Data cables from 1st floor down to garage. Cost?
Discussion
I need/want to move some of my homelab mess into my garage, the only issue being data connectivity. At minimum I was looking at 1 fibre and 2 Ethernet cables. My two options are -
1 - Lift the carpet in my home office (which sits on top of the garage), and somehow get the cable down. I assume holes will need to be drilled in the wall and then through the floor etc, but honestly, no idea how to actually do it properly. The home office is more forward on the garage though, so wouldn't come down exactly where I wanted them.
2 - I thought the easier/cheaper option would be to drill out from the office at the side of the house, route cabling down and along a bit to an existing (and messy - not me) hole already created for a security light. I could likely do this myself, as long as I got the right drill bits and a longer ladder, but I probably won't make a tidy job of it and I'd need to be careful to make sure the insulation into the office wasn't messed up. The hole for the security light is more less where I would also have my server cabinet.
Since I assumed 2 would be cheaper, I actually got a quote for it (from a local electrician), since I guessed they would make a tidier job. To enlarge a hole, drill another and route all the cables, and re-terminate all of it etc, they quoted an approx of £1200.
My question - is that reasonable? Or is that a 'I don't want to do it' price? Would going through the floor be cheaper/easier than I think? I would expect to do 1 would be more effort ultimately (and therefore more costly), although tidier.
1 - Lift the carpet in my home office (which sits on top of the garage), and somehow get the cable down. I assume holes will need to be drilled in the wall and then through the floor etc, but honestly, no idea how to actually do it properly. The home office is more forward on the garage though, so wouldn't come down exactly where I wanted them.
2 - I thought the easier/cheaper option would be to drill out from the office at the side of the house, route cabling down and along a bit to an existing (and messy - not me) hole already created for a security light. I could likely do this myself, as long as I got the right drill bits and a longer ladder, but I probably won't make a tidy job of it and I'd need to be careful to make sure the insulation into the office wasn't messed up. The hole for the security light is more less where I would also have my server cabinet.
Since I assumed 2 would be cheaper, I actually got a quote for it (from a local electrician), since I guessed they would make a tidier job. To enlarge a hole, drill another and route all the cables, and re-terminate all of it etc, they quoted an approx of £1200.
My question - is that reasonable? Or is that a 'I don't want to do it' price? Would going through the floor be cheaper/easier than I think? I would expect to do 1 would be more effort ultimately (and therefore more costly), although tidier.
ukwill said:
That s sounds obscene.
Just run a single fibre lc-lc between the 2 locations and terminate onto a switch (with sfp ports) at either end.
My view was that if I was paying someone, I'd just run the cables I need. I don't currently have managed switches to set up the VLAN tagging to separate certain traffic (as this is moving a Proxmox host that runs OPNsense, and the fibre is actually for the ONT and 1 Ethernet cable was for the backup 5G modem), but I could just buy two managed switches, run 1 fibre as you say and then do VLANs etc.Just run a single fibre lc-lc between the 2 locations and terminate onto a switch (with sfp ports) at either end.
I would also give me two backup Ethernet lines, if I switched the fibre on to managed switches.
Harpoon said:
£1200 does sound very hefty - does it includes re-terminating fibre cables?
It does. I can re-terminate the Ethernet stuff, but not a clue how to do fibre, and clearly don't have the tools.Perhaps not so bad then...
I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
Harpoon said:
Perhaps not so bad then...
I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
That's exactly what I've done, in fact I have 2 such pre-terminated LC fibres inside a 25mm conduit and possibly a cat5 or two as well. Just pull the LC first before you do any others!I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
theboss said:
Harpoon said:
Perhaps not so bad then...
I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
That's exactly what I've done, in fact I have 2 such pre-terminated LC fibres inside a 25mm conduit and possibly a cat5 or two as well. Just pull the LC first before you do any others!I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
Monsterlime said:
theboss said:
Harpoon said:
Perhaps not so bad then...
I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
That's exactly what I've done, in fact I have 2 such pre-terminated LC fibres inside a 25mm conduit and possibly a cat5 or two as well. Just pull the LC first before you do any others!I wonder if a ready-made LC-LC cable would fit through 25mm circular conduit? That would make for a neat install and not need fibre termination skills / equipment. Get a terminal box for each end to go over the wall hole and maybe use a short length of the rigid conduit to provide a smooth path from the terminal wall and through the wall. That assumes you have a drill which could take a 25mm masonry bit.
https://www.toolstation.com/electrical-supplies-ac...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09JN3KW1T?ref_=ppx_hz...
Hard to argue with that for the price.
I bought 100m as they have a complex route through underground ducts to a detached garage, running at 10gbps, no errors or issues whatsoever.
Out of curiosity, why the fibre?
Full on pre-terminated fibres tend to have quite a large pulling sock/boot around the connectors that doesn't bend well, obviously you can remove this if needed, but some care is required when pulling. Fibre patch cables don't have this but still need care.
I vaugely recall seeing some kits that claimed to not require additional kit to terminate fibre but unfortunately can't remember where.
If your kit has SFP+, 10GBe modules work well. Aside from a very long run (>150m) we've been using 10GBe over Cat6A with no issues.
Full on pre-terminated fibres tend to have quite a large pulling sock/boot around the connectors that doesn't bend well, obviously you can remove this if needed, but some care is required when pulling. Fibre patch cables don't have this but still need care.
I vaugely recall seeing some kits that claimed to not require additional kit to terminate fibre but unfortunately can't remember where.
If your kit has SFP+, 10GBe modules work well. Aside from a very long run (>150m) we've been using 10GBe over Cat6A with no issues.
Should be no issues running this at 10Gb Ethernet over Cat 6 for this sort of distance. I run Cat 6 cables of a similar distance from study into garage using an SFP+ transceiver in Unifi Pro MAx switch to connect to 10Gb Ethernet port on the NAS and it works perfectly. I also run another longer run over CAT5E cable from another SFP+ module on another Unifi Pro Max switch to another SFP+ transceiver on a Unifi switch in the loft which runs perfectly at 10Gb.
From what I understand, the copper SFP's for Ethernet get quite hot? And, funnily enough, the LC SFPs are cheaper (by quite a bit).
LC - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CJCFYCJL
Ethernet - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0D12P7DKW
Terminated armoured fibre is not really any different in cost to terminated, armoured CAT6.
Not done much with fibre to be fair, so if there are better SFP options, I am all ears. Am a DBA that did a CCNA 25 years ago and never renewed it.
LC - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CJCFYCJL
Ethernet - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0D12P7DKW
Terminated armoured fibre is not really any different in cost to terminated, armoured CAT6.
Not done much with fibre to be fair, so if there are better SFP options, I am all ears. Am a DBA that did a CCNA 25 years ago and never renewed it.
Armoured network cable isn’t really any harder to use than standard. If you want to make off the armour properly, then glanding it into enclosures is straightforward and needs very little in the way of tooling. Personally I wouldn’t bother with armoured: use external grade 6A so that you get a better bend radius. IIRC, Kenable sell relatively short reels.
Have never had a problem with SFP+ copper modules. The Ubiquiti ones at home have been running non-stop for about 6 or 7 years now.
Have never had a problem with SFP+ copper modules. The Ubiquiti ones at home have been running non-stop for about 6 or 7 years now.
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