Running Cat5e cable underground

[Chips]

Well, the time has finally come to shift most of the computers out into the garage (apparently). Having already got enough power out there I need to put in a fat data pipe to connect the lot to the house switch - cat5e will do nicely because I have lots. Wireless is an absolute worst case scenario both for speed and price and we need to connect to the servers for data (video/music etc).

The garage is not connected to the house and is separated by about 3m of paving/drive/whatnot.

Any suggestions for running the cable ? I'm aware that pushing it through the same conduit as the power is a no-go and I really don't want to dig up the drive unless I have to. I suppose I could take it under a patio and through some of the lawn if I must. On top of that I naturally don't want to spend very much time or effort.

Chips.

[Guy King]

The message from Chips contains these words:

Anything wrong with wireless?

[Mike Dodd]

Other than the OP says he doesn't want it - worst case (cost / bandwidth).

...

on the other hand, I can stream 720p HD to the XBox-360 on 802.11g

[Harry Bloomfield]

Catenary wire supporting a length of 20mm plastic conduit?

[Guy King]

The message from Mike Dodd contains these words:

Well, it's not /that/ expensive, and some systems do vast bandwidths these days.

[Dave H.]

How about a pair of fibre media convertors and a short run of multimode fibre in the conduit with the power? Even figure-8 patch cord will do for this short a distance.

You get:

1) Noise immunity as the power won't interfere with the light; 2) Electrical isolation; 3) Lightning protection; 4) A Very Cool Thing to brag about ;o)

They're available in 10M, 100M and 1Gbit versions, depending on how fat a pipe you want... prices depend on whether you scour Ebay/IT surplus outlets etc. or buy new (ouch!), but start around £25 each if you're lucky.

BTW, cat5e cable isn't specified for immersion or wet environments, and can/will be permeable to groundwater, resulting in Horrible Corrosion and Degradation and eventual loss of its signal-carrying abilities, so don't bury it :o(

Dave H. (The engineer formerly known as Homeless) (...who has a pair of fibre-connected Ethernet switches to get to his garage - geek, eh?)

[Osprey]

I know that Comms wiring practise does not recc. for running copper comms between buildings due to risk of electrical faults, lightning strikes etc. The approved way is fibre (as mentioned)

Why not use WiFi 802.11g will give you 54Mbs or up top 100 Mb if you use HSM compatible devices.

or go nuts and use pre-N

[rickity]

There is a mail order company called Tait Components who do external cat5 or you could use 2x dlink wireless bridges DWL-2000AP+ with a couple of external arials. using the fibre with dlink fibre media converters would also work. Running the fibre, might find it difficult getting through the conduit where your power cable is.

[nightjar]

My solution to running telephone, data and an air line between two buildings a couple of metres apart was a piece of 100mm square 6mm wall steel tube 3m above ground.

Colin Bignell

[zikkimalambo]

If you don't want wireless, then fibre is definately the way to go. If

100Mb/s would hack it, then a couple of D-link or ATI media converters shouldn't cost too much.

If space in the conduit is a problem, make sure you use use fibe with ST connectors these are only about 1/4" diameter and you can always split the figure of eight "cable" so that you can feed them through individualy. if push comes to shove, you could probably isolate, disconnect and remove the mains, pull the fibre in and then pull the mains back in.

Check the fibre is ok first!!

[Guy King]

The message from "nightjar" contains these words:

Don't you thing 1/4" thick walls was a bit OTT? To span a couple of meters a bit of plastic drain pipe would have been fine.

[Phil]

Stick your cat5e in the conduit with the power - you won't get any problems. In industry, it's rarely possible to get any separation of the two - I've never had a problem.

[Phil]

So? The IEE won't be inspecting it. Presumably the power installation has already been passed.

[Peter Lynch]

On 2006-05-22, Dave H.

[Chris Bacon]

Galvanised conduit (25mm).

[Harry Bloomfield]

It will work perfectly well, but that does not mean it is safe. Probably the only inspection will be after someone is killed or injured should the insulation fail and 240v get onto the CAT5.

[Phil]

At the same instant that someone makes accidental contact?

[The Natural Philosopher]

Ah. Thats prolly why my comms here is over 2 miles of copper..underground.

Cos its crap?

Fibre is the best answer. To this particular set of specs.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Have a look at 'blackl box'

Google for UERL. they sell all te bits yoiuy need for something like this.

Certainly ethernet to fiber bridges are available..as long as there is a switch at each end, you don't need anything more than that.

Biggest problem is termination at each end, but over that range a perfect joint is not absolutely necessary.

[usenet]

So how much is a wireless link that goes as fast as Gigabit ethernet? Gigabit routers are now quite cheap (I bought my 8 port one for about £70) and many motherboards have Gigabit NICs built in.