Question Ethernet to Shed

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Tommy68

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Apr 15, 2019
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Hi all

I'm looking to run an ethernet cable to my outside shed. I've already got electricity there, via armoured cabling along the base of the garden fence, and the idea is to attach the ethernet cable alongside it.

Can you recommend a high quality shielded Ca6 cable, is there a best one I should get?

Thanks all.
 
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Normally you do not want to run ethernet wire anywhere near electrical because of the interference. It is also a electrical code violation in most areas.....this is a safety thing not so much a function thing,

Since the electrical wire is in a armored conduit it likely is ok. The armor will protect from contact as well as reduce any interference.

I would look for cat5e direct bury outdoor cable. This is designed for direct contact with the ground and sun. Both will damage the plastic in normal ethernet cable and then water can mess stuff up.

Cat6 cable buys you nothing extra you would use cat6a if you were going to run 10gbit. I also would avoid shielded cable especially when going between buildings. The shield must be grounded properly and if it is not it actually makes things worse. In addition when you have remote building you increase your risk of different ground levels so you run the increase risk of a ground loop. That also causes issues with your equipment..... this was the hum you used to hear in old audio cables. It is just not worth all the difficultly installing it properly when the benefit is almost non existent.

Key things to watch out for is fake cable. The main fake cable you find in outdoor cable is CCA cable. You want pure copper cable. You also need to be sure the wire size is 22-24 but I have not see outdoor cable that was that crappy flat cable with the tiny wires.
 
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bill001g said:
Normally you do not want to run ethernet wire anywhere near electrical because of the interference. It is also a electrical code violation in most areas.....this is a safety thing not so much a function thing,

Since the electrical wire is in a armored conduit it likely is ok. The armor will protect from contact as well as reduce any interference.

I would look for cat5e direct bury outdoor cable. This is designed for direct contact with the ground and sun. Both will damage the plastic in normal ethernet cable and then water can mess stuff up.

Cat6 cable buys you nothing extra you would use cat6a if you were going to run 10gbit. I also would avoid shielded cable especially when going between buildings. The shield must be grounded properly and if it is not it actually makes things worse. In addition when you have remote building you increase your risk of different ground levels so you run the increase risk of a ground loop. That also causes issues with your equipment..... this was the hum you used to hear in old audio cables. It is just not worth all the difficultly installing it properly when the benefit is almost non existent.

Key things to watch out for is fake cable. The main fake cable you find in outdoor cable is CCA cable. You want pure copper cable. You also need to be sure the wire size is 22-24 but I have not see outdoor cable that was that crappy flat cable with the tiny wires.
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Thanks so much for this Bill, I really appreciate the in-depth reply.

Could you perhaps, offer a direct link to an ethernet cable for me, please? I'm a bit unsure of what 'exactly' to spend my money on and I would appreciate someone pointing one out for me.

Thanks again!
 
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Linking you stuff is just blind luck since I don't know what country and you do not say how much length you need.

https://www.amazon.com/CablesOnline...et+cable&qid=1555326991&s=electronics&sr=1-11

This is one that I happened to find it is gel filled which is even better it can be run in water but you do not actually need gel filled. The key things to note is the able is pure copper and wire size is 24.

Lately home improvement stores have been selling outdoor direct bury cable so that may be a option also. Even so read the box do not buy CCA cable no matter what you do.
 
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Thanks Bill

I'm in the uk and I will need a cable of 50 metres. But as you say, the things I need to look out for is that they are entirely copper, and the wire size is 24.

I'm conidering this:

www.amazon.co.uk/GIGABIT-OUTDOOR-Ethernet-Network-EXTERNAL/dp/B009XSF20S

Interesting comment down below where someone asks if it is pure copper and the reply was 'yes'.

This though, seems to be the best as it maintains 10gb output beyond the 164 feet (50m) mark:

www.amazon.co.uk/CAT6A-Copper-Network-10GBASE-T-Ethernet-Lilac-Violet/dp/B00L476MNM

It's expensive but right now I have the money and it's future proof for a good while.

Would you recommend the last one if the money was available?

EDIT: This seems the same but £20 cheaper so I'm wondering what's the catch. It's shielded, but don't know if it is direct burial nor the wire size:

www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-Network-CAT6a-Ethernet-Shielded/dp/B00KY17NK0
 
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Normal cat6 cable is known to work at 10bgit at 50 meters. This is one of those things everyone knows works BUT it is not a certified use. There is no standard for anything but 100 meter cables. It "should" work but this is one of those until you take a expensive certification meter and test the cable you can't actually say it does work.

