Grounding/Bonding underground lines

[melbs1]

Have had a 0 x 32 get fried twice in 19 months - figured it was a bad ground in the electrical wiring in that room but that was not the case.
Possible that the 25 pair cables going to the other building could have been the avenue to power surge(?) - I haven't worked on grounding and bonding lines before - the only other issue that I considered was the Tripplite Isobar power strip the system was plugged into is probably 15 years old.

Welcome Any suggestions or ideas on grounding/bonding lines or other possible reasons - thanks

 

[curlycord]

You should search and post this in the cable forum as it has a few threads on this.

Note:
What type of 25 pr cable? and if above or under ground.
What was the circumstance that knocked the system out? T-storm? Blackout?
What exactly is fried on the the 0X32? stations ports? line ports? power supply?

FYI - Power Supply's are field replaceable.

Instead of a power bar have only the 0X32 & Voice Mail plugged into an APC UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply, then plug it into the wall direct (no power bars).





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[darthvader167]

Get amphenol grounding block

 

[melbs1]

Thanks.

1st time was a car hit a transformer nearby - it fried 16 station ports on main cab and an 0x16 as well

2nd time was t'storm and a power outage for the entire block or more. It took out the power for the main cabinet but was a motherboard issue, replacing power supply did not fix. also fried an 0x16 this time as well. They have 6 of them.

After the first time I installed an APC UPS for all the equipment, but somehow the unit was not utilized.


darth, I'm not familiar with amphenol grounding block. why do you recommend it?

 

[darthvader167]

If there is ungrounded underground copper cable (such as an RJ-21 amphenol/25-pair), then you have a big risk of damage such as you have experienced.
I don't know if the APC UPS that you have has this (most do), but there are usually 2 RJ-11 telephone jacks on UPS's that are used exactly for the purpose that you want; to ground the wires from lightning/power surges. They have usually 1 IN feed for the telephone wire and 1 OUT feed. Since the power feed to your system is not the problem (since it's behind a grounded UPS), then the telephone cable is obviously the culprit.
You should get a telephone grounding strip of some sort such as the pre-installed one on the UPS.
hope this helps

 

[darthvader167]

Do a Google Search for "telephone grounding connector" and see the image results.
I've attached 2 photos of grounding connectors to this post as well.

DISCLAIMER: these are not my photos, simply found them on Google Search. I don't claim any ownership/rights to these photographs.

 

[allworxguy]

After the first time I installed an APC UPS for all the equipment, but somehow the unit was not utilized.


Doesn't work very well if you don't use it.

Marv ccna

 

[darthvader167]

Ya, the only way to prevent such future incidents of frying hardware, he needs to properly ground the underground cable.
Btw: +melbs1, if you don't want to waste money on old phone grounding equipment and are looking to have a more future-proof setup, bury some fiber-optic cable. Fiber is not conductive, so there would be no need to install grouding/lightning arrestors/ligthning protection and you could use it for many other purposes (e.g. to transmit massive amounts of data). Fiber is better since you can change the phone system to something more modern if you don't already have a network connection in the other building and are looking to modernize. I recommend the Grandstream UCM phone system if you're looking into VOIP. With fiber there is no need to worry about lightning protection.
thx

 

[curlycord]

I think your best with Lightening Protection units on both ends of the 25 pair feed between buildings and from the carriers feed from the street to the building.

If their is a ground wire or metal sheath inside inside the 25 pair then make sure it is simply grounded at each end.





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[libellis]

Don't know where you're located, but for places covered under the National Electrical Code (NEC) in the U.S. (just about everywhere), suitable primary protectors for the copper pairs, are required at both ends. Not having primary protectors is a code violation. Likely the same in Canada.

There are various models of Building Entrance Terminals (such as the one in the link provided by Curlycord) to accommodate different physical (e.g. space) and connection (e.g. 110, 66) scenarios, but you'll have to choose Primary Protector Modules for them as suited to the application (in this case Norstar station ports). The Circa Telecom model is pictured without any protector modules plugged into it - you'd need 25 modules that plug into that "matrix" area in the center. To be effective (and code compliant) the entrance terminal has to be properly bonded to a good ground.

If you provide additional detail about the termination points of the 25-pair cable, either here or in the cabling forum, it's possible that you can get some help in choosing a terminal and protector modules that would fit your physical and termination requirements/constraints.