Outdoor Cable part 2

M

Metraon

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
307
Not so long ago, I made a thread about installing outdoor shielded twisted pairs between buildings.

http://www.jack2rack.com/cat5e-bulk...ted-stp-outdoor-w-messenger-cable-1000ft.html

The Bell Aliant Tech who installed everything (off his working hours) ,told the non-profit (I am helping them, time to time) that there would be no problems as the cable is shielded, so it was protected from everything. Most of you foresaw the inevitable, I builded my case and strongly recommended installing fiber.

They refused to go with fiber last year when I gave them my report, I let them sign some discharge papers because I wanted no part in this installation, and that the fiscal advantages plus "salary" was not worth the eventual problems I would have with them.

So the non-profit decided to wire about 500-600 ft of cat5e (aerial) between buildings, there was a huge thunderstorm (the non-profit is located in the woods) and I received a call 2 weeks ago that about the equipment having problems. I went on site the day after and most of the equipment now have 2-3 "burned" ports. One of the switch does not power cycle, the only networking gear that is still functioning is the modem.

Turns out that also that the outdoor cables were directly connected to the equipment with simple rj45 jacks. The equipment is not under warranty because its used and the Bell Aliant tech is not answering is cellphone for service. My guess is that he wanted to make some quick money.

They decided to install fiber next year, and throw the equipment away and start fresh. I think the moral of this story is that peer-review is awesome, back off when you really dont want to do something and dont hesitate to ask questions when you dont know something.
 
The outdoor cable was terminated with standard rj45 jacks then plugged in the networking equipment. As for the drain wire, it was inside the jack and rolled over the pairs, exceeding about 1 inch of the jack and was just standing there.
 
Wow, just wow. Outdoor arial cable with no protection? That's terrible. There is a reason that everything from the phone company goes through a protector at the service entrance...

You would figure that the tech would at least have known, he may have not cared, but known.

Even a grounded shielded RJ-45 plug wouldn't have had much effect, only a "gas" protector would really save anything. That's what I've used in the past and they save a lot.
 
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Yup, this is exactly why shielded cable is not the magic cure-all some seem to think it is. Code in most locations requires a shield drain (ground the shield) before entering the building on one end. Even if it wasn't lightning, different electrical potentials in different buildings could have had some gnarly voltages moving down the cable.

Also why you don't let phone guys wire your network.
 
RocketTech said:
Yup, this is exactly why shielded cable is not the magic cure-all some seem to think it is. Code in most locations requires a shield drain (ground the shield) before entering the building on one end. Even if it wasn't lightning, different electrical potentials in different buildings could have had some gnarly voltages moving down the cable.

Also why you don't let phone guys wire your network.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm glad OP walked away from this one in the beginning. Not using protected entrances to the building is asking for some major problems. I install PBX's and this would have been an instant red flag. Dangerous to work on too.
 
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