How to surge protect long ethernet cable runs under a house?

Bird222

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 1, 2000
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What can be done to ground ethernet cables from lightening/power surges so that equipment doesn't get fried?
 
Ethernet cables are not usually grounded. If you really think it's needed, you need to run shielded cable and ground at only one point. Ethernet is galvanically isolated; maybe not enough for lightning, but lightning doesn't usually strike under a house.

Optical ethernet is an option, of course.
 
Many backup power supplies and surge protectors have Ethernet pass-through connections on them. But you can also simply put a sacrificial switch on both sides. You can get a 5-port gigabit switch for about $12 these days, and any kind of surge, even a lightning strike, is unlikely to kill anything beyond the first piece of equipment connected to the cable.
 
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Ethernet cables are not usually grounded. If you really think it's needed, you need to run shielded cable and ground at only one point. Ethernet is galvanically isolated; maybe not enough for lightning, but lightning doesn't usually strike under a house.

Optical ethernet is an option, of course.
They sell shielded ethernet cable?
 
They sell shielded ethernet cable?
Yeah. Search for STP (shielded twisted pair) instead of UTP (unshielded twisted pair). It's extra work when stripping and terminating, and you have to make sure not to connect the shield at only one side of the cable to avoid ground loops, and it costs more and is often less flexible, and there's different opinions on if it's worthwhile at all, but it's available.
 
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