DIY Ethernet?

b-r0ck

b-r0ck

b-r0ck

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5 Nov 2020
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Do you generally wire your own ethernet cables? Been trying to look into the regulation, and it seems fine to DIY?

How close is it safe to wire FTP CAT 6A to mains (for a couple meters)? How abut UTP CAT 6A?

For context, had an electrician put in some UTP cables, worry a couple might be too close to mains. We added a few more FTP cables (temporarily, until he returns) for APs.
 
It's not covered by any electrical regulations as it's not an electrical circuit. You still need to adhere to building regs when installing though, in terms of how you drill joists, if you penetrate fire barriers etc.
 
CAT6 is also fine, even 5e will do 10gb over the distances normally found in a house.

6a is very stiff and has extra earthing requirements and everything else associated with it is more expensive for little real world gain.

it’s also fine to run alongside power cables for reasonable distances.
 
Caged said:
It's not covered by any electrical regulations as it's not an electrical circuit. You still need to adhere to building regs when installing though, in terms of how you drill joists, if you penetrate fire barriers etc.
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Yeah, this was what I gathered too. The FTP cables do carry PoE to the APs, but it's SELV (as far as I understand) meaning it should be good either way.
 
brodlum said:
Do you generally wire your own ethernet cables? Been trying to look into the regulation, and it seems fine to DIY?

How close is it safe to wire FTP CAT 6A to mains (for a couple meters)? How abut UTP CAT 6A?

For context, had an electrician put in some UTP cables, worry a couple might be too close to mains. We added a few more FTP cables (temporarily, until he returns) for APs.
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The issue isn’t the network affecting the mains, it’s the mains affecting the network. RF interference from the mains can, theoretically, disrupt data transmission and increase resends, thereby slowing down your network.

I specify installs of networking cables in domestic properties for a living and it’s fairly pointless going over CAT6 (10GbE). If you want to future-proof, run fibres and terminate into switches with SFP/SFP+/SFP28/SFP40/SFP100 converters to match however fast your network is running at. I have seen media servers in very large homes almost max out a 25Gbps port but we were REALLY trying!
 
WJA96 said:
The issue isn’t the network affecting the mains, it’s the mains affecting the network. RF interference from the mains can, theoretically, disrupt data transmission and increase resends, thereby slowing down your network.

I specify installs of networking cables in domestic properties for a living and it’s fairly pointless going over CAT6 (10GbE). If you want to future-proof, run fibres and terminate into switches with SFP/SFP+/SFP28/SFP40/SFP100 converters to match however fast your network is running at. I have seen media servers in very large homes almost max out a 25Gbps port but we were REALLY trying!
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Right, that's the direction of concern I am worried about. And primarily only regarding fire safety. Even if we drop from 10GbE to 1GbE with another 1-2ms we're not really concerned. We have a few metres of CAT6A FTP running maybe 3" parallel to power cables. Might just get the sparky to move the power cables when he's here in a few weeks, but not sure if it's worthwhile.
 
b-r0ck said:
Right, that's the direction of concern I am worried about. And primarily only regarding fire safety. Even if we drop from 10GbE to 1GbE with another 1-2ms we're not really concerned. We have a few metres of CAT6A FTP running maybe 3" parallel to power cables. Might just get the sparky to move the power cables when he's here in a few weeks, but not sure if it's worthwhile.
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CAT6A is VERY heavily shielded. You could run it in metal conduit with a 3-phase 440V cable and you wouldn’t see any impact.

There is no fire hazard. You can get low smoke cables which don’t give off clouds of black smoke when they catch fire, and that’s a legal requirement on some builds. That’s where there are hundreds of data cables running in vertical shafts and there is a hazard from smoke if the building catches fire but there is no possibility that running data cables near power cables would ever be a fire risk. You’re fine. You don’t need to move any cables. Well done by the way on actually cabling your connections.
 
bremen1874 said:
That wouldn't be an issue even with Cat5e UTP.
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Might be 2" for half a meter or so too lol. But even then, I think the 6A F/FTP is hopefully fine, and considering the sparky's got a couple lengths of the CAT 6 tangled in a mains power cable for about the same length, I'm sure he'll okay it too when he returns
 
WJA96 said:
CAT6A is VERY heavily shielded. You could run it in metal conduit with a 3-phase 440V cable and you wouldn’t see any impact.

There is no fire hazard. You can get low smoke cables which don’t give off clouds of black smoke when they catch fire, and that’s a legal requirement on some builds. That’s where there are hundreds of data cables running in vertical shafts and there is a hazard from smoke if the building catches fire but there is no possibility that running data cables near power cables would ever be a fire risk. You’re fine. You don’t need to move any cables. Well done by the way on actually cabling your connections.
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Huh, did not know that - good to know!

Our cables should all be LSZH (both the CAT6 and CAT6A F/FTP (realised they were F/FTP not just FTP)). Might switch out a couple lengths of CAT6 with the 6A F/FTP until I run out.
 
b-r0ck said:
Might be 2" for half a meter or so too lol.
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Still not an issue. It's not even into 'you shouldn't do it in theory but will usually get away with it' territory.

You're unlikely to have high-density cabling where crosstalk would be an issue or an electrically noisy environment. Anything above Cat6 is almost certainly completely unnecessary.

Hopefully, all of your Cat6a is properly grounded.
 
bremen1874 said:
Still not an issue. It's not even into 'you shouldn't do it in theory but will usually get away with it' territory.

You're unlikely to have high-density cabling where crosstalk would be an issue or an electrically noisy environment. Anything above Cat6 is almost certainly completely unnecessary.

Hopefully, all of your Cat6a is properly grounded.
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That's reassuring, thanks!

The cables *should* all be grounded, each RJ45 is showing continuity to its respective opposite RJ45, and they should be grounded via the switch
 
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