Outdoor Cat5e cable question

Is there a 'Good, Bad, and Ugly' in the many different prices of so
called outdoor/external cat5e cable.

After doing a google search on the said cable, there are dozens, if not
hundreds of cat5e external cable links to many different sites. Each of
them have vastly ranging prices for the more or less the same cable.

I have notice that some vendors on ebay specify their cabling as solid
copper core as against aluminium clad copper. Also, some have double or
thicker sheathing.

Are their any recommendations on which type to use or which site to buy
from.

 

Get armoured cable. I had cat 5e to my garden office for about a year
until some animal decided it looked tasty and severed it.

Unfortunately I don't know where it was sourced, as my work paid for it

 

Armoured cable is a tad expensive for me, and I saw this one on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OUTDOOR-EXT...hernet/dp/B009U81EFI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

Product information on the above:

Suitable for all networking projects where cable length will traverse
outside of buildings, outbuildings, sheds, workshops etc. The secondary
PVC sleeve inside the weatherproof black housing offers double
protection from water ingress, extremes of temperature, stretching and
exposure associated with being buried in the ground. Cable is supplied
complete with RJ45 connectors at each end - plug in and go!

 

Nah, not really. If it's way cheap, it's probably too good to be true,
but otherwise they seem to be pretty randomly priced.

Never, ever touch the abomination that is copper-clad aluminium! It's
a nightmare, and doesn't crimp or punch well at all. I'd also expect
it to be brittle.

For external, if it's running through a fully waterproof conduit then
you can just use normal cat5e or cat6. If you're running it naked
through a trench or along an overhead wire then you'll want
external-grade cable - this means it'll have UV and waterproof
sheathing. You'll may also want armoured if you're burying it.

Haven't for ages, but I'd use Farnell, RS, or Screwfix type places.

Have you already looked at using a homeplug system, if that's a
suitable alternative?

Cheers - Jaimie

 

Around ten years ago, I ran a cat5e cable from my house, across the
neighbour's roof (with their permission!) to the next property. It's
normal, indoor stuff. It still gets the same 60Mbps download speed as I
get. If I was ever going to do something similar, in a domestic
situation, I'd do the same again.

Chris

 

I'd avoid aluminium, it's a purely cost cutting measure because of the
high price of copper. The most basic outdoor spec means that there's UV
block in the sheathing so it doesn't go brittle quickly. How you
intend to use it (strung,surface mounted or buried) will determine how
much more protection you'll need, you may want additional
conduit/trunking. You may even want to consider fibre as an alternative.

 

I want to run the cable from a couple of cctv ip cameras back into a
switch. Probably about half its length would be outside clipped back to
an outside wall.

I already have 2 of the TPlink plugs which I bought about 2 years ago,
and work well enough for my needs.

 

I will be clipping it back to an outside wall to run from a couple of
cctv cameras back into a switch. It will be fairly high up the said
wall, say about 4 mtrs.

 

With adequate support (plenty of clips, or trunking) the most basic
exterior rated copper cable should be fine. Remember to form drip loops
where appropriate when routing the cable, and make sure it won't rub
on any corners or rough bits of masonry.

 

Ok - you'll want external grade Cat5e/6, but no armour needed. You can
just nail it up with the usual cable clips. Nothing special needed to
crimp the rj45s on, if you're doing that.

Cheers - Jaimie

 

There will be about 8mtrs outside fastened to the wall, and 1 clip every
18inches should be ok, dya think. Oh yes and drip loops where needed are
a must.

I'll find something suitable for the corners.

 

Yuk. Use Optical Fibre?

I replaced an aging 16-port 10/100 switch in this house with something
cheap and gigabit from TP-Link that included 4 combo SFP (mini-gbic)
ports. There is a similar SFP enabled switch in the garage at the back,
a route thats 60 metres apart.

I've connected the two with a couple of Cisco transceivers sourced from
ebay for about £5 each, and spent 30 quid on OM1 LC-LC fibre.

Intrisically safe from sky sparks, and works completely solid at 1Gbps.
OK, not that cheap, but it's the way somethings are done at work so I
wanted a play (geek excuse #54325)

 

Sounds about right to me.

You can put a couple of clips either side close to the corner, and then
leave a loop in the cable rather than pulling it in tight to the
masonry. Basically just long enough that it forms smooth curves but
short enough that it supports itself without sagging.

 

I ended up buying 15 mtrs of outdoor cat5e cable off ebay, which has
solid copper core and some very thin plastic like sheathing between the
UTP's and the black pvc covering, so double sheathed if you like. Oh,
and it had a what I can only describe as something like a multicored
draw string , if there is such a thing?
It arrived this morning and I have just got around to putting the
connectors/plugs on each end, ready to put up tomorrow.