Good place to get fiber optic cable?

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The object of the fiber, or dedicated RF link, is to provide electrical isolation between the buildings in terms of the camera system. Ground differences, even with a common ground back at the house versus the barn, can and will happen so electrical isolation, if at all possible, is probably a reasonable idea.
While I agree that running non-conductive fiber cable is the 100% safe route to go, Cat6 burial cable is 99.9% as safe if properly grounded/bonded. Out of the 500 short (under 320') runs of burial Cat6 cables I have installed in 20 years, only once was there an issue (and that was due to a 3 phase power transformer going pop). I would happily put my couple hundred dollar equip on the Cat6. Now if I had $3,000 equip...ok...fiber :)
 

sebastiantombs

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Yup, that'll work. Just make sure to use some pipe dope or pipe tape on the hubs you put into the unused holes. Those things can seep even when torqued down tight.
 

Jessie.slimer

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Just to toss it out there...
If a homeowner/rancher asked us to install a 150' fiber, cost (including material) would be around $250-$350. Just a thought. Would include installing, terminating (or fusion splicing), and testing/certification. You would know the fiber was 100% correct. You could ask local telecomm data guys to buy the fiber, install it yourself, and have them come out to terminate/test which would save even more $.

However, if your run is under 320', why on earth are you running fiber? They make outdoor burial rated Cat6. If you were putting a microsoft call center out in your shop...I could see using fiber. Unless I am missing something, I advise running Cat6 (heck...4 Cat6's). Where is this other post that someone recommended going fiber?
Here is the tread I started when I was thinking about burying cat6.

After some research, I figured the risk of voltage getting into my ethernet and damaging my tvs, cpus, etc wasn't worth it. People seem to be running Nanos without issue.
 

sebastiantombs

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@Holbs Well, you may be right, but my experiences with Mr. Murphy have convinced me to be very conservative when assessing risks like this. A buried cable is far less likely to take a hit or surge from a strike, but the stuff in the barn or shed is a whole other problem and if it's electrically connected back to the house network......
 
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I do admit... I do this for a living for the last 20 years. I know the in's and out's of fiber & copper. I personally would be happy running Cat6 underground but only because I know how to properly protect it.
I read the original post. Yes, best to go fiber if your wallet can swing it. I still advise you to contact local network cable installers to terminate/test the fiber. You can purchase fiber cable from them 50%-75% cheaper than monoprice or amazon. They are probably throwing out 200' on a spool anyways :)
 

bp2008

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I'm exiting the house, making a stop at the shed in the middle of the yard (will be nice to have an outlet and a light in there), then a stop at the fence to put an outlet there , then off to the barn. Doing it this way will let me pull the wires easier from box to box, rather than trying to do it all in one.
I'd encourage laying your cables out and then sliding the conduit pieces one by one over the cable and seating them together. This should be a lot easier than trying to push or pull a cable through the conduit, especially if it is thick electrical wire that will always be pressing against the walls of the conduit. That is how I did it when I ran conduit, thick power cable, and two shielded cat5e (in a separate conduit from the power cable) to my hot tub shed. There's no way I could have made the necessary three 90 degree turns otherwise. Heck probably not even one.
 

Jessie.slimer

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@Holbs Well, you may be right, but my experiences with Mr. Murphy have convinced me to be very conservative when assessing risks like this. A buried cable is far less likely to take a hit or surge from a strike, but the stuff in the barn or shed is a whole other problem and if it's electrically connected back to the house network......
I did not believe it when I was first told of the risks, so I spent some time researching it myself. I found documented cases of lighting damage to network equipment, and with my luck I'll be at Best Buy next week picking out new tvs.

Apparently as I understand it, the lightning does not hit the buried cable. It hits the ground somewhere nearby, radiates outward in the ground, finds my cable and hitches a low impedence ride to ground down my cable, through my poe switch, and radiates out from there.
 

th182

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I'll add to whatever cable you pull through the conduit... please install pull string with 10' slack at each pull point! you'll thank me later :)
Pulling cable through PVC can be a pain if you have too many 90 degree turns. I cringe when there are 4 or 5 PVC 90 degree turns even for a single cable.
I learned of the 360 rule. No more than 360 degrees in a pull length.. so only 4 90s, or 3 90s and 2 45s. If all the bends add up to more than 360 it’s too hard to pull.

I just ran more Ethernet to my shed this last weekend and ran into an issue where my pull string wrapped around an existing phone wire (used for alarm), it got bound up and I had to pull the alarm cable out with a new pull string behind it. Then all new cable.

I’ve never used “cable pulling lube” but plan to pick up a tube for the next time I need to do a run.


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I learned of the 360 rule. No more than 360 degrees in a pull length.. so only 4 90s, or 3 90s and 2 45s. If all the bends add up to more than 360 it’s too hard to pull.

