Burying an ethernet cable across the yard, how do I do it?

[Owen Lucas]

I love the chainsaw idea. Video the sequence

I'm not sure if you want to watch the carnage or think this is a good idea for a video.

Are you going to put it in conduit?

Whatever you end up doing, I'd use direct burial wire. Has a much stronger jacketing that's meant to be buried without conduit.

I didn't know there was a class of "direct burial" wire, I will definitely opt for this.

I installed cameras 15 years ago via buring regular wire that are still working, who knows for how much longer though. When the cameras failed I removed the shrink wrap on the BNC (that old) and DC connectors, they still looked like new!

View attachment 283587

Interesting tool, I'll look into it, much safer than taking a chainsaw to the soil lol.

I personally would go at least 6" down. You wouldn't want issues down the road with using lawn equipment like a core aerator, for example.

Good point, I do have my lawn aerated.

If you must used copper, make sure you get shielded cable and properly ground it.

Since I'll be installing PoE cameras, they need electricity to power the camera, so I cant do fiber unfortunately. I'll look into grounding and I guess the switch will be a sacrificial component at this point.

I managed a number of line of sight laser systems, FSO heads, and always optied for a fiber connection to the inside for lightening protection.

Line of sight laser sounds awesome, but I need to power the camera somehow as they will be in the middle of a backyard and far from the house.

He hasn't shared what kind of conditions the ground is, soft turf or compacted ground. And I concur with wwilson about addressing grounding issues.

$60/4 hours to rent at Home Depot:
View attachment 283592

I think we found the solution. I hope I can get this into the CRV or on / off a truck. I'll have to see how heavy it is.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/rental/E-Z-TRENCH-Cable-Installer-Rental-TP400CL3/316821423

 

[rijndael]

Line of sight laser sounds awesome,

Just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting it as a solution for you. It's an enterprise solution. I am suggesting buried fiber optic cables though. You can even buy them pre-terminated.

 

[kschachn]

Yeah I've done this with a tamper/ shovel. Stab down, flex the handle so the sod moves sideways, stuff the cable in by hand. If it's under the sod it's relatively protected. I used "ordinary" cat 5 probably 15 years ago to run out to my garage and it's still doing fine.

Same here.

 

[92saturnsl2]

This is on my to do list, run 75' of CAT5 to my shop. Presently I'm using a powerline adapter; the shop electrical panel is run to the house panel, but I only get about 30Mbps out of a possible 1Gbps.

Definitely use direct burial rated wire.

 

[rekit]

I put two blades with a spacer on my edger, worked great!

 

[JMJNet]

I know the topic is burying ethernet cable.
The purpose is for PoE camera.

Why don't you use Wireless camera instead.
They are relatively cheap now and easy to install and monitor.

 

[Pablo]

I know the topic is burying ethernet cable.
The purpose is for PoE camera.

Why don't you use Wireless camera instead.
They are relatively cheap now and easy to install and monitor.

I’m interested in this!

 

[Owen Lucas]

I know the topic is burying ethernet cable.
The purpose is for PoE camera.

Why don't you use Wireless camera instead.
They are relatively cheap now and easy to install and monitor.

I'd love to, but the main issue is getting power to the right spots. I'm really into surveillance cameras as a hobby and want to set up a system that covers the perimeter of my property. Ideally, I'd have some cameras watching the street traffic and others giving me a wide view of the entire house, its going to be like 1984 on the outside.

 

[melk]

Not to totally derail the thread but what cameras are you looking at? I run Reolink

 

[Owen Lucas]

Not to totally derail the thread but what cameras are you looking at? I run Reolink

I'm partial to Amcrest though I understand many DVRs are made by "The Big Two" Chinese manufacturers, Hikvision and Dahua, making about 90% of IP cameras on the market.

For this setup I will probably run 16+ cameras with Blue Iris software to monitor possibly 2 DVR units along with IR illuminators.

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-Dual-Lens-Detection-Panoramic-IP8M-DLB2998EW-AI/dp/B0D2SB4CCS/

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-Nightvision-Detection-Deterrent-IP8M-2796EB-AI/dp/B0BMW4M484/

What I'd really love to have are some FLIR PTZ dome cams but they can cost $5k - $20k+!

Here's a unit going for $10k:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/285142149930?

 

[JMJNet]

If you insist on doing it.
Here where I live, I probably hired people who fixes sprinkler because they can dig a trench very fast even manually with shovel.

You can probably find those people and pay them reasonably to do it for you in your area.
Hire the worker ask them to come when they are not working not the company that they work for.

 

[Rand]

That trencher wire tool is 3.5" depth. and weighs about 170#
If you are going to rent a machine might want to get a bigger one that can get below 3.5"
or get a manual trencher tool (like a shovel) once you get it started its not bad.

I really like my unifi gen 6 AI cameras but at $200 each it might get spendy.

 

[RaymondP]

Climate will be a factor. If in a cold state, be sure to bury below the frost line - 18" to 24".

 

[wag123]

Climate will be a factor. If in a cold state, be sure to bury below the frost line - 18" to 24".

Why? The cable won't freeze or be affected by cold.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

The Comcast, AT+T fiber and AT+T DSL guys all did the same thing at my FL house. They used a shovel to open up a shallow slot, pushed the cable down with a broom stick and stepped on the top to close it up. Not deep, but really fast. It's been 100% trouble free.

Just had cable guy do this in yard a week back. We complained about poor reception and they came out and replaced with new wire. Two days later sent the guy to put it in ground exactly like in the video. Neat tool they have. Satisfied us.

 

[RaymondP]

Why? The cable won't freeze or be affected by cold.

If the ground freezes and thaws it can result in movement over time unduly stressing and ultimately damaging the cable.

 

[kschachn]

If the ground freezes and thaws it can result in movement over time unduly stressing and ultimately damaging the cable.

Perhaps, but I’ve had an Ethernet cable buried like this in Wisconsin for about 20 years so far and it’s been fine - as far as I can tell. Will it fail someday? Maybe, but I’ll either bury another one or just use some sort of wireless device.

 

[Pew]

Personally I'd put it in some sort of conduit. If you gotta redo the line in the future you only need to pull it out, not dig it back up and protects against accidental chainsawing.

 

[wwillson]

Personally I'd put it in some sort of conduit. If you gotta redo the line in the future you only need to pull it out, not dig it back up and protects against accidental chainsawing.

My local cable company puts all buried coax in thick walled conduit now. The installer said it reduces "shovel" repairs by 99%.

 

[supton]

Maybe this year I'll pull up my RG6 coax--it's down about an inch and has been in the ground for a few years now. I figured it was cheap enough that I could replace it every few years and it would take decades before approaching what direct bury rated coax would cost.

I did lose one a year or two ago, but it was coupling that I had wrapped tape around and left on the ground--not sure what I was thinking--cut it back many feet to get to good coax and crimped on a new connector.