Linking shed to house

oppenheimer1

Just some background information first: over the past few months, I've undertaken a small networking project to link our main house with our farm house and office some 500m apart. the main reason for this was to reduce running costs as the farm office previously had its own independent phone line. I've set up a wireless link and everything is working great so far. The farm office has an VOIP phone, wireless AP and IP security camera. The wireless link is rated for 150mbps and the max measured throughput at the moment 2mbps steady with 4mbps peak.

The set up has impressed my dad so much hes now wondering if I can extend the network further so I can install 2 cameras in the sheds so he can observe sick animals from home or his phone. Some important things to note: sheds are some 50m from the switch in the farm house (along the possible cable route). The sheds are clad with galvanised steel sheeting, the house and sheds are on the same ESB meter but have their own RCD boards and are grounded separately. What I originally had planned was to run a cat 5e cable to the shed to a switch and then to the cameras. I've read that this is a really bad idea since lightning would take out the entire network and due to the different grounds it is possible to get dangerous currents in the cables.

That leaves me with 2 options: fiber or wireless. I'm not keen on wireless as it would require another 2 nano stations and cost the guts of €100 (based on the cost of the previous install). Additionally I don't really want to put more gear on the side of the house as it already looks too much like a mobile phone base station as it stands! That leaves me with fibre. I can get 50m of preterminated duplex fibre and a pair of media converters rated for 100mbps for €70 all together.

I just want peoples opinions on whether or not they think my plan makes sense. Is fibre overkill? Or could I get away with my original plan or is it as dangerous as its made out to be?

Thanks

9726_9726

First of all, you can't run copper as it has a maximum distance of 100m nominal. As for your Nanos, they should be doing way more than 2-4Mbps. Are you sure this isn't your internet speed at the main house? The link itself might say 150Mbps on the spec sheet but a pair of Nanos at 500m should do 40-70M depending on conditions. If you can optimise the Nanos by changing channels, channel widths, etc, they might do what you want.

On the other hand a fibre run for €70 would be better than any wireless setup if done right.

oppenheimer1

9726_9726 wrote: »

First of all, you can't run copper as it has a maximum distance of 100m nominal. As for your Nanos, they should be doing way more than 2-4Mbps. Are you sure this isn't your internet speed at the main house? The link itself might say 150Mbps on the spec sheet but a pair of Nanos at 500m should do 40-70M depending on conditions. If you can optimise the Nanos by changing channels, channel widths, etc, they might do what you want.

On the other hand a fibre run for €70 would be better than any wireless setup if done right.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I haven't actually stress tested the nano link to see what the max throughput that would be possible. The figures I've quoted are the typical and peak usage loads I've put on it. I have great signal strength and clear LoS so yes you're right 50-60mbps should be possible. The intention is to link (daisychain) the sheds to the farmhouse via fibre or other solution and then via the nano station link to the main house. I was just giving those typical use figures just to show that the proposal won't bottleneck at the nanos.

The fibre at €70 probably won't be bettered. Better get the shovel out for digging trenches!

Bog Standard User

two high gain wifi antenna would do the trick without having to dig

1 at house

1 at shed

make sure it is a clear line of sight