Cat-6a along power cable for garage supply?

[sobe_death]

Hi all! I'm a new guy here, so I guess this could be my welcome post but I prefer to get right to business

I'm currently having my new shop wired with a 100A subpanel and was thinking I should hard-wire an ethernet connection out there while I've got a nice trench dug out of the frozen earth. We will be burying the main cable in its own conduit, and having a separate smaller conduit buried somewhat alongside it. My idea was to run a Cat-6a cable out to the garage (I have fiber to the house) with the hopes that there wouldn't be much crosstalk/interference due to the extra shielding and extra twist that goes into the Cat-6a construction. Do you think that it will be an issue? If so, what, aside from a second trench, would mitigate the problem?

Thanks,
Parker

 

[n8n]

metal conduit would definitely help, but there's downsides to that (obviously) - I think there are some Ethernet cable stocks available that are shielded however.

As for the CAT rating, be aware that the terminations must be done to spec as well to get the full benefit of 6a over 5e...

 

[CNGsaves]

12 inches of backfill will get the separation you need for your low voltage conduit of RG6/CAT6. I'd put the electrical supply conduit at 36" depth and then your low voltage plastic conduit at 24" depth. Be sure to leave a pull string in plastic conduit for future upgrades !!

 

[theoldwizard1]

Cat-6 is the way to go (lower gauge, heavier, conductor than Cat-5) for making long pulls.

You can but shielded network cable, but I don't think it is worth the cost. Ethernet cable is already twisted pair and the signal uses "differential" switching both are designed for good noise immunity.

You still should use an underground rated wire as conduits are not guaranteed to be water proof (unless you are using plastic water pipe).

 

[rsanter]

You should do that and add an empty conduit as well. You never know what will be needed for the future. Cat39' , fiber, glass optics....etc

Bob

 

[sobe_death]

12 inches of backfill will get the separation you need for your low voltage conduit of RG6/CAT6. I'd put the electrical supply conduit at 36" depth and then your low voltage plastic conduit at 24" depth. Be sure to leave a pull string in plastic conduit for future upgrades !!

I think that's our plan as of now, but I'll check with the electrician for the depths today.

You still should use an underground rated wire as conduits are not guaranteed to be water proof (unless you are using plastic water pipe).

The conduit is actually a plastic water pipe, so it should be pretty good.

You should do that and add an empty conduit as well. You never know what will be needed for the future. Cat39' , fiber, glass optics....etc

Bob

Yeah! Gotta future-proof my network! Lightning data transmission!

 

[CNGsaves]

OP you may dream up a Jiggawatt machine in garage that needs power BACKFed to the house someday for your off-grid setup !!

 

[HoosierGarage]

Why do you want to run cat6 if you already have fiber?

If it were me I would go a bit larger with your second run of conduit. I would leave a good pull cable in the tube for later on down the road.

Im going to make a new run to the garage this summer because I will be digging up the old feed.

I will be running a second line of conduit with RG6, and fiber.

 

[why worry]

Along with your low voltage conduit I would put a water line in to.
Why Worry

 

[rburke65]

Welcome to The Garage Journal! What size shop did you erect.....photos?

 

[ScottsGT]

How far is your run? Can't remember the max length off the top of my head, but make sure you don't exceed it. I actually do this for a living. I cannot tell you the miles of cable I've pulled in my lifetime, or the amount of terminations I've done.

 

[Vinci]

100 meters is your max run length. You can go longer than that, but you should expect problems.

My spec at work is ONLY for Cat6a in any new wiring jobs. Cat6a is sweet stuff, but I really cannot recommend it for your application. 6a's selling point is that is can handle 10Gb connections reliably, not that it is better shielded. In fact there is NO shielding inside 6a unless it's a shielded cable, which can be had in Cat6 and Cat5 versions as well. I spec it at work because we run high-end gear and will be moving things to 10Gb soon.

10Gb copper networking gear is just now becoming available in the high-end switch market. I wouldn't expect to see it on the consumer market (at an affordable price) for some time. With that in mind, I'd throw some cheap Cat6 in the ground with a good pull string. When the time comes to upgrade your link, just pull a new one in. By then, Cat6a will be a lot cheaper and you won't have been paid the early 6a premium to get none of the benefits.

 

[Angelfire]

I have a similar setup. I used direct burial wire for a 100A service and added a 2" plastic conduit. Pulled 3 Cat-6's through the conduit. We buried the direct buried cable under about 6" of dirt then added the conduit. It seems to work just fine. Now that being said, the only thing I have using the Ethernet at the moment are 3 cameras that feed back to an NVR in the house. At some point, I'll have computers and such and will know better whether it's working well or not.
Cheers.

 

[sobe_death]

My run is going to be no longer than 50-60 feet, so I don't think the distance will be an issue. I'm not running fiber to the garage because I'd need to have all the associated equipment out there too, instead of just the main house. In the main home is a fast wireless router with a pretty damn fast switch, but I'd rather have a cable/access point run out into the garage than trying to rely on the signal from the house making it through the several interior/exterior walls.

Welcome to The Garage Journal! What size shop did you erect.....photos?

I didn't build it, the previous owner did. I just took possession of it It's a 22x24 detached garage. It's also got an 18-inch thick reinforced slab for, you know, reasons. I'll get some pictures tomorrow when I'm back over there.