Installing outdoor WIFI

[Donald]

As I have posted before I maintain the mostly outdoor WIFI for a church camp in CT. One section has been causing me problems on and off for a few years. Time to replace what is needed for that section. Looking for suggestions. I am pretty much sold on Unifi hardware so that's all I plan on using.

The simple view of this section is a building with power and network switches and then 4 telephone poles, the first being 150 feet from the building and the rest of the telephone poles 150 feet from each other. No power on the poles I can use. Each telephone pole needs a WIFI access point.

My current thinking is to run CAT6 cable from the building straight to the second pole. Mount a Unifi Flex switch on the second pole. Feed it with a 60 W 57V power injector. Surge protector on the CAT6 cable as it enters the building.

Then individual runs of CAT6 cable from pole 2 to pole 1, 3 and 4.

No run is more than 100m. The Unifi Flex switch can accommodate the power requirements.

A future enhancement will be to put surge protectors on each pole.

I have thought of fiber and we do have fiber between two buildings but each building has power. Running fiber to a pole would require running copper power wire to carry the POE along with the fiber.

The other option which is more work and more expensive is my own cottage is between pole 2 and 3. I could run fiber to my cottage, put a network switch in my cottage and feed all the access points from my cottage.

Other suggestions.

 

[JHZR2]

Seems that the power requirement is the biggest issue.

If the losses along all those runs aren’t excessive aid say you’re ok. There’s no way to get more power out there?

 

[redhat]

I would strongly consider fiber to your main outdoor switch versus copper CAT6. I Know you’ll have to run some electrical at first, but I never love the thought of copper being a trunk that transverses a building to outside from the lightning standpoint.

I’ve seen too much network equipment connected via copper doing and outdoor run fried by lightning.

Consider a UISP EdgePoint from ubiquiti’s lineup. It has SFP for fiber trunk and 5 POE capable RJ45 ports.

Also just thinking out loud. What about an AirMesh or PtP wireless bridge to your main pole (of course feeding the pole with power) then distributing off of that.

My thought is even if your one run is strictly power at least you wouldn’t have to do more than one run.

Sounds like a fun project!

 

[Donald]

I would strongly consider fiber to your main outdoor switch versus copper CAT6. I Know you’ll have to run some electrical at first, but I never love the thought of copper being a trunk that transverses a building to outside from the lightning standpoint.

I’ve seen too much network equipment connected via copper doing and outdoor run fried by lightning.

Consider a UISP EdgePoint from ubiquiti’s lineup. It has SFP for fiber trunk and 5 POE capable RJ45 ports.

Also just thinking out loud. What about an AirMesh or PtP wireless bridge to your main pole (of course feeding the pole with power) then distributing off of that.

My thought is even if your one run is strictly power at least you wouldn’t have to do more than one run.

Sounds like a fun project!

It's fun except a lot of pole climbing via a ladder. And I am almost 70. Putting on a RJ45 connector while 15' up a pole is no fun either. Trying to keep the runs as short as possible so no extra cable to crimp the connector on the ground. I would like a bucket truck but it's not within my $2000 hardware budget per year.

 

[Donald]

Seems that the power requirement is the biggest issue.

If the losses along all those runs aren’t excessive aid say you’re ok. There’s no way to get more power out there?

The only way to pull more power is to run 57V DC from the main building out to the telephone poles on #12 copper wire.

Pulling power off a telephone pole would mean a power meter and a circuit breaker box on the pole and monthly minimum charges.

 

[Donald]

I would strongly consider fiber to your main outdoor switch versus copper CAT6. I Know you’ll have to run some electrical at first, but I never love the thought of copper being a trunk that transverses a building to outside from the lightning standpoint.

I’ve seen too much network equipment connected via copper doing and outdoor run fried by lightning.

Consider a UISP EdgePoint from ubiquiti’s lineup. It has SFP for fiber trunk and 5 POE capable RJ45 ports.

Also just thinking out loud. What about an AirMesh or PtP wireless bridge to your main pole (of course feeding the pole with power) then distributing off of that.

My thought is even if your one run is strictly power at least you wouldn’t have to do more than one run.

Sounds like a fun project!

I do have a Unifi network surge protector where the CAT6 enters the building. And with the power I need for POE I use a Unifi 57V 60W power injector, not a POE switch port. So either easily replaced after a lightning surge.

 

[mk378]

The only way to pull more power is to run 57V DC from the main building out to the telephone poles on #12 copper wire.

You should run a separate DC power cable, but 14 or even 16 AWG will be less resistance than the four 23 AWG in parallel that is PoE on cat 6.

The rule for DC resistance is 2 wires the same gauge in parallel is equivalent to one wire of 3 gauge numbers lower.

 

[John105]

I know that at work we have never upgraded an outdoor setup when the inside building was upgraded. They were all removed.

Having an outdoor setup is very reliable, but cost prohibitive. Before my time and when they went in, I'm thinking other options were not available nor cost effective.

For example, today, a hotspot that can support 15-20 users costs $35/mo. unlimited, and unlimited slows down at 60 gb. We used to talk about 5 gb when outdooor wifi was installed.

When cellular is no good in said outdoor locations, we then start installing pep waves which sends the cost into the stratosphere at $200/mo. 5X as much. But, still way cheaper than hardwiring outdoors.

 

[Donald]

I know that at work we have never upgraded an outdoor setup when the inside building was upgraded. They were all removed.

Having an outdoor setup is very reliable, but cost prohibitive. Before my time and when they went in, I'm thinking other options were not available nor cost effective.

For example, today, a hotspot that can support 15-20 users costs $35/mo. unlimited, and unlimited slows down at 60 gb. We used to talk about 5 gb when outdooor wifi was installed.

When cellular is no good in said outdoor locations, we then start installing pep waves which sends the cost into the stratosphere at $200/mo. 5X as much. But, still way cheaper than hardwiring outdoors.

This is a church camp set on many many acres with about 35 cottages and many common buildings such as a dining hall and chapel. People stay in their cottage from a few weeks to a few months over the summer. Closed in the winter. Cell service not that great. So over the past several years we installed outdoor WIFI access points on most telephone poles. We have run a lot of CAT6 cable with a messenger wire along the telephone poles. Getting POE to the access points is a challenge. All of the power comes from two buildings (common buildings) that are connected by a multi mode fiber backhaul I ran.

This one section of 4 telephone poles in a row has caused me problems on and off for a couple of years.

I have a 1000' spool of CAT6 outdoor cable. So I think I will run new cable from the dining hall to the second pole. Put a Unifi Flex switch on the pole. From there I can hit all 3 of the other poles with less than 100M of CAT6. If I feed the Unifi Flex switch with 60W 57DC I can power the switch and 4 Unifi access points.

A few people have their own internet but the fees are a lot to have internet for a few weeks or a month or two.

And with the WIFI I have setup people can walk around the camp grounds roaming from access point to access point.

 

[Donald]

One thing I have been recently been looking into is the ezex44 RJ45 connectors from Platinum is that they only support POE+ and I need more power than that.

Looking at RJ45 connectors from trueCable that support POE++.

Last year I found a ezex45 RJ45 connector that failed and was a little burned/melted in a Unifi 57V 60W POE injector. I am wondering if the ezex44 RJ45 not able to handle more than POE+ is the reason.