Running Cat5 outside

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cldlr76

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#36554 28-Jun-2009 11:07

Hi,

I need to get some cat 5 cable from one end of the house to the other, but I don't have access to the ceiling cavity or under the house. I was thinking I would just run it through some PVC conduit to protect it from the weather, would that be alright?
Also I already have some conduit in place for outdoor speaker cable and wires controlling watering solenoids, with enough room to run the cat5 as well but would there be any interference if I did that? and would it make any difference if I used sheilded or unsheilded cable.

Thanks

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#228912 28-Jun-2009 12:19

I have zero qualification on this matter but im pretty sure cat5 would last a while outside even not if in conduit, the sun destroying the plastic coating would be the biggest worry.
But if in conduit with speaker wire it should be fine unless its right next to mains power cables for a long distance.
I think you'd be fine with UTP cable also (unshielded) - but refer to my first sentence.

tonyhughes

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#228923 28-Jun-2009 13:28

No sharp bends (check Cat5 specs - its not just cabling, its how its installed), best to have it in some piping - that will provide easy protection and it should last a long time. No problem running it outside.

Side note: a friend runs his sleepout connection on about 30 metres of Cat5e hung from rafter to rafter with a pole in the middle. lol

askelon

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#228925 28-Jun-2009 13:35

I used to run it at my old place between the garage and the house. Ran it along the fence. Used to replace it about every 12 months..

kevthesparky

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#229025 28-Jun-2009 20:44

run cat 5 in conduit, if you dont the blue sheathing goes brittle over time and eventually breaks away exposing the inner cores, running next to speaker should be ok and i assume the solenoid is extra low voltage so that should be ok aswell. there is special cat5 cable out there for external situations but it is costly.

cldlr76

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#229034 28-Jun-2009 21:04

Thanks for the replies. Is anyone able to confirm if sheilded or unsheilded would make much difference?

kevthesparky

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#229041 28-Jun-2009 21:23

unsheilded should be fine. I have heard of tests carried out on standard unshielded cat 5 rapped around a power cable drawing 70amps and the cat 5 not missing a beat of data transmission. Not that I would install that any where anytime soon hahaha.

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cyril7

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#229083 29-Jun-2009 08:06

Unless you live nearby (<1km) to a major (>50kW) VHF broadcast transmission site, that in NZ only exist on top of a few big hills, then shielding is of little to no benefit. Infact unless you take care you can create earth loops that do more damage to signal performance.

Standard solid cat5e in conduit is fine, speakers and SELV water control are no worries, 802.3 signalling has no spectral components below low MHz, and the coupling transformers on the recievers are deliberately designed to have little of no response below 100-300kHz or so, therefore interference from 50Hz mains, audio etc is normally not an issue. What can be an issue is switch mode power supplies, some of these, especially cheaper ones to power 12V Halogen lighting can produce hash well into the early MHz, so avoid these, and ideally avoid coupling to power cables driving these by 300mm. The standards require 50mm clearance of LV(50-1000V) for safety and 300mm for interference mitigation of this type.

If the conduit is to go underground then use polyethylene sheathed gel flooded cat5, because sure as eggs water will get into conduit, and if PVC sheathed cat5 is left sitting in water for any period it will absorb water which will change the dielectric properties of the twisted pairs, which will cause packet loss. If the cable is all above ground then standard PVC cat5 in conduit is fine, but I normally ensure that at a low point of the conduit there is a downward pointing drain, so if any water does get it it will not sit for any period. As Kev said along with absorbing water, PVC will also break down if exposed to UV, which in NZ we have lots of, so again you need conduit.

If you want outdoor cat5e (polyethylene sheathed gel filled) then I have 400m or so in the garage, PM if you want some, normally you can only buy it by the 500m lot. Polyethylene sheathing will happily live in the outdoors, sitting in water and UV and not breakdown, if it should get knicked by accident then the gel will stop water ingress and movement.

Cyril

redjet

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#229099 29-Jun-2009 08:54

Go to Mitre10 and buy a standard garden hose and feed the cable through it. It will be sure to withstand the elements and is probably the cheapest option.

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exportgoldman

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#229145 29-Jun-2009 11:03

I was always under the understanding that you couldn't run cat5 or any cables carrying electricity between building as it was a earth risk/grounding/something to do with lightning, which is why we always ran fibre between outdoor buildings.

Not a electrician, didn't really pay too much attention just remember it was bad, but for what you are doing it should be fine :)

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old3eyes

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#229172 29-Jun-2009 12:43

cat5 is low voltage so i don't see the problem..

Regards,

Old3eyes

cyril7

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#229313 29-Jun-2009 19:28

I was always under the understanding that you couldn't run cat5 or any cables carrying electricity between building as it was a earth risk/grounding/something to do with lightning, which is why we always ran fibre between outdoor buildings.

Not a electrician, didn't really pay too much attention just remember it was bad, but for what you are doing it should be fine :)

This is not always true, it all depends on what you are conveying across the cat5 (4 100ohm twisted pairs). If ethernet then its not an issue, 802.3 uses isolation transformers as part of the interface that offers some 1500V or more of common mode isolation, quite simply from an earth differential point of view this is not a problem. Most telecom applications have similar isolation provisions.

My comment regards earth loops related to shielded cables, if you only earth one end of the shield (standard practice) then no problems.

As for lightning protection, any circuit that is exposed to the great outdoors is potentially prone to this, however in general NZ has very low strike rates compared to other countries (more importantly continents), that said arieal exposed interbuilding connections in prone environs should have secondry lighting protection devices (gas arrestors and transorbes) in place, again standard practice.

All that said connecting buildings for 802.3 services via underground or overhead cat5 cables is common, by and large hassle free and normally not an issue.

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cldlr76

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#229343 29-Jun-2009 20:43

Thanks for all the advice and the offer of the polyethylene sheathed gel filled cat5 Cyril. It's not going underground so i'll stick with the standard cat5 in conduit. Most of the run is under a deck anyway so is a little bit sheltered from the weather anyway. I was mostly worried about water getting in and then blowing up my network switch or something, so I will follow your advice and put a drain hole in a low point of the conduit.

cyril7

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#229354 29-Jun-2009 21:02

Hi, if you glue the joints (standard PVC plumbers cement) and put a suitable drain then you will never have issues, just ensure if it gets in it has an out, also dont forget to fit all together as a complete system before gluing, its the last thing.

Cheers
Cyril

jjnz1

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#229424 30-Jun-2009 08:02

exportgoldman:

I was always under the understanding that you couldn't run cat5 or any cables carrying electricity between building as it was a earth risk/grounding/something to do with lightning, which is why we always ran fibre between outdoor buildings.

Not a electrician, didn't really pay too much attention just remember it was bad, but for what you are doing it should be fine :)

haha, how do we get power to stand-alone garages then? There is no such risk, as long as you connect the power according to electricial regulations.

Most companies, including the ministry of education now specify that any data connection between buildings must be in 100mm/70mm conduit and be of OM3 fibre. This is just to future proof things i guess, as technology is always improving, with faster speeds.

richms

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#229442 30-Jun-2009 09:00

The garden hose idea isnt advisable IMO - the last hose I had here that was outside broke down and cracked within a year - there may be better luck with the premium ones but why bother when you can do it properly for the same effort and not have to revisit it later on.

Richard rich.ms

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