Although WiFi connection has become a common way for people to get access to network, it has several downsides that can’t be solved by now, such as narrow coverage of WiFi signal. Actually, wired cabling is a rather more reliable way to get higher bandwidth for data transmission as well as more resistant to electromagnetic interference. As to wired cabling, one thing with which you might confront is outdoor deployment. There are several things you should know before you dive head first into the world of outdoor wired cabling deployment. Today we’ll talk about how you can accomplish outdoor applications deployment.
1. High temperature is a main problem you need to overcome
Outdoor deployment means all the devices are exposed under the sunshine for a long time, and the internal temperature of devices increase as the time flows, which may affect the electrical components within and their lifespan will decrease, especially when they are in use. Moreover, excessive heat can even lead to a leakage in the integrated circuits of microprocessors. Most likely the mode of failure would be a premature failure of the power supply or an internal component from the heat. And this even results in fire accidentally. While anything electrical could catch on fire in some circumstance, it probably could catch on fire just as easily if you had it installed in an outdoor space.
The optimal operating temperature for most of the electrical equipment lies between 40℃ (105℉) and 50℃(122℉). Therefore, temperature control and heat reduction are extremely critical, and you are required to utilize devices with designs can stand high temperature or reduce heat to save yourself the trouble due to temperature related issues in the future.
2. Use weatherproof products or housing to protect the devices from water.
No matter you choose to bury under the ground or hang in the air, water is an unavoidable risk in outdoor deployment. It’s common knowledge that water does bad things to electronics. Water in its purest form is not conductive. Instead, it is the impurities in the water such as salts, dust, and so on, that enables it to conduct electricity. Water penetration or heavy rain may cause short circuit to devices when they are powered if these kinds of water stay in the internal component. Besides, this may lead to oxidation or corrosion if allowed to stay in place with heavy moisture for a long time. In this case, choose weatherproof products or take some measures to resist water are necessary, such as enclosure.
3. Surge protective devices can help you deal with lightning issue.
As the devices and cable are placed at outdoor environment, lightning may create bad results on the devices directly or indirectly. There is no way can prevent directly lightning strike, while this is small probability event, here we say no more. In fact, when lightning strikes near a power line, it can increase the amount of electrical current flowing to a wall outlet. This extra burst of electricity is often too much for common electronic devices, which can easily lead to power surge damage. Home or businesses may need to take extra measures of precaution to protect data communications systems from a power surge. Depending on the your needs, you are able to look into surge protection devices or grounding systems, which are the most efficient solution to limit surges generated by lightning to an acceptable level for equipment and installations.
4. It’s hard to find power supply at outdoor environment.
Generally, people are not intend to pre-install AC outlets at outdoor in the initial cabling deployment, and add new AC outlets for particularly use is complicated and time-consuming. What’s more, some locations of outdoor deployment are difficult to reach, not to speak of installing AC outlets. Some people say they can set a power sourcing unit(PSU) close to the devices for power supply. But PSU is not suitable to place at outdoor as the high temperature probably cause explosion of the PSU, which not only leads to property loss and is not safe enough for the passerby.
5.Figuring out how to choose cable is essential to deploy wired cabling at outdoor.
There are two kinds of cable for convenient outdoor wired cabling. Ethernet cable and fiber optic cable. Ehternet cables such as Cat 5e are commonly used at indoor, short and medium distance deployment. But if you choose the direct burial cable or use a conduit for your cable runs, Ethernet cable still can be a convenient solution for outdoor deployment. Nevertheless, there is specific fiber optic cable designed for outdoor deployment, this kind of cable is more durable and can withstand high temperature effectively. In short, fiber optic cable has more benefit than copper cable. For example, fiber optic cable is glass material, which doesn’t conduct electricity, so it is more secure and reduces power surges incidents.
6. Last but not the least, you are supposed to select suitable equipments with discretion in outdoor deployment.
Industrial grade solution is a good choice. You know that outdoor environment has greater possibility to withstand bad ultra low or high temperature. While industrial grade devices are used qualified components to provide better stability and reliability during operation. Generally, these devices support wider working temperature range and durable metal housing to resist strong sunlight, snow, dust, vibration etc.
Fastcabling issues various industrial grade products combined with excellent waterproof capacity to meet the demands of outdoor deployment or harsh environment deployment. All the product in this series are specially designed with one unit waterproof metal housing. Moreover, they features high security power surge protection to help protect against electrostatic discharge (ESD) events and reduce surge damage caused by lightning strike or unexpected power surge.
If you want to expand Ethernet for multiple IP devices, here outdoor waterproof PoE powered switch is recommended. It is an advanced device that integrated PSU and PD in one unit, that means it receives power and network from back-end PSE, and passthrough to front-end IP devices conveniently and safely, so it doesn’t require local power supply, which is perfect for location that hard to find AC outlet at outdoor.
What’s more, if your ready to mount IP devices are quite remote from the control room, the outdoor waterproof PoE switch with SFP. The switch provides fiber optic link, because it has one build-in SFP slots in order to connect the devices with fiber optic cable. Besides, there are 4 gigabit Ethernet ports to transmit power and networks, thus installing multiple IP devices in the same area is not a big deal. A maximum of 30W output power and gigabit network will be transmitted to your IP devices, which is ideal for outdoor applications deployment where are hard to find AC outlet.
If you have specific IP device that is a little be far away and hard to find AC power supply from devices that don’t support standard PoE, you will need some devices to provide PoE and requires to install at outdoor environment, outdoor waterproof PoE injector are perfect choice to help you. It supports PoE technology and complied with IEEE 802.3at standard to provide a maximum of 30W output power to IP devices. As to power supply issue, it is a convenient and reliable power system with wide input power range from 24V to 55V DC, which enable you to place the PSU near the injector or a little far away.
The above is the general introduction about outdoor waterproof series product, if you want to get more detailed information of specific product, please turn to the corresponding product page to find suitable devices to serve your needs. If you still have any question, leave us a comment or contact us now.
If you still have any question, leave us a comment or contact us now.
