westom

The protector is for BNC (not for Cat5 Ethernet). Rated for 5000 or 10,000 amps. It will easily earth such surges if its ground wire makes a low impedance (ie 'less that 3 meter') connection to earth. Unfortunately a typical lightning strike is 20,000 amps. Wall receptacle safety ground is not earth for many reasoning including a number - 'less than 3 meters'. Protectors are rated in current because a protector must connect that current low impedance to earth. Then a surge creates no high voltage. If a $290 protector did protection, then a long list of other appliances (including the furnace, air conditioner, etc) were destroyed. If not, then the protector was, at best, doing what was done by protection already inside every appliance. Normal is to feel a nearby lightning strike while nothing is damaged. Because protection already inside every appliance makes that E-M field irrelevant. For example, lightning struck a building's lightning rod. That maybe 20,000 amps was on a wire to earth and less than four feet from an IBM PC. The PC did not even blink due to protection standard in all electronics even that long ago when internal protection was less robust. Protection inside all appliances is that good. Your concern is a current that might use appliances (ie video server) as a connection to earth. That type surge can overwhelm existing internal protection. For a Cat5 wire that exposed, protector current rating should probably be higher. However, other solutions also exist.

As demonstrated by that professional's application note, the building has an earth ground. A tower has a different ground. You apparently have same - a building ground and a camera ground. A direct lightning strike to either may act like a lightning rod connected to electronics at the other end. The app note demonstrated how both earth grounds avert that damage: http://www.erico.com/public/library/fep/technotes/tncr002.pdf Building and tower grounds in that app note are electrically equivalent to your building and camera. Each is treated as if a separate structure. Any wire inside any incoming cable must first connect short to the camera's ground before connecting to the camera. Each and every wire must also make a low impedance (short) connection to the building's center ground before entering. Then direct lightning strikes and other lesser transients need not cause damage at either end. Any one conductor violating that 'short as possible to ground' rule explains damage. If an incoming wire connects direct to earth with no protector, then protection is best. But video signals would be disrupted. A protector tries to do what copper wire does better. Without disrupting video signals. The only purpose of a protector. To make a connection to earth when a copper wire cannot make that connection. A protector only does what a copper wire would otherwise do better. Connect hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly to earth. Otherwise a protector must either absorb that energy or do nothing. Telcos also do what protects that camera and building electronics. Money is not wasted on protectors without earthing, such as the Belkin or Tripplite. If lightning causes damage, then an installer searches for and corrects his installation mistake. An investigation that begins with the only item that must always exist to have protection - earth ground. In your example, camera and building are treated as two separate structures – each with its own single point earth ground.

Cost of installing pvc pipe was probably much more than the cost of a superior and earthed protector. Best solution is to install protection the first time so that surges (typically once every seven years) do not cause damage. Not just damage to a dvr / cameras / monitor / router. Once a surge is inside a building, then anything may suffer from a destructive hunt to earth - including phones and furnace. Ethernet or Cat5 - same wire. To destructive transients, even a phone line, S-video, or AC electric is same. Any wire that enters a building must first connect low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet') to earth so that anything and everything inside a building - including all TVs - are protected. Best protectors typically cost the least. Because protectors without that dedicated earthing wire are only profit centers. Other effective solutions are also available.

Transtector is a protector with a dedicated wire for a short connection to earth. Protection Group is a family of companies well respected for their protection. Polyphaser protectors, in particular, are legendary. In every case, a protector has that earthing wire. Safety ground is not earth ground for many reasons (ie 'less than 10 feet, no sharp wire bends, ground wire not in metallic conduit, no splices, ground wire must be routed separate from other non-grounding wires, etc). Retail protectors such as Belkin or Tripplite do not provide earthing and will not discuss it. How does its 1400 joules (actually 460 joules and never more than 930 joules) magically absorb hundreds of thousands of joules? It doesn't. A joules number is provided only due to UL safety requirements. No protection claims are found in profit center protectors. A sales promoter was asked for those numbers. And again refused to provide what does not exist. Transtector and Ditek have a dedicated earthing wire. Various models can be mounted outside or just inside where an ethernet cable enters. But always so that a connection to single point earth is low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet'). Separation between a protector and electronics increases server protection. Telcos want that separation to be up to 50 meters (150 feet). Separation increases impedance - increases protection. Another reason why a surge will seek earth harmlessly through the nearby earthing system. And not destructively inside. Transtector and Ditek connect all eight ethernet wires to earth. Only effective protectors have that dedicated earth connection. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate. Other solutions for the OPs problem also exist.

