boosting network traffic on longish Ethernet run

I have two 150’ runs of new Cat5e ethernet cable between the house and the barn, for a remote backup to be plugged into the barn end. The house end of these runs terminate in my 10/100 switch. Some network devices (like a wireless access point) appear to work fine out there, and the backup disk drive works when it’s in the house, but when it’s plugged into the far end of one of these runs, it works poorly. I can read and write files but not for long before the connection breaks. I can access the unit’s config web page but it sometimes loads slowly.

I am guessing I have a signal attenuation problem and that the transciever drive electronics in the backup disk are relatively weak. I know that there is also a length limit having to do with packet delay, but I think 150 feet is too small for this to be the issue - and also I think packet delay would affect any device I put out there, though I’m not sure about this one.

Is there something I could put at either end of this run to warm things up a little bit? Since the drive does work some of the time, I presume I’m close to success already.

While we’re on the subject, it’d be nice to have some kind of lightning and surge protection at either end of this run. Or if not that, then something cheaper than my drive or my switch to take the hit.

I know about adding a relay device in the middle of the length (though maintaining this in a garden sounds like a bit of a hassle), and I have heard about fiber optic and other devices, though pulling new cable and spending many hundreds of dollars sounds unpleasant.

Any suggestions from the Dopers? Thanks!!

Unfortunately, it sounds like you might have a bad cable somewhere. First, try replacing each RJ45. Second, consider a new run.

100BASE-T attenuation is 100 meters (328 feet). I’ve personally had 300 foot runs work fine at 100Mbps.

How about a small 4-port switch in the barn? They are down to about $30 these days, and then you can use short jumpers to your other devices. Just remember to only use one cable between the switches.

The length doesn’t really sound like it’s too much; perhaps check the ends?

Way back when I soldered together some old, short lengths of CAT5 to make a long cable to feed Mp3s to my parent’s living room. No surprise the cable sucked, but while most 10/100 devices didn’t even light up, if I plugged my 10Mb hub on the end of it everything seemed to work 100% (albeit much slower, but who cared).

The theoretical maximum length for an Ethernet cable is 100 meters, or a metric noodge more than 300 feet, so your 150 foot runs shouldn’t be a problem. Doesn’t matter the speed - whether it’s 10 Mbps 10baseT or Gigabit 1000baseT, it’s 100 meters.

That said, everyone’s probably on the right track thinking that the end connections are iffy. How are the connections done? To be proper, the ends of the cables need to punched down into RJ45 jacks, and “patch” cables connect from the jacks to the devices. Yes, there are plugs that can be crimped onto a cable, but, and it’s a biggie - you have to find plugs that are designed for the solid wire in the cable, as opposed to the stranded wire in patch cables. Stranded wire plugs will work for a while on solid wire, but will eventually cause grief.

How about the run of the cables? Kinks can screw things up, and if you used staples to hold the cable in place, those are almost guaranteed to cause problems. If you used the rounded-top staples, there’s still a good chance that you nicked the cable or even slipped up so far as to put a staple through the cable. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve done this, and yes, it ruins the cable.

Back to that “theoretical” up above. It is entirely possible that your equipment (I’ll assume it’s “SOHO” grade stuff as opposed to enterprise grade) can’t push the signal out as far as it should. Unfortunately, there’s no good fix for that other than to try putting a hub in the middle of each cable run. There are at least PoE (power over ethernet) devices that will let you inject power into the cable at the house end and extract it wherever the hub is located, saving you from running electricity to some far-flung spot. These things cost about $60 a set, plus the cost of a hub, and you’d need one of each per cable.

For a 150-foot run, WiFi should be a plausible option, especially if you have clear line of sight between the two ends.

As for protection - there are surge protectors for Ethermet cables. These beasties will cost you about $40-80 each, and it’s up to you to connect them to an earth ground.

Thanks, all. I’ll try replacing the punchdown jacks and the patch cords, and then try putting a hub between the device and the cable end. I can also reduce the length of the run by 25’ at one end and maybe 40’ at the other end if I build a hub into a little box and run an extension cord, maybe that’ll do it.

I did use staples to mount the cable. I’m certain I didn’t drive any through the cable and am fairly confident that I can still slide the cable to and fro at every staple, it being at worst a little snug but not visibly flattening the cable.

There must be some kind of little repeater whose only job is to help a run be longer, right?

When I search for “ethernet extender” I get bridges, for some reason - though manufacturers call a bridge a bridge, vendors seem to call them extenders.

So, the measurement part of my experiment involves moving various ethernet-enabled devices out to the barn and accessing them in different ways to see if their user interfaces seem slow or if they malfunction. This is a very klunky way of doing what’s really an analog measurement. Is there a better way that doesn’t involve hundreds of dollars or worse? Note that I obviously don’t have an outright short or open circuit here, as the thing does work somewhat.

Thanks again for all the help!