Imagine the incredible loss you would suffer if one day, you lost all your electronics. This is what can happen with a bit of thunder and lightning causing a power surge through your power lines or ethernet cable. Lightning arresters are installed on many power line, but they’re not always enough to save you, Take additional measures to protect yourself by installing an ethernet surge protector.
There are several different standards for ethernet cables, each of which require their own specific model of surge protectors. CAT5 cables are the oldest and slowest, with a maximum speed of 10/100 megabits per second (Mbps), also known as fast ethernet, and up to 100 megahertz (MHz) bandwidth. You’ll only see CAT5 cables in older installations, as there are several newer models. CAT5e, its replacement, is currently the most common cable in new installations. Not only is it faster, carrying data at 1000 Mbps and 100 MHz bandwidth, its design is also better at removing crosstalk, or confusion of different signals traveling over the same circuitry. And then there’s the new gold standard, CAT6, which again is ten times better, with 10 gigabits per second (that’s around 10,000 Mbps) and 250 MHz bandwidth. CAT6 is the ideal choice if you want to future-proof your network connection (in other words, prevent it from becoming obselete any time soon), and it isn’t that much more expensive than its predecessors – but it does require the use of a CAT6 surge protector.
Regardless of the speed your connection, choose an appropriate network surge protector. They are not backwards or forwards compatible, so choose accurately.
Now, choose where along your network setup you want to install the surge protector. This all depends on what is the most important to save. For the most security, install the protector at the first point of entry into your home, though you can also install it further along the line, if protecting a specific computer is more important. You can even install multiple protectors at different points along the line, but know that each additional ethernet surge protector will result in some signal degradation.
Next comes grounding. This is easily one of the most important steps in the process. The ethernet surge protector works by rerouting the power surge coming through the cable, and so it needs somewhere to re-route to – specifically, it needs to send the power surge to the ground. There are several different methods of grounding an ethernet surge protector, depending on the design of the protector and your space.
One of the most common ways solves both the problem of mounting and grounding: a DIN rail. DIN rails are metal rails that are commonly used for mounting circuit breakers and other industrial control equipment, including computer networks. DIN rails should automatically be set up to be grounded. Ensure that yours is. If your surge protector is compatible, installation and grounding is as simple as snapping the box into place. This is a very popular option, as it’s very easy and absolutely ensures grounding, as DIN rails have low impedance to grounding.
If your protector doesn’t use a DIN rail, or you don’t have one set up in the place you’ll be installing the protector, you’ll have to use an alternate grounding method. One of the most common is a separate ground wire. The ground wire can be attached to a uninterruptible power supply, which should have a ground screw. Alternately, some will use a ground lug system.
After the box is installed, all that’s left is to hook up your cables. Insert the male end of your cable into the box’s female connector, and the box’s male connector into the wall, router, or wherever else it’s being installed.
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