Cat6 unshielded cable and power cable crosstalk

Would running unshielded cat6 cable enclosed in flexible conduit close to indoors 2.5 power cable be sufficient to minimise crosstalk/interference?

I did buy cat6 shielded cable to do this work but I came across a problem trying to connect to the shielded modular plugs where the cables are too thick to go through the holes of the plugs. I have tried three different makes of plugs with no success.

Whilst not the most helpful of replies .... just to point out, crosstalk will only be an issue in cables where other digital signals are present on pairs within the same cable.

Interference, that's a different matter.

What actual issue are you trying to resolve by what you are proposing ?

I have not yet run any cables but I am starting to tomorrow.

By your definition crosstalk is then not an issue here.

I have no alternative but to run some cables in a cupboard where there is a consumer unit and the cat6 cables will be running about a foot away of electrical cables and the consumer unit itself.

Cat5E and Cat6 without extra shielding are usually happy in what are pretty bad RF environments so long as the lengths are under the 100m limit

Or put another way, when running stuff around muddy festival sites you have no choice to share cable runs with audio/rf/fibre/power and other than crimping on bad ends did not have any issues

That is reassuring. I have had a 40m run of cat5e through two floors and an attic without problems. I have already run a cat6 alongside the cat5e for the new installation to connect a Ubiquity NanoBeam as an Access point so hopefully this won't be an issue.

I am fitting another Ubiquity NanoBeam as a station on an adjacent building 30m away and this is where the cat6 cable will have to be run close to electrical cables and fluorescent light fittings which is why I asked the question.

In reply to a post by scopio:

I did buy cat6 shielded cable to do this work but I came across a problem trying to connect to the shielded modular plugs where the cables are too thick to go through the holes of the plugs. I have tried three different makes of plugs with no success.

Are you not terminating your cables with RJ45 socket faceplates?

If you do go with shielded cable I think best practise is connect shield to ground at one end only to avoid group return loops. This would be the end nearest the main grounding point as in a "star" grounding layout. Also I think regs state that you should run your networking cables in a separate conduit than mains voltage. Hopefully other people can confirm/refute this before you pull cable.

You can reduce interference by crossing mains cables perpendicularly but maybe the option to do that is limited judging by your post. As a side-thought, I wonder how much interference one of those HomePlugs would generate on a parallel-running mains cable.

I can empathize with your RJ45 plug frustration having gone through many different plugs as well but I did eventually find shielded plugs that did accept fatter cat6 so they are out there!

However, we're nearly into 2018 so why not be the envy of your neighbours and do it properly by installing fibre? "Yes, I have FTTP - fibre to my privy" No interference issues plus attaching a short patch cable can double as an emergency laser toy for the cat! [joke and legal disclaimer icons go here]

[Edit: separate conduit note and reducing interference paragraph]

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Oct-17 09:27:56)

Thank you for your response and constructive suggestions.
Had I put more thought into this project, yes I would have terminated the cables to faceplates. I am a retired novice at this kind of work and had I seen your response a couple of weeks before I would have done it as you suggest but not with fibre as I know nothing about working with fibre.

My great disappointment was that after buying different cat6 modular plugs from different sources and some @ £20 for a pack of 10 from EZ that claim to be suitable, I could not use them as the individual pairs would just not fit through the holes in the plugs and had to use cat6 UTP inserted into flexible conduit and EZ through modular plugs.

Anyway I have now finished the installation and I am pleased that at present all is well achieving over 16Mbps wired on ADSL+2 at 40m away from the BT Hub 3.

Thank you for your input which I will bear in mind if I ever have to do a similar project again which I doubt.
Edited typo.

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Oct-17 12:28:46)

Regardless of crosstalk, 240v cables should not be run in close proximity to 'other services'.

There is the possibility of voltage spikes appearing on cables not intended to carry it.

There are even specific sections in the wiring regulations covering this.

I will have to rerun some of the cat6 cables as I have come across a serious issue!

In one of the rooms in the roof space the cat6 cables seem to be too close to eight four tube fluorescent light fittings, so when the lights are switched off I get 16Mbps but when they are switched on the download speed go down to 1.6Mbps! Hence I will run the cat6 cables as far from the light fittings as possible.

Would I be right in thinking this is the start of the work decided on as a result of this July thread?

If so it may help people understand the overall topography .