cat 5 waterproof?

I've used it externally without problems and i know many people/places which do.

Like anything else it will degrade over time and need maintenance but should be ok for some time.

So long as the insulation isn't broken anywhere and you seal the ends then it's waterproof
 
You can get external grade CAT5 which is water resistant (rather than waterproof). Can't remember the price premium over bog standard CAT5 though.
 
I ran a cat 5 cable from a bedroom window, looped around a telephone pole then looped around a lamp-post before finally going into a friend's house several doors down on the same road and it was fine for a year. It was quite nerve-wracking at times tho :p
 
when i was in uni (didn't have internet in halls :/ ) i made a 40 metre cat5e cable, tied me trainer to it, then launched it over the roof, and my mate pulled it into his window (we lived on opposite sides in the same building, so we had a bright blue cable going over the roof!

worked fine, and it had loads of little nicks in it, threw the cable away after because of all the holes in the outer casing (scratching against the roof etc)

worked perfectly for a year though, i wouldn't think twice about using it outside tbh, if you're concerned, then wrap it with black tape or something
 
think the only thing that will effect it is sunlight degrading the coating, then it cracking. but that will take ages.

i would look at surge supressors though, i had a link to another house - it crossed the phone lines down one building which was fine until lightening hit the phone network somewhere - the surge jumped into my cat5 and it took out the a port on both switches it was connected to.
 
bledd. said:
when i was in uni (didn't have internet in halls :/ ) i made a 40 metre cat5e cable, tied me trainer to it, then launched it over the roof, and my mate pulled it into his window (we lived on opposite sides in the same building, so we had a bright blue cable going over the roof!

worked fine, and it had loads of little nicks in it, threw the cable away after because of all the holes in the outer casing (scratching against the roof etc)

worked perfectly for a year though, i wouldn't think twice about using it outside tbh, if you're concerned, then wrap it with black tape or something
Click to expand...

lol... i got some uni lan cable stories too...
used a 20m CAT5e cable as a washing line in my room, the time the dryers in the laundry room broke down and i was left with wet clothes. i never saw so many people give me dirty looks, as they were left with dripping wet clothes and no way to dry em.

as long as the outer sheath doesnt break and theres no water ingress at the ends or anywhere else there has been scrapes its ok. performance will deteriorate after a while, especially sunlight heating up the wire increasing its resistance.
 
I've just had to replace my cable that I have running from my router in the kitchen to my den outside and has stood up to 4 years of all that nature can throw at it apart from a lightening strike:D
 
i used cat5e to do a telephone extension at my parents house bcz sky needed a working phone line next to the sky box its been there for about 8 months no problems so far.
 
Works fine for years before it degrades, but it's a damn good lightning conductor too ;P
//TrX
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom