R'Addiction
Well-known member
Can you run electrical wires and Cat5 and coaxial cable in the same 4" conduit? Its going to be a 150 ft. run.
Electrical wiring and data lines....same conduit?
- Thread starter R'Addiction
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Steevo
Well-known member
No.
My understanding of electrical code is that low voltage and high voltage cannot share a conduit.
My understanding of electrical code is that low voltage and high voltage cannot share a conduit.
SlappyWhite
Well-known member
In theory yes but it is not usually considered good practice in the communications industry and you could in theory have some interference. In reality these cables are side by side in all kinds of places. To be safe you could use shielded Cat (BTW I would use 5e or 6 why run Cat5 unless you have a bunch laying around). The coax can also be triple or quad shield--most OTS coax is cheap **** with very poor shielding.
There may also be electrical code considerations because the additional cables reduce the effective size of the conduit (they take up space so you may require a larger conduit). There could also be other code considerations regarding plenum/riser spec, mixing voltage.... As far as code I cannot comment on your jurisdiction and would even have to look up mine.
There may also be electrical code considerations because the additional cables reduce the effective size of the conduit (they take up space so you may require a larger conduit). There could also be other code considerations regarding plenum/riser spec, mixing voltage.... As far as code I cannot comment on your jurisdiction and would even have to look up mine.
NO!!!
You can not mix low and high voltage together...you must run in sep pipes..this way if you have a short you do not sent 230v up your cat 5 cable...I run all voltages...with my 13,200volts I concrete the pipe in place, there is no you might be able to do it...it is no and just spend the extra $40 in pipe....well worth it 10 years from now.
Last edited:
OP
R'Addiction
Well-known member
I figured that I may have problem with emi. I have enough 4" conduit to make 2 separate runs so thats the way I'm going to go. Thanks!
wssix99
Well-known member
This is true - for good reason!
It keeps the hazardous power away from the low voltage systems. Suppose there was a cut - someone could get electrocuted by plugging in a telephone or network cable. If the wires are separated, this type of thing is not possible.
BigGMC
Well-known member
Just wondering why so big on the conduit?
OP
R'Addiction
Well-known member
Got 200' for free. I was originally going with 2" ID.
GreyOwl
Well-known member
OP
R'Addiction
Well-known member
Free is for me!
ineedagarage
Member
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Not to highjack the thread but its ok to run Cat5 and coaxial cable in the same pipe right?
Dick in Wisconsin
Well-known member
and regular phone?
JDishong
Well-known member
Sure. Coax is shielded therefore less susceptible to interference if that is what you are concerned about.
I wouldn't. I have had problems with interference from coaxial lines run next to data lines. In my situation, it was CAT6 cables supporting gigabit Ethernet connections. We would get degraded call quality on VoIP phones and inconsistent speeds on data transfers. Once the coaxial cable was disconnected, all of the problems cleared up. We no longer allow coax to be installed in the same path as copper Ethernet, as a result.
notch4u
Member
nope. and in the house they can only run 6" together but they can cross perpendicular each other without issue
you dont want is HV noise on your date or any lines. my company does creston/lutron/cctv/data etc and there is a reason why you do it like that!
you dont want is HV noise on your date or any lines. my company does creston/lutron/cctv/data etc and there is a reason why you do it like that!
rlitman
Well-known member
What sort of coax was this?
Things just work better when you use quad-shield, or at least CATV (which has dual foil shields, but only one braid).
Sorry for the slow reply. This was CATV. I don't know what specific cable it was. I am guessing that it was installed with whatever trash Comcast keeps on their trucks. That building was one of the last that got wired before anyone (me) cared to keep track of what went into the walls.
Although you got the 4" for free, what size panel are you going to terminate it in?
Billy T.
[email protected]
OP
R'Addiction
Well-known member
4" to 2" reducer up to a knockout on a 100 amp service.
Don't bother running regular phone line, just run an extra data line. You can put the phone on a data line just fine and are more likely to want the extra data line in the future. Plus with 4 pair, you can put 2 phone lines on cat5/6.
