Long outdoors netwok cable run

Just saw this thread for the 1st time and it was very much informative. Thank you OP!! I was on the verge of forgetting to go with fiber for my 600' driveway, even though wittaj highly suggested it. 2 reasons...having to farm out the terminations and the fiber install guys from Frontier internet want to charge me a 1st born to run the extra fiber that I would supply.

But now I see I have options, including premade. But if I'm understanding what's been said here, I don't need the mega $$$ tooling to terminate fiber?? I would prefer to do the fiber install myself and it now appears I can. I am ready to start planning and getting a materials list together. One other concern I had going with fiber...that expense alone would limit my camera purchases. I want 4 cameras minimum, with one LPR and a PTZ. So 4 may not even be enough.
 
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Glad to see this thread is helpful @Madflamethrower. This discussion thread, and the input and support from many, has helped de-mystify FO for me. I used to think it was high-end precision work only utility company guys do. I still wouldn’t attempt to join/splice FO strands. But terminating FO strands should not be out of the reach of regular people. Full disclosure: I still haven’t actually done any terminations! I have had many distractions from the FO part of my overall project. And one by one those pieces are coming into place.

The links that @jnissen provided above helped me get the right tools and I added a two-tool-combo pak of Jonard’s FO stripper and Kevlar cutting shears. The spool of FO cable I got is plenum cable, but it was a good price and I needed to start somewhere else this would have been a drawing-board project for ever. As a point of reference, it was $96.25 all-in including sales tax and shipping for an 800-foot spool of 12-strand plenum grade OM3 FO, from ebay. I know at some point I’ll have to replace it with burial rated cable, because water in the buried conduit will probably get through the cable sheathing. At that point, pulling a new cable in place of the current one would hopefully be straightforward. I intend to leave a pull tape in the conduit along with the FO.

Besides the FO itself, I needed to get a hands-on feel for related devices, and one by one everything is falling in place. Time after time I find that once I figure things out (with the help of friends here), they don't seem as complicated and impossible as they had at first. Once I get everything working, I will consider it proof-of-concept for me, and replace anything that is not up to par as-needed. The only thing that is likely to need replacement eventually will be the FO cable.

Good luck with your project. Take the plunge! Much support in this forum. If you are trenching and burying cable, suggest you find a way to bury 1.5 inch conduit the whole way. Some day you'll be glad you did, of this I'm certain.

Edit: Likely you'll need power at the far end, for whatever device you use to convert from FO to copper, which will connect to individual devices like cameras. The 1.5 inch conduit could likely contain both FO and power, though others could better speak to that.
 
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The Plenum cable above is holding up well for me. No signs of degradation. 10G backbone between switch and control has been consistently stable.

I have a second FO run for my gate. That line was a buried rated FO line that was run while I was installing a water line onto my property. That cable as well is consistently showing good performance.

The issue I have had is my choice of power out at the gate. A 12G buried cable supplies power for the switch, gate opener, and lights. The power has gone out unexpectedly twice.
I have the line pop up into a NEMA outdoor rated box. I initially powered the line with a GFCI breaker but constantly got false tripping. The length of line the breaker was protecting exceeded the recommended wire length. I ended up using a standard breaker and use a local GFCI out at the destination. Second issue was when I had a driving rainstorm. My enclosure for the data gear is vented. I used hooded vents but in one exceptional downpour I got some moisture inside the box. It tripped the GFCI breaker. I had to wait and dry out the box and added open cell foam to act like a filter in my vent hoods. Since doing that the box has remained dry and running well.

I may open a completely new thread on the Unify Gate controller. Short summary is thumbs up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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@jnissen I am looking forward to your thread on the UniFi Gate controller. It is the final piece of my project that I have yet to get operational, pending pulling and terminating the FO.

Am hoping to post a new thread on the end-state of my long network run when I get there, and in the meantime here are some photos of the controls near the gate, which grew to be a bit of a production.
The low voltage controls box is not vented, and the devices in there are just an initial dry-fit to get a feel for how it all comes together.
There will be a second network switch identical to the one in there, and there is room for inevitable additional gear in the future.
Have to figure out how to hang power supplies and such-like that don't have DIN rail clips, from the DIN rails.

I hear more and more from guys who do hands-on work that the newer ground fault and arc fault breakers work so well that they are unforgiving and constantly trip.
When I built my house my electrician ended up removing the Siemens AFCI breakers for circuits in the house, and put regular breakers - has been no problem since.
I have a small circuit breaker panel with regular breakers - so far one for the gate, one for the low voltage controls box, and one for the convenience outlet on the controls panel.
 

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I see you have the fiber run completed. Congrats now. My Unifi Gate controller has been great. My gate is operating well off of it. The intercom on the other hand is presently down after a driver ran off the road and hit the mounting post as well as my fence. The intercom post was mounted 4.5' deep in concrete and consists of a 6" steel square pipe filled with cement and rebar. A 2X4" square arm extends toward the driveway. The intercom is in a recess made from 1/4 steel plates welded to form a sun shade/protection. I was trying to make it vandal proof from baseball bats and the like. A few neighbors have had mailboxes smashed that way. The vehicle that hit it is totaled. The intercom mounting post cracked the concrete base it was mounted in. The post iteself only bent a few degrees way down deep so above ground looks straight. I think I can reuse the post after cleaning it up and repainting it. The gate intercom cable was sheared off at the base and now awaiting to repair the thing this next week. The intercom remarkably came out and and is still functional. I don't want to post video of it as we are working with the parties involved and want to make sure that it's repaired back to new. Needless to say I captured it on three different cameras and multiple angles as I have a total of five cameras up near my gate. A PTZ, an LPR, and two fixed IP cams along with the stream from the Intercom.