I just ran more Ethernet to my shed this last weekend and ran into an issue where my pull string wrapped around an existing phone wire (used for alarm), it got bound up and I had to pull the alarm cable out with a new pull string behind it. Then all new cable.

I’ve never used “cable pulling lube” but plan to pick up a tube for the next time I need to do a run.


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in a pinch (though cable installers do not recommend) could use dish washing soap for lube.
 

looney2ns

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@Holbs, what is the correct way to protect cat 6 from possible induced surges in your experience?

He's in Illinois, and just like here, lightening can be a real bitch.

I would suggest bigger than 3/4" pvc. 1" minimum.
 

sebastiantombs

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His run seems broken up enough that 3/4 should be fine. In terms of AC that will handle at least four #6 conductors which would provide 50 amp service if needed. Going up from there 1-1/4" would handle #3 wire and give him 100 amp service capability.
 
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I have never gone fully 100% out on properly grounding or bonding an outdoor rated network cable :) When it comes to a couple hundred dollars worth of equipment, customers are advised we can only go so far with fuses and the rest would be up to hiring an electrician for the grounding/bonding portion. We would just use fuses at each end of the cable (either for digital/analog devices or IP devices). However, from what I've seen what they do is to have the drain wire from the network cable on 1 end (not both ends) bonded to a grounding bar which in itself is attached to a grounding bar. Notice, that green foil is not used for grounding/bonding purposes, only the drain wire (telecomm folks dispute this here & there, but we have never used foil for underground purposes...but do use often near 3phase machinery or industrial electronics. e customer has thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment at the other end, yes....we recommend fiber for that comfort and bandwidth purpose.

How I would run a burial rated Cat6 cable 150' in a home environment? Dig 12" down and install 1/2" PVC if mostly a straight line with only 45 -> 4" straight -> 45 sweeps at one end and 45 -> 4" straight -> 45 at the other end (never 90's), not 18", not 24", not 36". This is low voltage wiring, not 110 A/C so think 12v landscape lighting local codes. I would also put yellow warning tape a couple inches above the PVC pipe upon back filling to warn future folk of what's there. I would run only 1 network cable, not 2 or 3 or 4. If the PVC breaks, any number of cables in the pipe will all break so why bother with more than 1. If possible, each end the conduit does not pop out of the ground in outside environments but rather penetrating inside basement to shed, for example. If has to pop out on the outside, rides up side of shed or house about 3' (to where all the Charter or AT&T box heights are) and has a 4" box to end at. We always keep a following pull string with every pull. We use duct seal (kinda of like silly putty) at each end of the conduit to prevent critters getting in.
Option 1: cheap method is to use those ethernet fuse blocks at each end (we do this often) as the customer dictates the end result.
Option 2: slap in a 8' deep ground rod at one end and attach the drain wire to it (or to a grounding bar that is attached to the grounding rod. We do this seldom, but have assisted the electrician while doing it.
Option 3: shielded patch cords, shielded patch panel, shielded switches....you get the idea. Well out of the home DIY budget for sure. Only have done this once.

We take care of a ski lodge up in the Sierra Mountains which gets billions and billions of lighting strikes due to the elevation and storm fronts, for both voice & data. In the beginning, their local maintenance guy ran/buried all the wiring without grounding used. Lots of blown analog/digital station cards in their phone system a year. He retired, new guy comes in and asks us why cards get blown. We showed him example of non-grounded Cat 3 25 pair burial cable. He hired electrician to go around to each cable and properly ground with option 2 above. Has not blown a fuse or card in the last 10 years.

I currently have that Dahua weather camera along with my weather station on a 12' pole, 100% not grounded at all connected to my $1000 Ubiuiti POE switch. I'm ok with it but will be slapping in a ethernet fuse block just in case.

Grounding home DIY personal electrical equipment is like dust collection for wood working. Some get by with a wet/dry vac, some get by with a 1HP single bag dust collector, some get by with a 3HP dual filtered dust collector (like myself), some get by with those $2000 cyclone dust collection systems.
 
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Jessie.slimer

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Trenching is done. Gluing and dropping the pipe in tomorrow. I'm planning to feed the wire as I glue. Went with 3/4" and will use 6 12awg wires for one conduit, and an assortment of low voltage wires for the other conduit. This will be for a few LED lights and a few outlets for tool battery chargers, fans, etc. And of course a nano and POE injector.20200812_083222.jpg20200812_091955.jpg

Some trencher porn :lmao:

 
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reflection

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not sure what gauge your low voltage lines will be, but typical 12 or 14 AWG won't work very well over 200ft for DC low voltage. Your lights will get dim. Place your transformer closer to where your lights will be. Instead of pulling the low voltage line, pull another 8/2 or 6/2 for an addition 120VAC circuit.

I would go with a larger conduit that 3/4" if you are going to have multiple 8/2 or 6/2 runs.
 
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