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Running ethernet & power cables


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Hi,

 

Like many I have a plethora of cables at the back of my rack, which then have to be routed to power sockets, switches etc etc. 

 

As it's impractical if not impossible to keep the cables apart in a domestic environment, is using well screened power cables such as Supra LowRad or similar, and Cat7 ethernet cables which are also screened enough to avoid issues?

 

I would very much appreciate views on the best way to deal with the issue. 

 

Thanks

 

Paul

 

 

 Innuos Zenith SE (Roon Core) > Curious USB/Upton ISO REGEN +LPS-1/USPCB> Chord Hugo TT > ATC SCM 40A

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Screened power cables are good, the Lo-RAD works as they claim, there's no field around the cable. As for sound, the Lo-RAD is bettered, perhaps another thread.

 

Ethernet is a different story. This is best UTP, whatever category you like. The reason is the shield carries leakage currents form source to destination, UTP doesn't since there's no screen. Leakage currents are hopefully strangled by differential transmissions, transformers and the like in NIC.

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I'm no expert but a power cable will generate a magnetic field around it which i'm concerned will interfere with the ethernet cable. 

 

I understand the advice is to keep data cable away from power but I can't achieve that hence the question about both being shielded.

 Innuos Zenith SE (Roon Core) > Curious USB/Upton ISO REGEN +LPS-1/USPCB> Chord Hugo TT > ATC SCM 40A

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1 hour ago, flummoxe said:

I'm no expert but a power cable will generate a magnetic field around it which i'm concerned will interfere with the ethernet cable.

That's not a problem. Firstly, Ethernet is differential so anything picked up by the cable is cancelled out. Secondly, any power line noise is filtered out by the coupling transformer.

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OK thanks for that.

 

So why is the advice to keep power and date cables away from each other as per the below?

 

"Current standards clearly define the separation between power and data cables. For instance, the minimum separation distance between unscreened power and unscreened UTP cable is 200 mm. This is reduced to 50 mm for screened data cable and to just 30 mm if the power cable is screened. Electro-magnetic interference from power cables can reduce the performance of data cables, particularly speed of data transmission" http://www.modbs.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/1654/The_wired_answer_for_power___and_data_cabling.html

 

 

 Innuos Zenith SE (Roon Core) > Curious USB/Upton ISO REGEN +LPS-1/USPCB> Chord Hugo TT > ATC SCM 40A

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15 minutes ago, flummoxe said:

OK thanks for that.

 

So why is the advice to keep power and date cables away from each other as per the below?

 

"Current standards clearly define the separation between power and data cables. For instance, the minimum separation distance between unscreened power and unscreened UTP cable is 200 mm. This is reduced to 50 mm for screened data cable and to just 30 mm if the power cable is screened. Electro-magnetic interference from power cables can reduce the performance of data cables, particularly speed of data transmission" http://www.modbs.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/1654/The_wired_answer_for_power___and_data_cabling.html

That's about large installations with cable runs potentially reaching the 100 m limit of Ethernet. The margins are obviously much smaller in such conditions, so a little separation is probably a good idea. It's also very expensive to redo the cabling should there be a problem. In a domestic setting, cables are rarely in close proximity for more than a few feet.

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