Running Internet to our Field Gym / Stables

Hey All,

A couple years ago we rebuilt two field shelters at our home, in the field adjacent to our house. One is a stables containing field and gardeing equipment and the other is a gym!

The time has come for me to add internet to both buildings as the gym has become more of an office with a part time gym over lockdown and it would be nice for the summer as well, to have WIFI outdoors!

How would you all suggest i run the internet out here? At the moment we have a 90m extension lead running from a 12A Hotwire of our patio fountain, which has a powerline adaptor to our 80/20 FTTC Connection (Getting a solid 3mps down at the best as you would expect haha)

I've considered running a 100m ethernet cable in the ducting of our new power install in a few weeks, but was maybe considering a P2P Microwave link? Any advice would be appreciated.

If it is less than 100m then Cat6 through ducting would be very reasonable, and provide 1Gbps which would be ample for at least 5 years. You could do it yourself and since the cable comes in 300m reels you could double up the cable just in the off chance one was to get chopped through with a shovel or similiar.

The only minor concern is sharing the ducting with the electricity. You wouldn't want the situation where someone chops through and somehow it makes the ethernet cable live, hopefully someone on here can answer that for you, but if it was me I would be tempted to run it separate.

Because it is going to be outside so will be exposed to elements and is getting right at the end of the limit, Cat6 is the one to go for.

The other option is Fibre. Yes CAT5/CAT6 should be able to do it at 100 meters without an issue. It at the point where fibre could start to become a more sensible option.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=...

Personally I’m not a great fan of running copper between buildings. Had one too many bad experiences with strike and surge!

A similar question was asked last week in this office at the end of the garden thread. Some options for fibre discussed. Certainly not as extreme as many folks assume. Future bandwidth upgrades assured. Electrically isolated.

Thanks all for your replies!

I think the ethernet option is a good start - it will be armoured cable on the electricity side, so i will do some digging on how much it could affect the ethernet / Pheasants concern of a lightning strike.
Maybe we could earth it when it reaches the termination point?

I did find a 1GB P2P Microwave Link which would be perfect for when our house finally gets FTTP (if that day ever comes), but its a tad pricey and having another dish on the side of the house may not be great.

I'll look into the fibre solution - Does it need any special kit to convert it?
EDIT: Pheasant, just seen your comphrensive list on that other post, Cheers

Edited by Whitehall11 (Sat 10-Apr-21 09:50:27)

Is your poer install using buried SWA?

If so, then consider put two lots of SWA Cat6 in the ground too, However, at 100m you may be at the limit so, is there a location somehwere around half way where you could install a POE Ethernet extender? Bring Cat6 to the surface and into a suitable IP67 enclosure, fit a suitable extender powered from one end.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Is your poer install using buried SWA?

If so, then consider put two lots of SWA Cat6 in the ground too, However, at 100m you may be at the limit so, is there a location somehwere around half way where you could install a POE Ethernet extender? Bring Cat6 to the surface and into a suitable IP67 enclosure, fit a suitable extender powered from one end.

Looking at the power install quote from the electrician it's '16mm 3core SWA' so it looks like we could bury some CAT6.

The ducting i've bought for it is quite big so plenty of space for even a network switch if you held it upside down! Are they expensive extenders?

Have a look for POE Extenders ... not too expensive, but only issue would be access in case of failure hence the suggestion of bringing it to the surface.


Although, if you are prepared to spend a little more, then fibre might be the solution - you can get SWA fibre, preterminated in many variants.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Although, if you are prepared to spend a little more, then fibre might be the solution - you can get SWA fibre, preterminated in many variants.

Fibre might be cheaper at this distance. The cable itself is likely cheaper, won't need earthing at both ends, won't need a possible extender. Really at >50m just go fibre its lot less hassle, safer and could well be cheaper even when you factor in the costs of SFP / SFP+ switches.

Edited by deleted (Sat 10-Apr-21 14:33:10)

In reply to a post by Whitehall11:

Thanks all for your replies!

I think the ethernet option is a good start - it will be armoured cable on the electricity side, so i will do some digging on how much it could affect the ethernet / Pheasants concern of a lightning strike.
Maybe we could earth it when it reaches the termination point?

Use a gigabit ethernet surge protector at each end of the link with each locally earthed. Ubiquiti ETH-SP-G2 surge protectors cost next to nothing. For a bit more information about surge protection the BEAMA Guide to Surge Protection Devices(SPDs): selection, application and theory (PDF) is a good start.

To be honest though, at 90m I'd go with fibre optic - particularly as it eliminates any risk running it in the same ducting as the power source.

There really seems no point trying to get a wireless link running if you have any possibility of using ethernet or fibre.