His job is to promote plug-in protectors. A $4 power strips with ten cent protector parts selling for an obscene $45 or $100+. If those products were relevant to the OP, then manufacturer specifications numbers were posted that define protection from each type of surge. Where are the always required numbers? He cannot provide what does not exist. To keep everyone confused, he discusses airplanes. He only registered here because I posted here. He does this everywhere. It is his job complete with disparaging remarks. So, back to what is relevant to the OP. He claims: Page 6 of his NIST citation says something different: Protection is always about where that energy dissipates. IEEE also states same bluntly in multiple standards. For example, the IEEE Red Book: A surge current not inside a building is how all professional protection systems are constructed. OP's best solution is an IEEE recommended low impedance (ie no sharp bends, no splices, etc) connection to earth. OP needs an ethernet protector to make that short connection. Then energy is not inside hunting for earth destructively via a video server and other nearby appliances. Protection systems always have one component. Earth ground. Even that NIST citation says so on page 17: Even the NIST defines a protector without earthing as "useless". Create confusion by discussing something irrelevant: airplanes. Then nobody will demand protector spec numbers that, curiously, do not exist. OP's solution is an IEEE and NIST recommended 'diverter' from each ethernet wire to earth. Then hundreds of thousands of joules are not destructively inside the building. Protection is always about where energy dissipates. Always. Other solutions for the OP's ethernet wire, based in the same well proven concepts, are also available.

Please learn science before posting this stuff. Surges don't care if a wire is overhead or underground. Apparently you ignored the app note. Since 1970, USA wires are installed underground. And still suffer surges - as was even explained in a 1959 Bell System Technical Journal paper that studied how surges work. Your assumptions are contradicted by science proven that long ago. Even defined in an app note entitled "The Need for Coordinated Protection". If an underground wire entered without first connecting to earth ground, then all protection is compromised. Same risk created by the roof ethernet wire. Protection necessary on all overhead and underground AC electric wires is also necessary for the OP's ethernet wire. Your old and new grid assumptions even ignore surges in USA wiring that is routinely underground both before and after the transformer. How can that be? Please first learn 100 years of well proven science. Burying a wire does not eliminate surges. Same protection is required for underground utility wires as the app note so clearly demonstrated. That protection also applies to the OP's roof routed ethernet wire. Age of a grid is irrelevant - except in hearsay. Overhead or underground makes no difference. Other solutions also exist.

If that statement was from an engineer, it would say why and it would include numbers. A direct lightning strike to AC mains far down the street is a direct strike to all appliances. On any grid - two phase, three phase, European, Japanese, today's, and the on a grids that existed 100 years ago. Including Edison's DC grid. A lightning strike down the street is a direct lightning strike to everything connected to that wire. A 1979 Martzloff paper (figure puts numbers to it. A 100kA lightning strike to AC mains. 40kA is earthed by the primary protection system (which has not yet been discussed and should be inspected by every homeowner). 30kA seeks earth ground through other houses. And 30kA seeks earth via a nearby home. A direct strike to everything on that wire. Credibility means posts with facts and numbers. Not empty accusations that only insult others who bothered to first learn the science. Science, such as Martzloff's IEEE paper, says why a lightning strike down the street means earthing is critical. So that a destructive surge does not find earth destructively inside a house via cameras, the video server, and other appliances - including the furnace. A professional's app note entitled "The Need for Coordinated Protection" demonstrates why all incoming wires (including buried wires) must connect to that earth ground before entering. Because a direct lightning strike on any wire must not be inside hunting for earth destructively via appliances. http://www.erico.com/public/library/fep/technotes/tncr002.pdf Earthing necessary for that roof ethernet wire is also required by any other wire that enters a structure. That roof ethernet wire or AC wires down the street are perfect connections to appliances IF that wire is not first earthed before entering. That roof ethernet wire must be earthed (ie 'less than 10 feet') via an ethernet protector.

