100m + network connection

[TheIrishFarmer]

Hi, first time poster here and looking for some networking advice.

 

I have a network "room" which is an out building which used to be a pump house. i need to get my poly tunnel (which is about 105 m away) into the network as i want to automate some aspects of it using Home Assistant. 

 

The network room and the poly tunnel have direct line of sight (above some small trees)

 

What would be the best way to do that? 

Point to point wifi dish (recommendations welcome for brand and model here) as seen where Linus used to connect the 2 buildings before the fibre connection or to use a CAT5e or 6 cable? might need a booster with the cable which can be installed in a separate pump house about 20m from the network room. it will be difficult to bury the cable but there is a small stream running alongside the property but i think its not wise to run the cable in the water either.

 

it will all be DIY so for ease i am leaning toward the point to point solution.

 

Thanks

your not so local Irish Farmer

 

[jaslion]

Honestly for consistency a cable + "booster" on an end. Point to point wifi is expensive af.

 

Dig a shovels down trench and dump it in (in a cable protecting housing of course).

 

 

[mariushm]

I'm around 90% sure you'll get gigabit ethernet working with 105 meters of ethernet cable between two decent network switches.  You may get some packet loss from time to time, a few packets of data, nothing worth complaining about.  I did a connection between two campus buildings that was 102 meters long and had no practically no packet loss.

Especially if you get a decent cat6 with solid copper awg23, it should be just fine.

 

You could get a 5 port switch and a long power strip (10-15 meters) and have one 95+ meter segment of ethernet cable, and one 10+ (whatever distance you want) ... the switch will act as a repeater and make it possible to go over 100 meters.

 

You could go fiber, and just get a couple media converters to convert ethernet to fiber and back, but fiber will be a bit more expensive, like maybe 200-300$ for 110 meters.  fs.com quotes 300$ for 110m of industrial fiber : https://www.fs.com/products/70402.html

 

 

 

[voyager_]

I would hardwire it if you can, I would look at renting a trencher and run conduit that way you can always pull another line if you need to and the cable will be further shielded. If you go this route make sure to put several pull ropes in. You could probably do the run with good quality cat 6. You could always run it to the first pump house then the second if you develop issues later on. With a trencher it should be pretty easy to bury the conduit. Other then the stream, if it's shallow and slower moving you could probably dig out a trench by hand, if it's deeper then lay just lay the conduit as best you can so it is at the bottom. If you do that section as a single piece of conduit and seal the joints correctly you shouldn't ever have to worry about water in it.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I'd honestly go WiFi personally as if its not needing a lot of bandwidth then any losses from the trees would probably not be a big deal,, though I'd be wary if you are in an area prone to lightening.

 

I wouldn't go copper at all, best not to do so between different buildings as you then have the issues of two different ground potentials.  If going physically connected, I'd only use fibre to avoid this issue and its going to be more resilient should the conduit get flooded.

[mariushm]

4 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I wouldn't go copper at all, best not to do so between different buildings as you then have the issues of two different ground potentials.  If going physically connected, I'd only use fibre to avoid this issue and its going to be more resilient should the conduit get flooded.

Isn't ethernet by design isolated, using signal transformers on both ends?

 

If paranoid, one could use a PoE (power over ethernet) powered switch at the other end, and power the switch with voltage from the other building, but i really don't think it's needed.

Could use a couple $20-50 media converters and a few meters of fiber to add extra isolation if one feels it's really needed,,, will still be cheaper than 100+ meters of fiber

[Needfuldoer]

I'd run fiber and install media converters at each end.

[Alex Atkin UK]

2 hours ago, mariushm said:

Isn't ethernet by design isolated, using signal transformers on both ends?

 

If paranoid, one could use a PoE (power over ethernet) powered switch at the other end, and power the switch with voltage from the other building, but i really don't think it's needed.

Could use a couple $20-50 media converters and a few meters of fiber to add extra isolation if one feels it's really needed,,, will still be cheaper than 100+ meters of fiber

The problem is over long lengths you'd probably want shielded cable to reduce RFI, but the shield isn't isolated.

 

Even in-ground cabling is also at risk from lightening.

[Blue4130]

6 hours ago, mariushm said:

Isn't ethernet by design isolated, using signal transformers on both ends?

 

If paranoid, one could use a PoE (power over ethernet) powered switch at the other end, and power the switch with voltage from the other building, but i really don't think it's needed.

Could use a couple $20-50 media converters and a few meters of fiber to add extra isolation if one feels it's really needed,,, will still be cheaper than 100+ meters of fiber

Fiber really isn't that expensive. A tad over $100 for 100m on fs.com. Sure it's more than copper, but at least you don't need to worry about lightning/electricity spikes blowing out ports on equipment.