad-network-cable-24-awg-aluminum-interlock-armor-pvc-jacket-100-meter-cat5e-ethernet-cable?utm_campaign=18138854760&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=&keyword=&adgroupid=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8YyuBhBSEiwA5R3-E3BkmuEphRXDIIpoZXtvoCER8jgvZtkWfp4O61xke-EdRpP8CIBKdxoCbmQQAvD_BwE

 

Armored cat cable. Can ground armor if needed for surge/lightning. Nice for outside wall mounting

[zaphod]

3 hours ago, Cyknight said:

Armored cat cable. Can ground armor if needed for surge/lightning. Nice for outside wall mounting

That's expensive stuff - $43/m.

[Cyknight]

43 minutes ago, zaphod said:

That's expensive stuff - $43/m.

Better?

https://www.wireandcableyourway.com/belden-121700a-24-4pr-stranded-cat5e-datatuff-armored-twisted-pair-cable

Didn't look too closely at the original link, wasn't suggesting supplier.

There's dual cat versions out there as well, usually you're looking under industrial cabling

[Cyknight]

I suppose my main point was that there's armoured CAT cable out there (direct burial as well) the foregoes the need for counduit, especially if there;s no other reason for conduit (ie pulling cables after the fact, or too many twist and turns to be able to do so).

 

Sure armoured cable is more expensive, but it's likely not much of a difference over outdoor rated cat plus conduit - and much easier to candle.

[ejn1]

6 minutes ago, Cyknight said:

Better?

https://www.wireandcableyourway.com/belden-121700a-24-4pr-stranded-cat5e-datatuff-armored-twisted-pair-cable

Didn't look too closely at the original link, wasn't suggesting supplier.

There's dual cat versions out there as well, usually you're looking under industrial cabling

Thanks.   That is cool and indeed a better price...  I think it would be cheaper though to get a DiTek and just ground it. 

[BDavisNJ]

@Versafel Systems@ejn1 First, thanks for the guidance on grounding / lightning protection for Cat6 cables that originate outside the house and terminate directly into a switch.  I clearly missed adding the surge protection -- I am fixing now (you have got me worried that I am going to fry my networking gear).

With respect to monitoring either a generator or a battery pack, I suggest using Shelly Plus One and the Shelly Add-on.  Both of these devices are inexpensive and integrate well using the Chowmain Shelly Driver.  The Add-on has a built-in voltmeter.  I have a 17kg Generac natural gas generator.  Natively, there is no integration into C4.  Using 3 Shelly Plus One devices, each with a Shelly Add-On, I am monitoring the voltage on the red, green, yellow, LED indicator lights on the generator.  When the voltage is above a threshold, I know which of the LED lights is on.  I have a custom button with a "happy generator" for the green LED and a custom button with a red X for when the red LED is illuminated (an SMS is also sent).

The above works great and provides confidence that the generator is being monitored at all times.  The total cost of the integration is c$70 for the materials and no subscription fees.

Edited February 8 by BDavisNJ
fixed a gramatical mistake

[Versafel Systems]

5 hours ago, BDavisNJ said:

@Versafel Systems@ejn1 First, thanks for the guidance on grounding / lightning protection for Cat6 cables that originate outside the house and terminate directly into a switch.  I clearly missed adding the surge protection -- I am fixing now (you have got me worried that I am going to fry my networking gear).

With respect to monitoring either a generator or a battery pack, I suggest using Shelly Plus One and the Shelly Add-on.  Both of these devices are inexpensive and integrate well using the Chowmain Shelly Driver.  The Add-on has a built-in voltmeter.  I have a 17kg Generac natural gas generator.  Natively, there is no integration into C4.  Using 3 Shelly Plus One devices, each with a Shelly Add-On, I am monitoring the voltage on the red, green, yellow, LED indicator lights on the generator.  When the voltage is above a threshold, I know which of the LED lights is on.  I have a custom button with a "happy generator" for the green LED and a custom button with a red X for when the red LED is illuminated (an SMS is also sent).

The above works great and provides confidence that the generator is being monitored at all times.  The total cost of the integration is c$70 for the materials and no subscription fees.

Thanks! I've heard a couple of responses pointing towards Shelly. Unfortunately I failed to mention in my original post (i have since updated OP) that we need to avoid WiFi based units as WiFi is powered down for power saving as this unit goes weeks being unoccupied. RS232,  Zigbee , Wired LAN preferred. (in order of preference)

[RAV]

(FYI, a POE AP costs about $5 per year in electricity)

[Shoe]

2 minutes ago, RAV said:

(FYI, a POE AP costs about $5 per year in electricity)

Somehow these guys mixed threads and hijacked this one.

 

[Versafel Systems]

1 hour ago, Shoe said:

Somehow these guys mixed threads and hijacked this one.

 

Yeah, no idea how. Lets cut this convo out and keep it in my OP. Cheers.

[bballjn64]

I'm confused as to why there is a concern for a lightning strike targeting an insulated ethernet cable run below a soffit on the exterior of a building. Your roof and gutter will definitely be struck before this specific cable would ever be, and the cable isn't spanning any distance where it would be exposed without a roof or grounded gutter system providing a much better path to ground. I think anything beyond running cat6 cable is overkill. Even fiber is excessive unless you're running extreme distances (more than 100m/300ft) and/or want future proofing for higher than 10Gb/s bandwidth which cat6 cable is capable of.

[Shoe]

4 minutes ago, bballjn64 said:

I'm confused as to why there is a concern for a lightning strike targeting an insulated ethernet cable run below a soffit on the exterior of a building.

Induced current.