One thing to keep a watch on is your length as far as the Cat5/6 goes. If you are using it for Ethernet data technically you can have a theoretical maximum run of 100 meters or 330ish feet total.... Your speeds and quality of communications as I'm sure other IT guys will attest can and will degrade according to your quality of termination and also crosstalk injected onto it from power lines, CATV, and so on. I would be half tempted to run STP cable and terminate the shield back on the house side into the ground on your house if the switch your using doesn't have a grounding plain (most don't unless you're working with highend gear like Cisco) and leaving the other end ungrounded so you have a single ground drain. This is the type of cable I would pull in your case if I was you. http://www.cableandwireshop.com/cat...ed_23-awg_4-pair_cmx_rated_stp_lan_cable.html
Definitely keep your runs under the 100M maximum. Exceeding that, even if everything else is clean, will leave you with connection issues that you'll pound your head against a wall trying to fix.
I'll also second using ONLY CAT6 for your communications wiring, and not 4-conductor phone cable. It's far more versatile, and you can run up to 4 analog phone lines over a single piece of CAT6.
I'll also second using ONLY CAT6 for your communications wiring, and not 4-conductor phone cable. It's far more versatile, and you can run up to 4 analog phone lines over a single piece of CAT6.
The Frisco Kid
Well-known member
Fiber is nice for a lot of reasons, but it makes little sense in a house. The fiber itself is cheap enough, but the equipment on each end is many times more expensive than running CAT5E/6 with no benefit.
If you needed to run an downlink to remote building on your property, then yeah, fiber is the way to go, but you're still looking at a huge jump in equipment cost.
If you needed to run an downlink to remote building on your property, then yeah, fiber is the way to go, but you're still looking at a huge jump in equipment cost.
hey a topic I can contribute on
no, do not use the same conduit
BICSI
https://www.bicsi.org/double.aspx?l=3374
Bicsi is a group of folks that kinda help shape standards for the telecom industry
If I remember correctly min separation distance is 6 inches
and btw the main difference between cat5 and cat6 was that cat5 was 100MB for 100M and cat 6 was 1000MB for 100 meters. Cat5e came about later and was actually a standard that allowed 1000MB but only up to about 150ft
Bicsi says you can have 100meter run with two intermediate breaks(termination point like a patch panel or 110 block) and still pass the standards
and as another poster pointed out the disadvantage of fiber is the cost of the electronics associated with it
lr=single mode=long haul or long range 16 miles
sr=muti mode= short haul or short range 500m
there's more but that's what is most widely used
other things to consider
cable size vs conduit size(cat6 takes up more room and you typically never want to fill a conduit up)
http://www.midwestamericom.com/whitepapers/cabling/Conduit Fill Capacity Table.pdf
cost, if you already have cat5 or cat5e and this is a home where runs likely never exceed 100 ft I wouldn't go out and buy cat6, it should do gig
do use cat5 in place of cat3 or 4 when running phone lines, you can either wire it at the jack for phone or data, or wire it all for data and make different jumpers for the patch cable to the phones
no, do not use the same conduit
BICSI
https://www.bicsi.org/double.aspx?l=3374
Bicsi is a group of folks that kinda help shape standards for the telecom industry
If I remember correctly min separation distance is 6 inches
and btw the main difference between cat5 and cat6 was that cat5 was 100MB for 100M and cat 6 was 1000MB for 100 meters. Cat5e came about later and was actually a standard that allowed 1000MB but only up to about 150ft
Bicsi says you can have 100meter run with two intermediate breaks(termination point like a patch panel or 110 block) and still pass the standards
and as another poster pointed out the disadvantage of fiber is the cost of the electronics associated with it
lr=single mode=long haul or long range 16 miles
sr=muti mode= short haul or short range 500m
there's more but that's what is most widely used
other things to consider
cable size vs conduit size(cat6 takes up more room and you typically never want to fill a conduit up)
http://www.midwestamericom.com/whitepapers/cabling/Conduit Fill Capacity Table.pdf
cost, if you already have cat5 or cat5e and this is a home where runs likely never exceed 100 ft I wouldn't go out and buy cat6, it should do gig
do use cat5 in place of cat3 or 4 when running phone lines, you can either wire it at the jack for phone or data, or wire it all for data and make different jumpers for the patch cable to the phones
I suggest going with CAT6 if you have to buy cable. It costs almost the same as CAT5E, and it can handle 10-gigabit over short distances. Since that is the way things are going in the future, CAT6 offers a little more longevity.
CAT6A offers even more future proofing, as it will handle 10-gig at a full 100 meters. It is, however, close to triple the cost of CAT6.
CAT6A offers even more future proofing, as it will handle 10-gig at a full 100 meters. It is, however, close to triple the cost of CAT6.