Wireless network question

[BiggestNizzy]

I would be tempted to stick 6 cables at least down you never know how many you will need.

[robin]

Sure, but that's 250m more cable than he needs for the job; the tubes have nylon ropes to pull through more cables later, so not sure I would blow the cash on the extra cable that will probably never get wired up.

Cheers,
Robin

[mckeann]

yeh, i was just about to say that you can use the old cable or put a rope in it so you can pull another cable through the conduit if the first one breaks

[Tom]

Armour is for direct burial.

Normal cable should work OK in a plastic tube, provided it's a continuous run of tubing or any unions are water tight. Are you using an electrician to do the mains side of it (please say yes!).
If you don't use armoured/shielded mains cable you will get hum on the telephone line if it's lying too close to the mains cable; the longer the parallel run, the more cross talk. So you would need to test 50 meters of it above ground (in the plastic tubes) and see what sort of noise you get, then keep increasing distance between cables until hum goes away or is quiet enough not to care.
It's very common to run telephone and data/ethernet on the same cabling infrastructure so I think you can run telephone up and ethernet back on a single cat 5 cable. If you can afford two cat 5 runs, then you might as well put telephone on one and data on the other leaving plenty of spare pairs for future expansion.
You have my number if you need to talk it through.

Cheers,
Robin

Thanks Robin

Would you mind PMing me your home number? I get free landline calls to the UK

The mains cable is 32A (6mm) armoured cable. Given the cost of the armoured Cat5 I might just about about stretch to two runs, but even that might be overkill (as I'd then have 8 pairs) so I'm not sure. What would I need 6 runs for? I can't even imagine the level of internet use that would require that (I don't download music/films etc. and only really use email and forums).

Is this stuff likely to fail? If the only real risk is damage from the outside (ie a digger) then the electricity will also be screwed.

Am I also right in saying that joining electricity cable is not the end of the world, but phone/ethernet really needs to be 1 uninterrupted length?

[wheelie]

I wouldn't bother with the armoured stuff. As Robin says the screened cable will help with cross talk, but if you can separate the runs sufficiently the standard cable will be fine. As you are extending mains from the main building you shouldn't have any differential earthing issues either.

If you do have cable damage due to something sharp and you have a pull rope in the pipe you can always pull another cable if the run is straight.

We have used the following as external non buried cable at Nevis Range, and it is still going after 6 winters
http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/acatalog/c ... cable.html

Useful info here:
http://www.connectixcablingsystems.com/ ... m?item=261

Separation from power, safety & interference
Regulations stipulate that low voltage cabling will have a minimum 50mm
separation from power cables unless the power is contained within conduit.
Interference can be a concern however for the applications considered there is no
need to use shielded Cat5e cable or components. The following good practices
should be observed at both design and installation time:
o Maintain 300mm separation between power and Cat5e cables.
o Cat5e cables and power cables cross at 90 degrees to each other.
o Keep parallel runs of Cat5e and power cable as short as possible.
o Avoid running data cables close to fluorescent light fittings.

Drop me a PM if you don't want to register on the Connectix site & I will mail you the guidelines to domestic cable doc.

Cheers

Dave

[robin]

PM sent. Pikee. I'm in the telephone book, BTW

[Tom]

I wouldn't bother with the armoured stuff. As Robin says the screened cable will help with cross talk, but if you can separate the runs sufficiently the standard cable will be fine. As you are extending mains from the main building you shouldn't have any differential earthing issues either.

If you do have cable damage due to something sharp and you have a pull rope in the pipe you can always pull another cable if the run is straight.

