Outdoor Electrical Cable Can Be Used Outside Home | VNZANE

NETWORK CABLING
As we all know, cabling includes indoor cabling and outdoor cabling. Most of us should be familiar with indoor cabling, so let’s talk about outdoor cabling today. You can run Cat6, Cat5 or Cat5e Ethernet cables outdoors to network computers between homes or other buildings. They can also be run up the outside of a house or across a roof to reach another room.

Although you can use regular Cat6 cables, the better option is to use the more expensive weatherproof network cables.

Using Regular Network Cables

With their thin, plastic casing, ordinary Ethernet cables deteriorate quickly when exposed to the elements. For best results when using regular Ethernet cables outdoors, place them in a conduit and then bury the conduit under the ground at a depth of about 6 to 8 inches and at least that far away from power lines or other sources of electrical interference.

PVC or other types of plastic pipe, installed with waterproofing, can work as a conduit. Ordinary network cable is not designed for outdoor uses, however, extreme temperatures and humidity shorten the useful lifetime of such an outdoor network.

Using Direct Burial Exterior Ethernet Cables

Special exterior waterproof direct burial network cables should be used for outdoor runs instead of ordinary ones. Direct burial network cables cost more, but they are designed specifically for outdoor use.

Special exterior waterproof direct burial network cables should be used for outdoor runs instead of ordinary ones. Direct burial network cables cost more, but they are designed specifically for outdoor use.

Both ordinary and direct burial network cables attract lighting strikes to some degree, and burying the cable doesn’t necessary lessen its affinity for lightning. Surge protectors should be installed as part of an outdoor Ethernet network to guard against lightning strikes and prevent damage to your indoor equipment.

Range of Exterior Network Cabling

A single Ethernet cable, whether indoor or outdoor, is only designed to function over a distance of about 328 feet (about 100 meters). However, some networks operate successfully with Ethernet cables run twice that distance.

When the network cable is extended past the recommended limit of 328 feet, reliability and performance may suffer. Active hubs or other repeater devices can be installed with with network cables to extend the range of an Ethernet outdoor network.This is also same in indoor cabling.

Ultimately, results vary from one cable to the next.