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I am sitting on a beautiful and relatively new patio in my back yard. When installing the concrete patio, one electrical conduit was installed to run power out to the gazebo. This coming week it will be installed.

I’m thinking I would like to also run a Ethernet cable, too. I like the idea of a WiFi access point out here.

I know all the experts say don’t run low voltage and high voltage together because someone might run a nail or something into both, but we are talking conduit here, no nails will ever be a factor.

My main concern is RF shielding. Will CAT6 give a good solid 1G connection, or do I need something better shielded?

isherwood
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Sam Carleton
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7 Answers7

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Barring you bother to source high-voltage rated Cat5e or Cat6A, sharing a conduit with line voltage is a clear and blatant code violation. It's got nothing to do with nails. You should have put in two conduits, or three to cover the unknown next thing. Cat5e will carry full gigabit the same distance that Cat6 or 6A will.

If you are committed to a cable solution, "all dielectric" (no conductive members) fiber optic would be the best choice and code compliant.

Either type of cable needs to be wet-rated as all exterior conduits are wet by definition (and in reality.)

Your least expensive effective option would be a pair of high-quality 802.11ac point-to-point links if there is a clear line of sight from the building with networking to the gazebo.

You could also try a pair of those "powerline ethernet adapters" but I can't say I recommend them.

Ecnerwal
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Given that gazebos are made from a lot of air, there's a chance your wireless will reach there.

Go out there with a chair, and see how well it works at this point. If you get a good-enough signal then go with that.

Criggie
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I suggest direct burial fiber optic cable. It's not terribly expensive, immune to electrical interference, and you don't have to worry about incorrectly grounded shielded cables. You would need two media adapters to convert from copper to fiber and back.

longneck
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One answer I can give is that either the suggested non conductive fiber or pure WiFi link is the correct way to go - avoid any wired approach. Everybody forgets the damage lightening does, and as soon as you take electricity from one building to another, lightening is attracted to the difference in charge that builds up between them. Your equipment will pay the price if you use wire to connect the Ethernet.

Bob has done this before
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As others have cited the code violation, I won't repeat it. So, you cannot bundle the wires together, but you CAN send Ethernet over the power line into the gazebo. Google "Ethernet over power" and you will see what I am talking about. I am using this setup to get Ethernet to my barn/cabin which is 200+ feet from my house. I get a good enough signal out there to hold Zoom meetings, watch YouTube videos, etc. without buffering. This works better than the AP I previously had setup outside pointing towards the barn.

RGoers
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I can't speak to codes but I can tell you that you will likely never notice any interference issues. When I was in the military we used to bundle unshielded cat5e cables with the main lines coming out of 15kw generators and I've never heard of a connection having interference. That being said you should use shielded cable because it's what is called for in that situation and it's better safe than sorry.

Alternatively they make exterior ethernet cable that can be buried outside of a conduit so you could just run it as a separate line.

jesse_b
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WiFi transmitters are the way to go IMHO. I've linked two buildings with a pair of these (TP-Link Long Range Outdoor Wifi Transmitter – 5GHz, 300Mbps) and they work great. Have also found Ethernet over Power to work indoors but I don't think you want to expose an unprotected area to a direct ethernet link (as others have pointed out).

drjrt
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