A direct lightning strike to AC mains far down the street is a direct strike to all appliances. So all are damaged? No. To have damage means both an incoming path (ie AC electric) and an outgoing path to earth ground must exist. Once a transient is permitted inside, then a path to earth will exist. Only the best connections to earth suffer damage. That is the executive summary. For homeowners who would do this stuff, numbers are always necessary. A destructive surge (that can overwhelm superior protection inside appliances) is typically once every seven years. A number that may vary even in the same town due to relevant parameters such as geology. Basic protection means superior protection already inside cameras is not overwhelmed. That is always about two paths – an incoming and an outgoing to earth. In the OP's case, an ethernet wire must connect low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet', no sharp wire bends, etc) to single point earth ground before entering the structure. Other solutions are also available. Every one is about how a surge connects harmlessly to earth.

You can use all the protectors you want. Will a centimeter part inside stop what three miles of sky (the best insulator) could not? Of course not. Routine is to have direct lightning strikes without damage. But that means first learning how protection works. And why a protector and protection are two completely different items. Why did lightning strike wooden church steeples. Wood was a best electrical conductor to earth. What does a lightning rod do? Provide an even better connection to earth. That wire inside a PVC pipe is now a best connection to earth - destructively via the router or server. Why does a lightning rod work? Because that protector device is connected to another (most important) item - the protection. You must do same with that PVC encased cable. So that a surge does not find earth destructively inside the house, that cable must drop down and connect as short as possible to single point earth ground (the protection) before entering the building. Best protection is a wire connected directly to earth (ie coax cable). But an ethernet wire directly connected will not conduct video data. So an ethernet protector connects all eight wires as short as possible to protection - earth. Only then does lightning use a path that causes no damage. Then you have implemented the same solution that Franklin demonstrated in 1752. Most just know a protector works by blocking surges. The myth is popular. Routinely promoted by advertising. And is a lie. Nothing (not even the PVC pipe) stops or blocks a destructive surge. Protector either connects surges low impedance (ie 'less than 10 feet') to single point earth ground. Or a protector does nothing useful. Many protection systems have no protectors. But always have a critically important part. Where do hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate? Earth ground is the only component that must always exist in any protection solution. Protectors without earthing are obscenely profitable scams. You are asking for protection; not a scam. Not some item that will magically stop what the miles of sky could not. Protection is always about where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate. Your questions begin with where all surge energy dissipates - the protection; not a protector. Your ethernet wire must first route down and connect to single point earth ground before rising back up to enter the building. Otherwise no effective protection exists - even with 30 protectors. Other solutions also exist.

Receptacle safety ground is mostly for human safety. That external ground screw is for single point grounding of all interconnected electronics mostly for noise reduction. So that ground loops and other signaling problems are eliminated. Grounding to water pipes was legal only long ago. Is illegal due to obvious human safety issues. No one ground exists. Safety ground, earth ground, and that single point noise ground are electrically different even if all are interconnected.

Let's put some numbers to that word 'insulator'. Back in 1750, lightning was seeking earth ground. A better connection to earth was wooden church steeples. Wood is an electrical conductor for that 20,000 amps. But wood is not a very good conductor. 20,000 amps through wood creates a high voltage. 20,000 amps times a high voltage is high energy. A wooden church steeple is destroyed. Franklin put a lightning rod atop that steeple. The rod does not do protection. A connection to earth and the earthing electrode do the protection. 20,000 amps via a conductive wire to earth means low voltage. 20,000 amps times a low voltage is low energy. Nothing is damaged. Everything conducts electricity. The word 'insulator' must be used in context. When discussing lightning, then everything is conductive. Just that some things (air, deionized water) are less conductive. Sometimes called an insulator. Air is one of the best insulators. And yet lightning uses air as an electrical conductor. Perspective is best defined by numbers. Numbers are critical to understanding a solution.

