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Ethernet surge protectors for outdoor underground run to the shed, do they work for lightning protection? (even though they flat out claim they do) (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I realize 99% of the internet are experts on electricity, lightning and grounding concepts, most of the internet wears a lab coat at all times, but seriously... I need a 100' run of buried ethernet (likely direct burial 24" deep) from my house to my shed that has no power, for PoE camera & AP. Companies like APC sell ethernet surge protectors, other than biased unfounded fear, what are real world implications of a nearby lighting strike if things are properly grounded (full 6-8' grounding rods outside each building etc..).

I feel like it'd be perfectly fine and if not, oh well, a router gets fried or wire burns up in the ground, doesn't seem like a big deal on the off chance of real close strike or is that just me?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Maybe you've seen this already: https://www.truecable.com/blogs/cable-academy/when-lightning-strikes-ethernet-data-cable-and-lightning-protection

I'm of the persuasion of your second paragraph. I don't take any special precautions with what I inherited (the cable is a direct-bury with 2x coax and 2 x CAT5E. I figure if something hits nearby there are going to be a lot of problems. (A disclosure we were given when we bought our house - lightning hit the well head something like 15 years prior!

I agree with the great suggestions by u/RedFive1976 in terms of what you can reasonably do.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I've yet to see one stop 100% of a close lightning strike, but I have seen it reduce damage a good 100x on the other side of it vs. before it. I see boxes with covers blown off full of black soot, vaporized copper wire, and charred circuit boards on the half upstream of a surge protector outside of a building, and then the half on the inside of the building that is guarded by the surge protector just has a few blown SMD compontnes on the circuit board which still fried the equipement inside as I tried to replace those parts and found the traces in the layers of the circuit boards got fried too.

So everything still got fried anyways, but the damage was suppressed a lot by the surge protector in-line of the ethernet. It stopped a fire from possibly starting in the building by stopping a lot of the blast inside of equipment.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

From my experience with strikes the cable remains fine, but the ends and the equipment attached to it will likely fry. Always try and isolate and ground your lines before they enter the house so on the exterior wall it should be grounded to earth.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

thanks, that's the plan, I'll put a surface mount box there along with a good surge protector for ethernet like the APC unit tied right to the grounding rod that will be next to it.