The cat6a cable you list is not designed for outdoor use. They do make it but the 2 example you list are not outdoor cable.

The other option is to run some form of plastic pipe or conduit you can then use indoor ethernet cable. A trick that works when you are running just a single ethernet cable is to use drip irrigation tubing to protect it. Since it is designed to keep water IN and it designed to be buried it will work good to protect the cable. The question will be is it cheaper to buy the direct bury ethernet. I did it because we had boxes of indoor ethernet cable laying around already.
 
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Thanks all.

I couldn't find any ethernet cables on the dlink website.

But I think I have found a suitable ethernet cable on Amazon:

www.amazon.co.uk/CAT6a-Outdoor-Rated-Shielded-Screened/dp/B0773X8NST

All copper
Gel-filled
AWG 23
Shielded
Outdoor usage (HDP Insulation) they say (more suitable for being installed in the ground)

At least it seems to tick all the boxes. A bit wary of where it says "more suitable for being installed in the ground" though. Makes it sound like it's saying yes it's more suitable than product 'a' - but not as suitable that product 'b'. If you know what I mean.
 
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That will work. I would ignore the shielding because it makes terminating the cable a massive pain. I would just crimp standard ends on and if you actually get 10g equipment reterminate the cable. You may want to terminate it into keystone jacks rather than use ethernet rj45 anyway. Makes a cleaner install and it is actually easier for a new person to get a keystone done correctly that crimping on rj45 plugs.
 
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No it is just a pain to mess with the shields. Just strip them back and pretend they don't exist.

To be properly shielded you would have to run a wire from a ground rod to the jack and connect it to the shield. You are not allowed to use the ground wires in the electical wires it must be a independent ground wire. This needs to be done on both ends. This is unrealistic in a home installation it is normally only done in data centers. Not hooking the shield up is no worse than hooking it up incorrectly. Luckily the whole concept of needed shielding is mostly a scare tactic by cable vendors. Like the tire sales guy that sells snow tires to people where it snows once every hundred years.

Most shielded cable is used in applications where you want to prevent the ethernet signal from getting out and interfering rather than some signal getting in. Airplanes are one example but I know they use them in cell towers for some reason also.
 
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Ah, ok.

I don't know how to strip back the wires, so do you know if they sell cat6a direct burial that's unshielded? It took me a good couple of hours finding the above (shielded) cable, and I didn't recall seeing anything unshielded.
 
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I would not be too concerned it will work fine for your application. I think the foil is for cat6a even though I don't think the foil is required. Cat6a is still really only used in enterprise installs so you find much more shielded cable. I would try it and if you have issues then worry about grounding the shield. Interference in general is very rare and interference actually caused by the shield is also rare.

The price is really good for a gel filled cable. That is top of the line outdoor cable, most does not have the gel. It is very surprising it is cat6a for that price. It looks legit because of all the technical details in the advertisement.
 
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I don't watch video but this is really something you only learn by doing. You can feel when the wires properly seat into the rj45 plug. I would still use keystones instead and then buy short patch cables. Keystone you do 1 wire at a time and can pull it out and redo it if you mess up. They jacks are also color coded so it is almost impossible to do wrong.
 
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I'm going with the keystone plug as it looks much easier to deal with. What would I need altogether to set up keystone termination? Right now all I have is the cable.

I'll need keystone plugs

I've found this Cat6a patch panel: www.amazon.co.uk/deleyCON-12-port-network-panel-distributor/dp/B01LYBV1M1?th=1

I've watched YT vids on how to terminate them by hand and that part seems easy enough. But if there are tools you think would make my life easier, that would be appreciated.

Is the patch panel easy to set up? I'll have just the one cable so I assume that goes into the patch panel somehow.

EDIT: Can't find unshielded that's also direct burial
 
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It is kinda expensive to use a patch panel. Search for keystone and you will find what you need. Many are tool less design. The tool is called a punch down tool. Almost all modern equipment uses 110 blades but most tools have combo blades.

I would buy cat5e keystones. These are trivial to change when and if you ever get equipment that can run 10g. Might as well save some money now and by the time you need 10g stuff the price will have dropped a lot. 10g stuff is still very uncommon which makes it expensive.
 
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