Cable 100m (Will Patch Panels Extend the Range?)

Adria Atlantis · 26 Jan 2019 at 12:30

Howdy,
I'm looking for clarity on something. I know that ideally for Cat5e we're looking at a maximum of 100m for 1Gbps if connected end-to-end.

Am I right in thinking that if I put a Patch Panel in between source destination (let's say 50m, so halfway) that it's still within the 100m. And I'll get full 1Gbps. Or.. Will a Patch Panel restart that 100m? So, could I have 5 patch panels between a switch and a PC giving me up to 500m?

I'm thinking that's a no because there's no power source on the patch panel. So the ultimate question is do just switches/routers regenerate that signal? So if I wanted 500m between the outside world and a PC that I would need 5 switches?

Thank you all

Armageus · 26 Jan 2019 at 12:42

You would need a switch to extend that 100m limit.

Generally if you are looking at runs over 100m you would use fibre optic.

Adria Atlantis · 26 Jan 2019 at 12:44

Thank you, that's what I was thinking but the Internet does give mixed search results. But I totally forgot about Fibre, so focused on studying Copper and overthinking it.

Thank you so much for clearing that up

dlockers · 26 Jan 2019 at 15:06

Adria Atlantis said:
Howdy,
I'm looking for clarity on something. I know that ideally for Cat5e we're looking at a maximum of 100m for 1Gbps if connected end-to-end.

Am I right in thinking that if I put a Patch Panel in between source destination (let's say 50m, so halfway) that it's still within the 100m. And I'll get full 1Gbps. Or.. Will a Patch Panel restart that 100m? So, could I have 5 patch panels between a switch and a PC giving me up to 500m?

I'm thinking that's a no because there's no power source on the patch panel. So the ultimate question is do just switches/routers regenerate that signal? So if I wanted 500m between the outside world and a PC that I would need 5 switches?

Thank you all

Your hypothesis is correct - it's a no.

Before switches were relays, which would simply regenerate the signal. Now switches are a bit smarter, so instead of having to route all data via the router, they maintain look-up tables. This makes it more efficient if say, all of the devices at the end of your 500m run were basically communicating with each other, except for access to the internet or other devices located at the end of the 500m run. To do a 500m run, you are better off exploring other medium such as fibre. You can also get ethernet to fibre converters which extend the range without anything more complicated than a set of media converters at each end.

Caged · 26 Jan 2019 at 16:11

Fibre is better because you aren't electrically connecting two locations 500m apart, which are bound to have their grounds at different levels.

Adria Atlantis · 27 Jan 2019 at 10:54

Awesome info, fully understand

andicole0 · 27 Jan 2019 at 11:27

Adria Atlantis said:
Thank you, that's what I was thinking but the Internet does give mixed search results. But I totally forgot about Fibre, so focused on studying Copper and overthinking it.

Thank you so much for clearing that up

Thats the Internet for you, it's where politicians get the answers they want
Andi.

Steveocee · 29 Jan 2019 at 13:24

Caged said:
Fibre is better because you aren't electrically connecting two locations 500m apart, which are bound to have their grounds at different levels.

Genuine question as I fully support the answer of fibre BUT how are phone lines exempt from that? That's copper joining multiple earthing points together (assuming there is a mains powered telephone plugged in at the bottom end of each).

Caged · 29 Jan 2019 at 23:02

I don't think there's a path to ground on a phone line, and I'm pretty sure you won't get continuity between one leg of the copper pair and say the power socket on a router/DECT base station/whatever.

Sort of related to the above, there are PoE splitters that cheat quite a bit and will use the 48v DC supply as the +12v output, and then send 36v to the 0v output. The potential difference is 12v so everything works fine until you connect something that is meant to be 0v to something else that actually is 0v.