Need a LAN drop in my home office located in a barn behind my house

[NTscriptor]

I need to connect my internal home network (cat 5, wall jacks, 8 port hub) to a business office now located about 100 feet from my house. What cabling system should I use. I need 10/100 speed and am willing to dig a trench or string wire if necessary.

 

[MasterRacker]

If you're only 100 feet away, Cat5 cable will work fine.&nbsp;&nbsp;I've never seen outdoor grade Cat5 so I don't know if it's available.&nbsp;&nbsp;You could try burying it in sealed PVC tubing.&nbsp;&nbsp;(Bury it below frost line if you're in a northern climate.)&nbsp;&nbsp;You may want to think about using Shielded Cat5 so you can ground the shield. (A long outdoor run will be subject to some EM interference from nearby lightning.) <p> Jeff<br><a href=mailto: masterracker@hotmail.com> masterracker@hotmail.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> Of all the things I've lost in life, I miss my mind the most ...

 

[RMG]

The only problem using STP Cat5 is the interference or noise that could affect your communications. I'd suggest UTP Cat5 thru PVC tubing like MasterRacker said.

 

[2ffat]

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cat 5 cable can come in several different jackets. PVC and plenum are two of the most common. The big difference is that PVC can give off toxic fumes when burned. It is also cheaper. Plenum has a teflon coating and is usually used between floors in a building. I've also seen Cat 5 cable jacketed for burial ($$$$$) but the company that sold it has been bought out and I haven't seen it since. See if you can find a contractor how has experience with laying cables. <p>James P. Cottingham<br><a href=mailto: > </a><br><a href=

http://www.ivcusa.com>International

Veneer Co., Inc.</a><br>All opinions are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

 

[johnnyg]

You may know most of this already, but just in case...<br><br>When pulling the cable through the tubing, make sure you use lubricant. There is a special lube that professional cabling installers use every time they pull wires through a pipe. Also, pull more than one cable through. If it were me, I'd pull 3 or 4 -- but at the very least pull 2 through. Multiple cables tend to protect & help each other survive the pull. This means you are in the market for a 500' or 1000' spool. If there is a Graybar or other commercial electronics distributor in your area, see if you can get advice from someone there on pulling cable--this might mean you need to buy the cable from them.<br><br>You can get away with non-standard practices with 10 Mbps wiring installations, but at 100 Mbps, there will not be room for errors. The most common that I have witnessed:<br><br>- interference from the 110 power lines or extension cords<br>- kinked wires will work at 10 Mbps, but fail with long runs at 100 Mbps<br>- too much untwisting when crimping on the RJ45 connectors<br>- damage due to stretching during the pull (no lubricant used)<br><br>Good luck

 

[kcottrcdd]

There are several manufacturers of Cat5 outdoor cable. Unfortunately the only ones that I have seen and used are 25 pair. You will only need 4 pairs for your network connection. But maybe some of the other pairs could be used for a network printer, phone, fax, or modem line. The ends of the cable should be terminated with appropriate lightning protection devices. Check with Anixter or Graybar. [sig][/sig]

 

[Pritch5000]

