CAT5 surge/lightning strike protection recommendations?

Wed Sep 14 00:24:39 UTC 2005

>
> I have a bunch of cat5 buried about 1 ft below the surface connecting
> multiple
> buildings on a campus (short runs) and lightning strikes nearby have
> caused
> surges along one or more of the cables and burnt out switch ports. I would
> like to protect the switch ports -- there seem to be lots of products on
> the
> market.
>
> Anyone have recommendations (tested/practical is best :-)?
>
> The APC Protectnet PNET1 and PRM24 seem quite nice and not too expensive
> --
> if they work....pros? cons?
>

Adi,

Is there a reason that your between-building runs aren't being done with
Fibre?
It being non-conductive is one immediate advantage....

Also if your grounding is inadequate you may like to take a squiz at the
ISO or TIA Standards as they pertain to cabling.
In NZ we have a variety of standards which all point back to ISO, the ANSI
equivalents are TIA/EIA 568-B (Cabling), TIA/EIA-569-A (Pathways and
Spaces) and TIA/EIA-607-A (Electrical Wiring, relevant as it pertains to
Earthing etc).

Even for short runs, If I need to run between buildings externally I won't
even look at copper.

Mark.