Running Shielded CAT 6 in separate but Close to Power conduit

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Jamespcboyd

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Is there any reason why I should not dig a trench 24-30" deep trench and lay pvc conduit for power.. separated by 12" of dirt and place shielded cat6 ethernet in conduit on top? I can't find any information besides not to run it in the same conduit as power and to separate it atleast 6" for shielded ethernet more for unshielded... space limits going beside in a different trench.. I'm not sure where to post this..
 
No reason I can think of. Just curious as to who's suggesting the 6" of separation?
 
infinity said:
No reason I can think of. Just curious as to who's suggesting the 6" of separation?
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The very small information I could find suggests that power lines produce a field of interference I guess electromagnetic.. that would interfere with the data transmission happening inside the ethernet cable.. anywhere from 18" - 36" I have read should be the separation amount for copper or CCA data cabling to prevent interference for non shielded.. also I read to only cross at right angles... I'm using shielded and grounded to be absolutely sure I can get 10gb speed to each building as well As a separate shielded cat 6 connecting to my ekm power meters to the data module that uploads to the internet..
 
Jamespcboyd said:
The very small information I could find suggests that power lines produce a field of interference I guess electromagnetic.. that would interfere with the data transmission happening inside the ethernet cable.. anywhere from 18" - 36" I have read should be the separation amount for copper or CCA data cabling to prevent interference for non shielded.. also I read to only cross at right angles...
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Old wives tail! :rolleyes: Probably from some BICSI manual or IT internet forum.

-Hal
 
Separation is suggest in case it get damaged and needs to be repaired, enough room to get between and cut out/replace.
Ethernet is very immune to noise due to the different twists of each pair.
Keep in mind the distance limit of 100 meters.
I would suggest using fiber optic, multi mode is very inexpensive and cheaper than copper. Better yet is single mode, a bit more expensive. You can purchase pregerminated cable with a pulling head, but will need a larger conduit than for shielded Cat 6. With fiber optic, you are future proof (dig once), cameras, video, who knows what else.
 
LarryFine said:
Actually, the different twist rates minimize cross-talk among pairs within the cable.
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And the foil shielding around the twisted pairs usually helps avoid outside interference.. usually includes a grounding wire as well along side the shield... believe it or not when running between seperate buildings on different sub panels you only ground it in one location...using a shielded rj-45 connection.. usually the main ethernet switch has metal around the rj-45 connector.. and cat 6 is only able to provide 10gbps between 35 and 55 meters.. while running it next to 12-14 gage romex might not be such a problem.. sticking it in a trench littered with 14 - 1-1/2 pvc runs.. each running 5 wires of xhhw-2 aluminum 4awg and one 6 awg ground.. for lengths running up to 100ft might cause some packet loss...
 
And 10gbps is future proof lol.. fiber would be absolutely overkill.. this location is cut off from the world.. and no one is going to pay comcast or att to run fiber to the location ever.. we got a quote one time 60,000$ for the fire bore underneath the road.. that still placed them firmly over a mile.. about the best that's going to happen there is 16-30mbps fixed wireless @ 200-400/mo for the next several years or verizon puts I'n ultra wideband.. as it's a few miles to a downtown area.. but I wouldn't hold my breath...
 
By the way just so we're all clear thhn-2 or wn sucks don't ever use it.. its hard to work with.. copper or aluminum.. besides I was reading the nec and actually xhhw-2 is exempt from a roof run temperature increase.. xhhw-2 is about the only wire I'll use from here on out..
 
Jamespcboyd said:
fiber would be absolutely overkill..
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Fiber is hardly ever "overkill" IME unless you're only running 100' (and TP ethernet has the pesky 330' limit).

Jamespcboyd said:
no one is going to pay comcast or att to run fiber to the location ever..
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What does that have to do with anything? If I was running between buildings more than maybe 50' apart, I'd almost certainly run fiber along with the power- it's quite easy if you get pre-terminated assemblies.
 
Jamespcboyd said:
I'm using shielded and grounded to be absolutely sure I can get 10gb speed to each building as well
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I'm not sure that shielded (STP) CAT cable is even useful in ethernet applications except maybe for some industrial locations with high noise. The only place I do see it used is to interconnect pro digital audio and video.

-Hal
 
Jamespcboyd said:
I'm using shielded and grounded to be absolutely sure I can get 10gb speed to each building as well
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Then you might as well use fiber..... you can get a 100' length of pre-terminated 6-strand MM direct-burial armored for around $200+$1.40/ft (II'd usually do single mode since it'll run faster/longer.)

If you do shielded CAT6 in conduit, you're already at maybe $150 just for the cable, then add the pipe, termination, and qualification. Not much savings there and you still have a metallic path between buildings. Yes, you might still need fiber interfaces at each end, but they're not expensive either.
 
zbang said:
If you do shielded CAT6 in conduit, you're already at maybe $150 just for the cable,
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Assuming you can get it "on the cut". More likely you are going to get stuck with a 1000' reel. Also, since this is underground, you are going to need direct burial cable even if it's in conduit.

Those costs are going to make fiber look better and better.

-Hal
 
Jamespcboyd said:
Is there any reason why I should not dig a trench 24-30" deep trench and lay pvc conduit for power.. separated by 12" of dirt and place shielded cat6 ethernet in conduit on top? I can't find any information besides not to run it in the same conduit as power and to separate it atleast 6" for shielded ethernet more for unshielded... space limits going beside in a different trench.. I'm not sure where to post this..
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One reason why to NEVER bury an ethernet cable is because of lightning. Use fiber-optic instead, as it will not conduct the static charge like cat6.
 
I stumbled on this post....and offer my real world experience.

Lightning hit a tree in our house came in thru Cat6A buried in conduit and fried a ton of stuff in our house.

I pulled optical fiber (Ubiquiti sells cheap pre terminated 100/200/300 lengths with 6 strands) to replace it. Media converters on each end, also Ubiquiti, also cheap.

It's thinner, faster, easier to pull, and cost competitive. And unlikely to conduct electricity.

And on another note: ATT wanted 120K to run fiber to me. Now using Starlink and pretty impressed.
 
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