ideas for long distance controls

[86turbodsl]

Just an option. I picked up a couple of fiber converters and 300' of fiber pre-terminated on ebay for like $65.

There's no reason that wouldn't work if you needed IP connectivity out there.

 

[JayH]

I'm all for the trenching/conduit also - make sure you do your homework first because 2,200' of conduit needs some serious planning:

* Diameter (3/4" or 1") depending on what you may want to do in the future. If you are doing that much work I wouldn't put in 1/2";

* Run distance between pull boxes. Just because you can get a 1,000' foot box of Cat 5 doesn't mean your pull/splice points are that far apart. There are very practical limits and will be limited by the number of bends and number of wires being run;

* 4 90-degree bends max on a single pull and plan on using a lot of cable grease. Remember these are sweep 90's and not hard 90's;

* You will have 2 splice points for Cat 5. Plan the boxes accordingly so you can get from your HA gear to the first box with an intermediate splice. If you run fiber, just make sure you have a straight-through pull in the box and don't force a 180 degree bend;

* The non-metallic conduit (PVC) is available in 10' and 20' lengths with flared ends for joining, you may have to look for the 20'. Also since you don't truly need electrical rated "conduit" you can probably consider 20' Schedule 200 sprinkler pipe for the long runs;

* Be careful on the joints, you need enough solvent to make sure they seal but no so much that you create an "edge" or incursion inside the pipe.

* Consider a ferrite donut or other surge suppression at the entry points. 2,200' is a lot of distance to pick up lightning or other undesirable interference when the zombies attack;

* Patience on the pull. If something binds and you pull too hard you can easily damage the Cat 5 with runs that long.

Good luck!

Jay

 

[pete_c]

BTW -

I added some PVC (1.5") while my sprinkler system was being installed (6 runs-50-125 feet) for approximately $100. I watched and it seemed pretty easy and straight forward with the trenching machine. Two runs under sidewalks were the most time consuming involving some manual efforts. The trenching machine/operator only cut one cable in their efforts (BB).

Without a machine I had two trenches dug on my property some 250 feet plus (5 feet at the deepest parts) for less than $1000.00 each. (2 people digging about 1 week or so each trench and price includes 8" tubing). Today (3 years later) I cannot tell where these trenches are. (so you could cut a deal with manual laborers for said endeavor that might even be cheaper than renting a machine?). The concern while digging these two trenches were the already "installed" sprinkler system lines and other infrastructure (electric, telephone and cable) and other PVC's that were done prior to these two trenches.

If you had the trench dug and open you could take your time with the PVC / cabling efforts. (I've had my landscapers pull cable on a "few" of my runs though).

 

[signal15]

For wireless, check out these: http://www.ubnt.com/bullet

They are cheap, and they work awesome. As far as burying cat5, don't use conduit. Just go to monoprice and get the stuff that is direct-bury. If you need a PC at the remote end, you could get this:

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/c-4-guruplugs.aspx

 

[ChrisS]

Correct Neil, The UPB part I used was not HAI, it was the IO Module by Simply Automated. Works perfect as I think I have used one of them with about 80% of my HAI installs.