PoE Surge Protection?

Mav44

n3wb
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Hello. I'm working on getting a few cameras set up around my property, and I've run into the issue of surge protection. Specifically protection from lightning. I know that there are no guarantees with lightning, but I'd like to give my system the best chance possible. I'm going to have 4 outdoor cameras. One attached to the outside of my house, two mounted 30ft up a utility pole about 75 yards from the house, and one mounted on a metal building about 200 ft away. The Ethernet is buried in conduit. What is the best way to protect this system against lightning strikes? Mainly, I'm concerned about fire risk in the house. Losing the cameras would suck, but not as much as a house fire. I've seen those lightning arresters on Amazon from companies like DITEK and Tupavco, and those usually have a ground wire that you can attach to the ground wire in a power outlet. Can you attach multiple to a single outlet's ground? How about on the camera end where there isn't an outlet nearby? Also, won't creating a second ground point, or grounding to another building's ground point cause issues?

I'm not super up to date on this kind of stuff, so you might have to keep your answers dumbed down a bit. Thanks in advance!
 

TonyR

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I recommend the Ubiquiti ETH-SP.
  • Install one at base of the pole where a camera is installed and one outside where the cable from that camera enters the building.
  • I drive 2 ground rods, one at the base of the camera pole and one at the house entrance.
  • At the pole, tie the ground strap on the ETH-SP to the pole and to the ground rod
  • At the house tie the ground strap on the ETH-SP to the ground rod.
  • Use STP (shielded) cable on all runs EXCEPT where going from the ETH-SP into the building to your LAN.
Unlike the picture below from Ubiquiti, I do not use a shielded (STP) cable from the ETH-SP into the house; I drew a red X on their image where shielded cable is depicted by the blue shield with a lightning bolt; I do NOT want to tie 2 exterior ground rods via a CAT-5 shield to a grounded POE injector or switch housing that is tied to the grounding pin on the power plug. That would tie those 2 rods to my house ground and possibly create ground loop type problems. The camera on my post is powered via POE and the intent of the grounding system on MY system is to A) protect my OUTDOOR camera by diverting ESD from nearby lighting strikes to the earth and B) protect my INDOOR network devices by diverting ESD from nearby lighting strikes to the earth and NOT provide a possible pathway via the shield into my house should the ESD not be sent to earth adequately.

Ubiquiti_ESD_Protection_no-STP-to-LAN.jpg

Below is an image of the system I've had in place for a bluebird box on a T-pole with a camera on it for 3 years this coming spring. All the CAT-5e is shielded EXCEPT the one going from the ETH-SP at the house going inside to my POE injector. Note the legend at the bottom left of the image.

birdcam_shield.jpg
 
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