Best Way To Ground Rf Energy From Ethernet Network

David55555 · Aug 10, 2016

I'm not an electrician, but I am looking for some advise on the best way to drain a shielded CAT6A ethernet network in a UK house built in 1989.

I need to drain the RF energy at one end. I have finished installing in excess of 500m of CAT6A and every cable save for one goes to two CAT6A patch panels which have a small 30cm detachable ground cable designed for use in commercial environments with racks and grounding systems.

The network is in the loft, except for the drops to the sockets. It is easy for me to run a drain cable about 20 metres from the patch panels to the ceiling of the garage directly above the electrical board.

I would appreciate any advise on whether I can use the house grounding system. If this is possible I will get an electrician to do the work at the board.

DPG · Aug 11, 2016

To keep things simple I would be tempted to purchase an esd type grounding plug- a 13A plug which is fitted with a grounding post and which is normally used for grounding wrist straps etc. in an ESD sensitive environment. Crimp a ring terminal on to your earth lead coming from the patch panel and connect it to this. No risk, nothing to disconnect, simples. Daz

Lucien Nunes · Aug 11, 2016

What type of RF 'energy' are you planning to ground? Do you have a specific interference problem of known frequency spectrum to tackle? If so, this might dictate the grounding arrangement. If not, then I doubt you will need to take any special precautions or measures. The main benefit from STP cables accrues from having the shield, not by grounding it, but it should be grounded anyway, at least at one end. In commercial installations the patch panel ground is usually commoned in the rack to the supply , it may or may not have a separate connection to an earth marshalling point. If you have no power supply to anything in the patch bay to bring an earth, you can connect it to the MET.

Don't do anything weird like putting in its own rod and not bonding it to the MET, as I once saw, as this can cause electric shock by defeating the equipotential zone.

UKMeterman · Aug 11, 2016

Ok,
The 30CM ground cable is only there for safety reasons, nothing to do with the RF, in your case if you are concered run a 4mm2 bond to your MET. I am wondering why you thought you needed stp in the first place?