fiber optical cable Fiber Optical Cable Lightning Protection

[Newbie0]

Hi, recently my area is getting a lot of thunder strikes almost everyday. My broadband connection is through Cat5 cable.So, there is a risk of getting hit by thunder & damaging my devices. Moreover, my speed is a little bit messy.

So, switching to optical will resolve the speed problem, but I'm a bit of confused that, will it resolve the thunder problem, too? My ISP doesn't care much about the connection. So I'm not sure if the connection is grounded(My ISP is within 2km from my house).

 

So if I use the optical cable during thunderstorm, is there a chance that the optical encoder/decoder(I'm not sure what it is called) may get damaged? 

[Electronics Wizardy]

a fiber cable normally has no metal, so they will be unaffected during a thunder storm. It can't hurt the transceivers. 

[Donut417]

29 minutes ago, Newbie0 said:

Hi, recently my area is getting a lot of thunder strikes almost everyday. My broadband connection is through Cat5 cable.So, there is a risk of getting hit by thunder & damaging my devices. Moreover, my speed is a little bit messy.

So, switching to optical will resolve the speed problem, but I'm a bit of confused that, will it resolve the thunder problem, too? My ISP doesn't care much about the connection. So I'm not sure if the connection is grounded(My ISP is within 2km from my house).

 

So if I use the optical cable during thunderstorm, is there a chance that the optical encoder/decoder(I'm not sure what it is called) may get damaged? 

Fiber isnt copper or metal so it dont conduct electricity. Further more, depending on where you live, building code dictates they have to ground your connection. For example, Comcast runs the cable from the pole in to a grounding block, which connects to a grounding rod on the side of my house. After that they run the cable in to my house. This gives lightning a suggestion on where to go. So to an extent your ISP does have to care, plus they care about their infrastructure, on cable internet ran thru Coax, AMP's and nodes cost any where from $25k to $50k a pop, so yeah, they do care. 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

58 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

...This gives lightning a suggestion on where to go... 

I loved that line!

[Newbie0]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

a fiber cable normally has no metal, so they will be unaffected during a thunder storm. It can't hurt the transceivers. 

That clarifies a lot. Thanks bruv.

[Newbie0]

2 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Fiber isnt copper or metal so it dont conduct electricity. Further more, depending on where you live, building code dictates they have to ground your connection. For example, Comcast runs the cable from the pole in to a grounding block, which connects to a grounding rod on the side of my house. After that they run the cable in to my house. This gives lightning a suggestion on where to go. So to an extent your ISP does have to care, plus they care about their infrastructure, on cable internet ran thru Coax, AMP's and nodes cost any where from $25k to $50k a pop, so yeah, they do care. 

If fiber ins't conductive, then how can it be ground.

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, Newbie0 said:

If fiber ins't conductive, then how can it be ground.

I see it flew over your head. Its ok. Im just saying that most ISPs if not all ground copper connections. 

[Newbie0]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

I see it flew over your head. Its ok. Im just saying that most ISPs if not all ground copper connections. 

I'm still not sure what are you saying.Where does a copper connection come in fiber? Please explain.

 

11 hours ago, Newbie0 said:

Fiber isnt copper or metal so it dont conduct electricity.

so, I don't need to worry about it. Right?

[intertan]

3 hours ago, Donut417 said:

I see it flew over your head. Its ok. Im just saying that most ISPs if not all ground copper connections. 

most of the time they are grounded at multiple locations. 

 

some fiber wire has a metal tracer wire. this is there so they can find the path it takes underground.

 

yes if lightning does hit the wire everything should be good. Unless the light from the lightning does something but I don't see that being an issue

[PsyOpWarlord]

If you have fiber coming into the home then (generally) the only thing you have to worry about is lightning coming in over the power lines.

 

If you have Ethernet coming into the home, you can convert the Ethernet to fiber and then back to provide an air gap.  While I do have this setup on my rack, I wouldn't recommend it to most people (I did it just for fun).

 

For lightning protection if you have coax or Ethernet, I highly recommend gas discharge tube lightning protectors.  You can order replacement/spare tubes, so if if blows from a lightning strike you just replace the tube inside (very easy).

 

If you have Ethernet coming into your home, I would recommend this:

http://www.l-com.com/surge-protector-indoor-10-100-1000-base-t-cat6-gas-tube-lightning-protector-rj45-jacks

 

If you have coax coming into the home, I would recommend this (this is the one I'm using):

http://www.l-com.com/surge-protector-f-female-to-f-female-0-3-ghz-90v-lightning-protector

 

 

 

 

[Newbie0]

Thank you all..