Hey.
1. Outdoor Cat5 is available. It comes looking pretty much like cat5 except that it has a thick PVC sheath, shielded or unshielded. If you buy it shielded you can ground the shield making it a better solution.
2. Running metal cable between buildings with difference earthing levels can be hazardous, you may be inadvertantly earthing one building into the other! Bad.
3. Speak to a cable retail specilist company (email me for a shortish list of British firms), you buy it by the metre (or foot) on a reel. Buy it twice and lay both runs slightly apart for redundancy, you don't want to do this again! Buy each considerably longer than you expect it to be, you don't want to pay for it again!
Buy the right plugs for the job, or buy it pre-terminated at extra cost.
4. Think about using patch-panels. This cable is not intended for plugging-unplugging-plugging-unplugging. Protect your investment, protect the terminations.
5. Dig it deep, this will depend, in part, on the use of the grounds. You never want to find this cable unintentionally, if its a garden and all you'd do with it is fork it over then it should be over a fork-prong deep. Try to follow natural perimeters or edges.
6. You do own the land, right? You'll need permission or a long dark night to do it otherwise, go for the Winter Solstice!
7. Think about running fibre. Speak to the cable retail specialist company (See point 3.). Buy it pre-terminated, if you've any sense(!) and DO use fibre patch-panels, essential. You may be suprised how cheap and pliable fibre is. If you need 100Mbps this really might be a good idea for you. Think about point 2.
8. Anyway Cat 5 is dead and buried, now. Cat5e can theoretically give you upto 155Mbps. Perhaps you could use Cat5e at both ends with a fibre backbone, nice.
9. Or you could wait for Cat6 to be ratified and see what goodies that brings, as it will surely make Cat5e obsolete.
10. Print this out and use it as reading material in the Gents.
Good luck.
Pritch.
pritch5000@altavista.com [sig][/sig]

 

[Shisya]

Please tell me how to connect N-type Terminator to a thickNet Cable
Thanks in Advance... [sig][/sig]

 

[SkeeterEater]

I personally would never connect two buildings together with any metal wire. Cisco who is the diffinitave on networking and they explicitly state using Fiber between two buildings. Thus insuring that you won't fry your hardware due to the difference in the earthing levels of the two buildings.

PS save down time and money by spending a little money.

For more information goto

http://www.techweb.com

find the Dictionary and search on networking or goto

http://www.cisco.com

or

 

[JimIssI]

If your only traveling 100', why not use wireless? If you have a visible line of sight between buildings you can use wireless LAN or infrared technology. Either will work well and elliminate the potential problems of cable. The issues of lightning, static charges as well as moisture are all valid. In addition, the longevity will far outpace any buried cable. If you do opt for cable or fiber, rigid metalic conduit is your best choice. The metalic conduit will provide enhanced shielding and increase the longevity over PVC.

Jim

 

[Pritch5000]

If you are considering wireless, bear in mind it is shamelessly expensive and data throughput is shamelessly low, 2Mbps if I remember rightly.
Also you may have line-of-sight but it should be high enough to avoid anything like trucks and tractors.
Wireless isn't really a first choice in my book.
Pritch.

 

[Nocturnal]

but come again, 2mbps is enough for a home office.

 

[Jon80FLT]

I have a similar situation where I have two buildings about 100' apart. Right now I have an RG/58 (10Base2) coax cable between the buildings. It works ok, but I had some problems with a corroded connection so I looked into a wireless solution.

I got the Lynksys WAP11. It claims that it will connect at 11Mbps (faster than 10BaseT) upto 1640' outdoors. See the info here:

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=157&grid=19

I was disappointed with this device.

I only had one wall between me and the WAP11 (I had the WAP11 in a window). At about 50' I had 90% signal, at 100' (right outside the building) I had about 60% signal, just on the otherside of the wall (standard wood stud) I had ZERO signal! I'm going to return the device and continue with my coax soultion.

Does anyone know how fast 10Base2 runs?

Good Luck,
Jon

 

[MasterRacker]

The '10' in 10Base2 says it. It is a 10Mbps connection. Keep in mind that 10Base2 is just like 10BaseT when using hubs. In other words, it is a shared bandwidth solution. For a few machines this may be enough if you're just doing basic things. I would at least look at a 10Mbps switch or a 10/100Mbps hub. If you're going to the effort of doing anything at all you want at least of couple of years out of it.

A 4 port 100Mb switch can be had for under $100.00 but then you need 100Mb NICs and all wiring and components would then need to be up to CAT5 standards.

I would disagree with Nocturnal. 10Mb shared is the absolute minimum I woud find acceptable for any kind of LAN. Just because you're at home doesn't mean your time is any less valuable.
Jeff
masterracker@hotmail.com

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