Quite true. Top of a mountain is not most often struck. A mountain's side is more often struck. Lightning hunts for a better path from cloud to earthborne charges. Often a streambed is struck rather than mountains on either side. Geology rather than distance is a more likely reason for lightning strikes. In FL, a house was struck repeatedly on its one wall. They installed lightning rods. Lightning again struck the wall; ignored the rods. That wall contained bathroom plumbing. Lightning rods were only earthed in sand by eight foot ground rods. The plumbing connected to deeper and more conductive soils. That earthing was improved so that lightning rods would perform protection. Lightning is not capricious. It only appears to be capricious when humans fail to learn simple principles. Most assume lightning entered on the cable wire, destroy a TV, and stops. Assume because the cable connection was destroyed. That assumption, in violation of basic science, makes lightning unpredictable. First that electric current is everywhere in a path from cloud to earth. Later, something in that path fails. In the TV example, current was not incoming on the properly earthed cable. Lightning far down the street found a best path to earth via AC electric, inside the house, through a TV, and out to earth via the cable wire. Damage was on the TV's outgoing path to earth - the TV cable connection. Surge was not incoming on the TV cable as most would assume. All three examples demonstrate what so many don't learn. And why so many assume lightning is capricious. Explains why so many would buy a magic box to do protection when its manufacturer does not even claim that protection in spec numbers. Protection always starts by defining a destructive path to earth. Then replacing that path with a more conductive and harmless connection to earth. Learn from damage. Lightning is never capricious. It's just that most homeowners forget basic electrical concepts that were taught even in elementary school science. Therefore do not learn what the destructive path to earth was. Geology is a critically important consideration when determining where lightning might strike. And how to prevent future damage.

From an article entitled "Protecting Electrical Devices from Lightning Transients" in Electrical Engineering Times, an 18 AWG (lamp cord) wire will conduct approaching 60,000 amps without melting. However, we usually use 12 AWG or larger to conduct lightning harmlessly to earth on signal wires. 6 AWG or larger for AC electric. Lightning does not strike a highest point. Lightning locates and conducts through a best conductor from cloud to earth. If that path is through a CCTV camera, then the camera is damaged. If the best connection is from a camera, through Cat 5, then through a switch, to earth inside the building, then the switch is probably damaged. Protection is never about stopping a surge. Protection is always about connecting lightning (and all other surges) to earth on a path that is not destructive. For example, this professional's application note demonstrates entitled "The Need for Coordinated Protection" demonstrates the concept: http://www.erico.com/public/library/fep/technotes/tncr002.pdf Two structures demonstrated. Both must have their own single point earth ground. Any wire entering either structure must first connect low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') to that single point ground before entering. In your case, a camera remote from the building would be a separate structure much like that antenna tower. A Cat5 wire entering that camera must first be earthed. All eight wires must connect to the camera's single point ground before connecting to the camera. Since none of the wires can connect directly, then a surge protector does what a wire would otherwise do. An example of a CAT5 protector that has a green wire for earthing. A dedicated wire that must connect low impedance (as short as possible) to the earth ground before that wire rises up to connect to the camera: http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtModelID=151 Does not matter if Cat5 wire is overhead or underground. It will still carry a surge into the building (or camera) if not first connected (every wire in that cable) to single point ground. Same solution applies to other wires entering a building. If any wire does not make that short connection to earth, then all protection is compromised. Protection means no energy is inside a building (or camera). Once energy gets inside, then it hunts for earth destructively. Your solution is always about earthing that energy before it gets inside. In a similar situation, FIOS boxes were destroyed by a lightning strike. How can this be when FIOS if fiber optic? Simple. The homeowner had all but invited lightning to enter the house. So it found earth destructively via a FIOS ONT box. Incoming on AC mains. Destructively through a computer and printer that were on a power strip protector. Then destructively through a router and FIOS boxes to earth. Once that energy is permitted inside, then nothing can stop a destructive hunt for earth. In this case, the strip protector bypassed protection inside the computer and multifunction printer. I repaired that multifunction printer by literally removing semiconductors in that surge path. Restored the printer by following the incoming and outgoing surge path from protector to FIOS interface boxes. That is how you avert surge damage. Any path that might connect to earth via electronics must be earthed BEFORE it gets to electronics. Best earthing is from each cable with a short as possible wire (12 AWG or larger). Any conductor that cannot be earthed directly by a wire (telephone, AC electric, Cat5) must be earthed by a protector. If the application note does not make it obvious, each structure must have a single point ground. All earthing must be to the same electrode. To make those two earth grounds better, the note suggests a buried ground wire interconnecting tower and building grounds. You might do same with an interconnecting ground wire between the building's single point ground and the distant camera's single point ground. This is just introductory concept. Far more may be necessary as installation details are made apparent. But the concept applies to all surge protection. Either the surge is earthed harmlessly by the lowest impedance connection. Or that surge goes hunting for earth destructively via electronics. Protection is always defined by a connection to and quality of earth ground. A protector is only a connecting device. Does what a direct wire connection might otherwise do.