BTW good to know but the Intercom is not needed to make the gate open and close with the app. I can still open and close remotely but looking forward to have the fence and intercom post repaired.
 
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You build stuff the way I would like to (over)build stuff, but I end up settling for mainstream stuff because my vision is more expansive than my ability to execute.
That is quite an intercom mounting post, and gate (from another post), that you built.
I hope it all works out for all concerned.
One hell of a story that I am going to enjoy relaying.

You answered a question on my mind, as to whether the gate controller will work without the intercom.
Recently I casually commented in a social setting that if I don't get around to finishing my FO run, I won't mount the intercom.
People who know me will call me to open the gate, and others can just go away.
That "go away" factor grew on me, because having the intercom is an invitation for anybody wandering by to bother me.
So I thought if the intercom is necessary, I'll just put it in the low voltage controls enclosure.
However, sounds like the brain is in the hub.
With cams I can know what is happening out there, and with the app I can open the gate remotely.
 
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Virga said:
With cams I can know what is happening out there, and with the app I can open the gate remotely.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I thought I would have more folks hitting the button to bother me but honestly the only callers are folks I know are coming or the occasional Amazon delivery. I setup Amazon on their own ID so they don't drop packages at the gate. So far it has been great as they let themselves in and out and my packages are not being taken by porch/gate thieves.
 
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@jnissen, request your input on Access app to close the gate.
I finally got the UniFi Gate Access hub connected via FO strands to the UDM Pro.
The Gate Entry / Intercom is still not connected, just have to run an ethernet cable to the gooseneck and mount the Intercom.

Please see attached PDF of the Liftmaster Gate operator wiring diagram, page 1, top right.
In the “Controls” group they show “Access Control Device”.
I have the negative terminal connected the COM on the UniFi hub, and the positive terminal to the NO on the hub, both on the upper/first “Gate Operator” group on the hub.

So far my impression is that gate controllers generally rely on the “Timer to Close” function on the gate operator controller board, to close the gate.
I have mine set to “zero”, because it is the only way I could keep the gate open when I wanted to.
Effectively, it serves as a "Keep open" function.
I’ve been using the gate just with a standard remote control from the house, one press opens the gate, another press closes it.
This was my only option until I got the FO strands working.

I can now open the gate with the Access app, but I can’t close it.
Wondering if you might have some insight into that.

My initial search indicates that a gate position sensor might be necessary to use the App to close the gate.
 

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I rely upon the timer to close my gate. The lift master has a rotary knob inside to dial up delay.
I’d suggest you change the delay back to something normal. If you need access to get the mail, take out trash, etc… I use my phone or a remote in the vehicle.

BTW if I need to keep gate open I either park on my detection loop embedded in roadway or put something in front of my safety beam to fool gate controller. Handy when mowing or constantly walking in and out.

Did you add the magnetic sensor to provide feedback to the UDM gate hub? I ended up adding one so I could at a glance see if the gate was closed. Sure I can view it to verify as well but within the Access app it will show closed.
 
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BTW UniFi offers a LPR camera option to allow the gate to open automatically. I thought about it but at $500+ I’m having a difficult time justifying the cool factor.

Of course I don’t think they offer that in ONVIF cameras. AI detection is only available on the UniFi Cams.
 
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@jnissen, thanks.
Would have been nice to have a way to remotely "open-and-stay-open", and "close" the gate.
But I do realize there are standards in the gate industry, and that rotary knob timer is the method to close the gate.
Possibly a work-around may be to use the "scheduled-open/unlock" feature as a proxy for remote open/close.
Might be a bit tedious but for occasional use might be useful.
Once I have the intercom up I'll look into this, because I don't think it is available from the hub alone.

We have only rear license plates and the way my gate is relative to the road, I don't think I can place a camera to read the LP until someone is at least partially through the gate.
Would be nice though.

I am interested in adding a magnetic sensor - would it be possible for you to please share the what and how?
 
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jnissen said:
BTW UniFi offers a LPR camera option to allow the gate to open automatically. I thought about it but at $500+ I’m having a difficult time justifying the cool factor.

Of course I don’t think they offer that in ONVIF cameras. AI detection is only available on the UniFi Cams.
Click to expand...

They have new G6 camera's that were recently announced at less than $200. I may consider one for the LPR open feature but even at $200 that is an expensive toy. I have standard IP Cams looking in the same direction so ideally would like to see Unifi allow third party cams trigger motion events.

As for the magnetic sensor - I used one of these.
I did extend the wires longer to reach my Unify Gate controller. Double sided tape to hold the magnet to the gate and I built a mount to hold the sensor. Needs to be about 1-2" or less to accurately trigger.
 
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