We have used the following as external non buried cable at Nevis Range, and it is still going after 6 winters
http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/acatalog/c ... cable.html

Useful info here:
http://www.connectixcablingsystems.com/ ... m?item=261

Separation from power, safety & interference
Regulations stipulate that low voltage cabling will have a minimum 50mm
separation from power cables unless the power is contained within conduit.
Interference can be a concern however for the applications considered there is no
need to use shielded Cat5e cable or components. The following good practices
should be observed at both design and installation time:
o Maintain 300mm separation between power and Cat5e cables.
o Cat5e cables and power cables cross at 90 degrees to each other.
o Keep parallel runs of Cat5e and power cable as short as possible.
o Avoid running data cables close to fluorescent light fittings.

Drop me a PM if you don't want to register on the Connectix site & I will mail you the guidelines to domestic cable doc.

Cheers

Dave

Thanks for the info

I didn't realise you worked at Nevis Range. I worked there as a liftie for 3 seasons about 10 years ago (in fact it's where I met my wife so we have fond memories of the place).

Is the first cable in your link shielded (with foil)? Do I need to get FTP/UTP stuff?

Non-armoured would be better as it's a lot cheaper. Might buy a 305m reel and fit more runs.

[wheelie]

I didn't realise you worked at Nevis Range. I worked there as a liftie for 3 seasons about 10 years ago (in fact it's where I met my wife so we have fond memories of the place).

I'm up there once a year to support the network for http://fortwilliamworldcup.co.uk/ and we did some of their LAN install. It is a bit of a challenge providing enough data for 200+ journos and organisers in a carpark, when you are too far from the telephone exchanges for onsite broadband.

Is the first cable in your link shielded (with foil)? Do I need to get FTP/UTP stuff?

The link is for unshielded. UTP is Unshielded Twisted Pair, FTP is foiled and STP shielded.

If you want a shielded version:
http://www.comms-express.com/products/c ... 305mt-box/
This should be grounded at the house end.

Cheers

[robin]

If you plan to keep 300mm between mains and data then UTP cables are all you need.

Cheers,
Robin

[Tom]

Thread resurrection time. And apologies for all the questions I'm not very good at this

Question now is how does an Ethernet Switch work? ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-FS605-S ... 396&sr=1-2 ).

Currently we have 3 wireless zones on the network. The main wireless ADSL router is in one of the gites (where the phoneline enters the property), with the two other zones being Wireless Access Points plugged into the Ethernet ports on the main router.

Can I plug the Ethernet Switch into a port on the back of the ADSL router, and then plug the WAPs into the Switch?

This is with the aim of still having 3 separate wireless zones that all have internet access at the same time.

Also, what's the limit to the number of devices that could connect to this setup without jamming/crashing it.

And will the spare ports on the Ethernet Switch connect to the internet if connected with a patch cable (LAN)?

Picture below to hopefully make it clearer

[BiggestNizzy]

Yes

[Tom]

Yes

My favourite type of answer

Didn't want to buy the switch and then find it wouldn't work

Cheers

[Sanjøy]

That's how I am setup at home too big boy.

Next you need to get one of the routers to VPN to the Uk so that it presents a Uk IP and then you can throw a vodafone suresignal box on it and have your own mini Uk call transmitter with a 15m range for £20!

[BiggestNizzy]

Next you need to get one of the routers to VPN to the Uk so that it presents a Uk IP and then you can throw a vodafone suresignal box on it and have your own mini Uk call transmitter with a 15m range for £20!

Sounds ace, but how do you do it ? MY parents spend alot of time in Cyprus and my old dear misses her soaps. How do you set it us so she can get iplayer ?

[Sanjøy]

Next you need to get one of the routers to VPN to the Uk so that it presents a Uk IP and then you can throw a vodafone suresignal box on it and have your own mini Uk call transmitter with a 15m range for £20!

Sounds ace, but how do you do it ? MY parents spend alot of time in Cyprus and my old dear misses her soaps. How do you set it us so she can get iplayer ?

For cypress it is easy, you head for the high street and find the nearest linieker bar!
Google for iplayer vpns plenty of commercial services. Mate got one for a month in france for £5. Mixed result but prob his connection in the mountains.