OT? WIFI question

  I was just sayin' that I need to bury the power supply cable too . Actually the big cable only runs part way right now , there's about 30 feet of copper from where the original supply hookup was to the shop . And it's not really heavy enough for the loads I sometimes put on it .   --   Snag
Reply to
Terry Coombs
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I've seen times when lightning literally bored a hole into the ground until it hit a wire we had buried. I don't know if it went further into the ground or stopped at the wire. There was no need to dig further. Green corn stalks were fried in the area surrounding the hit.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

Yes it CAN, but the chances of a dangerous surge in a buried network cable is a LOT less than one in open air strung 10 feet above ground. Even in house wiring is succeptable - but outside overhead is the biggest risk

Reply to
Clare Snyder

  Fortunately , we live down in The Holler , where Lightning seldom visits . Today I strung an aerial  CAT5E cable from the house to the shop . Results were predictable and immediate ... I already had a cable run to the corner of the house closest to the shop from my WAP experiments , I plugged that one into a 4 port network switch and made up a new one to go from that point to the comp out in the shop . With about 20 feet extra , which will be enough for when I bury it later .   --   Snag
Reply to
Terry Coombs

Surges seldom actually have anything to do with lightning hitting the wire. Those are usually total destruction. Surges are usually differences of potential in the common between each end of the wire. We fixed a lot of these problem by bonding the machine frames together with a fat copper wire as direct as possible and lengthening the data cable physically and electrically with ferrites, then adding surge protection to that. It was the only way we could keep point of sale terminals working at beach and pool bars down here in lightning country. One thing is certain the dirt is not "ground" in any "zero volts" sense at any distance away. That is probably the reason why steel conduit has a good reputation for protecting data cable too as long as you use the raceway as ground at both ends. That becomes your "fat wire".

Reply to
gfretwell

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