(see map below please) - I have 2x buildings that share a common wall, each has its own Power Service panel / Utility Feed. (one is a 12-unit apartment complex, the 2nd is a 4-unit apartment complex). I have sch80 conduit run about 120ft from Building 1's data closet TO Building 2's data closet - and in that conduit 3x runs ~140ft each of Shireen DC-1030 cat5e connecting the two closets (DC-1030 is Outdoor rated, non-shielded, No-Drain-wire, CMR solid-awg24 with gel-tape). Both closets are on the 1st Floor. There is no POE across this data run, 1gbit data only. Building #1 has a: Netonix WS-8-150-AC, building #2 has a: Netonix WS-12-250-AC
My question is: How can i best ground / isolate the power of each data closet, at this point? (i am trying to resolve ground issues in regards to this quote) NB: i am NOT seeing data errors, just blown ports at times:
If the ground potentials of Building A and Building B are different, a ground current flows in the data line.
This is known as a ground potential difference. The voltage level of the data signals is increased or decreased by the ground potential difference, causing data transmission errors.
Here are the options / solutions i have come up with:
- #1- add a POE powered media converter ( and put it at the 712-stp end , then use a short Fiber patch cable -> SFP in Netonix sw of building #2) IE:
$56 - TrendNet POE MC / OR / $80 - from FS.com
OR
- #2- "Medical-grade" ethernet ISOLATOR ( such as this: $110 - 100mbit max blackbox amazon link / or / $163-Tripp Lite IsoBar Strip )
OR
- #3- UBNT Ethernet Surge protector (BC NO POE HERE so no Dead-Short POE issue @ switch), with ground wire going to the ground screw of the Netronix SW
AND
- #4- on the AC / power side for the input of BOTH Netonix Switches (in closet #1 and closet #2) add:
-- a- 239$ - ZERO SURGE 2r15w
OR
-- b- $150 - https://www.ametekesp.com/surgex/flatpak/flatpak-120-208v
OR
-- c- 70$ - Tripp Lite ISOBAR6Ultra Isobar 6 Outlet Surge Protector - amazon link here
(i clearly should have ran fiber in the conduit, but did not know any of this, and re-running fiber is not an option at this point). To be clear- Internet is provided via a cable modem -> Mikrotik router -> building #1's switch.
History RE: grounding / blown ports ;
2018 - 2021: Building #1 was by itself (building #2 "did not exist" until ~2022) and over these 5x years we lost 2x or so cheap chinese TP-link 8port POE switches.
2021 - 2022: We upgraded to UBNT Edgeswitch (8port POE 150w , non-unifi) that ran well for ~1.5 years, around Feb 2022 the 2nd building came online and I connected the UBNT Edgeswitch to Building #2's new WS-12-250-AC , around april 2022 the current sensors on the ws-12-250 started acting up (indicating a possible grounding issue), early may 2022 during a rain storm, half of the UBNT Edgeswitch stopped providing POE (but data continued to work on those 4 of 8x ports). 7 days ago i replaced the UBNT Edgeswitch with a new Netonix WS-8-150-AC and then found this forum and started to read up on grounding (and all of these issues make sense now!!)
Thanks for your consideration, i tried to make this short :(
I do have some contributions i will be making to this forum as well.
-james
- layout today
- building #2 netonix webGUI current sensor starting to acting up due to ground issue (most likely)
- Building #2 - total power draw, showing the current sensor WAS good for a few weeks, then started acting up due to grounding issue