Connecting sites with optical fiber

[kurtmccaslin]

Here is my layout--
 
House to Barn-- 500 ft
Barn to water well-- 300 ft
Well to front gate-- 500 ft
 
I will have power at each of these sites, and would like to run a network for IP cameras and for a GC-100 at each site.
 
I will be trenching for power and water, and wanted to add a  2 inch conduit to the trench for network, however, I really don't have much expertise working with networks, none working with fiber.   I am thinking that fiber would be the best solution because it will not pick up noise from the power line, and because it avoids problems with surges.   It also somewhat future-proofs the installation.
 
Here are my questions:
 
1.  Is fiber the best solution for this application?
2.  Will this require 3 separate conduits?  (House to Barn, House to well, House to gate)  
3.  Or, can I bring the fiber out of the ground at each site, attach a media converter, extract the network signal, back to media converter and back to the next site?
4. I have seen pre terminated fiber on ebay.   My plan is to buy a terminated fiber that is too long and just coil up the excess.   This is to avoid having to field terminate.   Any problem with doing this?
5. What type of fiber is best for this application?
 
 
 
 

 

[Del91574]

1. You need to determine the cost vs. return and then consider whether or not installing a large enough conduit and supress the copper on both ends vs. installing fiber and FOC's.
 
2. Depends on topology.
 
3. I wouldn't pull the fiber out at the well unless that is just a pull point.
 
4. You need to know what you're getting, then you have to plan on what to do with the surplus. In actuality, crimp on fiber ends and the tools aren't that expensive anymore compared to epoxy types. In your case, the distances and losses involved shouldn't be a huge deal.
 
5. 62.5 multimode loose tube buffer armored cable would be my choice.

 

[pct88]

Fiber is a good idea for long outdoor runs if it is an option.  No chance of lightning transients being carried back into the house.
 
Multi-Mode fiber would work just fine for what you are doing; 2" conduit would be plenty large if not overkill.  Verizon pulled a pre-terminated SM FiOS fiber drop into my house through a 1" PVC conduit with multiple 90s...  As you note, you can buy pre-terminated fiber and have them include a pre-attached pulling eye to help prevent damage when pulling the fiber through the conduit.  Bending fiber is more likely to damage it than pulling on it, so carefully pull by hand.  Don't tug the connector off by accident!  You can daisy-chain the runs; no need to pull back a home run from each location other than perhaps for reliability in case a midpoint device gets damaged by lightning and takes out the connection to the more distant locations.
 
If the conduit will be well sealed I would even be tempted to run MM zip cord-  much cheaper than armored.  Either Zip cord or armored would be broken by misplaced digging, and if the conduit doesn't get filled with water and there are no critters allowed gnawing access zip cord should last for decades.  
 
If I were doing this I would find a simple PoE Ethernet switch, perhaps 8-port with 2GBIC ports so you can loop from one to the next.  For instance, the HP 2615 looks like it would work nicely.  PoE is handy for powering the cameras, and you can get iTach relatives of the GC-100 that run on PoE.

 

[Neurorad]

If conduit is run underground, it's good practice, I've read, to assume it will get filled with water.

That seems really far to pull anything through conduit, without some extra pull boxes in between. I'd specify every component before starting.

A quality distributor may be able to help specify. I'd learn how to terminate the fiber.

 

[tmbrown97]

500' isn't a big deal for pulling wire/fiber - extra pull boxes create extra potential for damage; and yes, in my experience, if you're running wire underground, even if in conduit, you'd still always use underground rated wire that can be fully submerged in water.
 
Fiber is a good choice for this; I'll just throw this out there though, that 500' is also doable with ethernet with a midspan repeater; I have a run I did that's 550' where it's all Cat5 - it has to pop out of the ground half way between for a midspan repeater that repeats the signal and extends the POE to an endpoint POE-powered device.  I still prefer fiber though.
 
I'd learn to terminate the wires or find someone else to do it - it's an investment that'll last for decades - might as well do it right the first time.
 
PCT's suggestion isn't bad either - using any switch with GBIC ports does give you the ability to put a switch on the fiber so it's all connected - I have some Netgear ProSafe Plus switches I use that are great and have two GBIC ports each and are POE - great for VOIP, Cameras, etc.

 

[pct88]

Another option-  underground rated coax (RG-6 is great), properly ground it for lightning protection, then put 100 Mbit converters on it such as those from Veracity http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=728077&is=REG&A=details&Q=
 
Really easy to install, easy to terminate the coax, buy a 1000 foot spool and go.
 
I will say that the Veracity units don't do well with lightning even when properly grounded-  anyone have suggestions for a more robust ethernet over coax device?

 

[wkearney99]

Fiber is excellent for between-building situations.  Mainly because it'll handle longer distances than copper AND you don't carry the lightning or voltage issues from one side to the other.  Bear in mind, however, that you will need power at each end for the converters to go from fiber back to copper ethernet.  Be sure to price out using switches with fiber interfaces already on them vs converters.  For simple stuff like a camera you hardly need more than 10mb, and those converters could probably be found pretty inexpensively.  You certainly don't need gigabit for cameras, 100mb would more than suffice.  
 
There's really nothing that uses wire that's robust enough to avoid issues with lightning.

 

[kurtmccaslin]

Thanks gents.   This is very helpful.   I am getting a scoping quote from a guy to terminate the fiber for me.
 
I am just planning to install the conduit now and will pull the fiber about a year from now when the house is built.   I will follow up with photos and lessons learned when I get it in.   For now, this will get me started.