I have added a wifi repeater to the outside of my home so that my wife can watch her critter cams. It is a POE device that runs all the way back to my router.

Would like to install this surge protector but I’m getting conflicting information on grounding it. My installation is to the side of my house, not a metal pole.

Lowest effort options first, I can:

A. Place the protector inside near where the CAT5 enters the basement. Ground to a junction box that I installed that is grounded to the house panel and rod.

B. Ground internally to a water pipe or externally to the outdoor spigot.

C. Drive a ground rod where the cable exits the house and ground to it.

D. Repeat C and also bond to to the pre-existing home ground rod. (Least preferable option, rods would be on opposite corners of house.)

  • litchraleeEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    I would say – in my capacity as a layperson engineer and not an electrician – that Option A is sufficient for distant strikes, because it provides an all-copper path from this surge protector to the ground rod, assuming your home wiring is already up to code. Option B has the issue of higher resistance (for iron piping) or being non conductive (for PEX/PVC piping). Option C has the problem that while the induced current from an indirect strike is sunk into the ground, the ground differential between this separate ground rod and the ground rod serving your network equipment, might blow up your switch. These “objectionable curents” are precisely why the NEC requires all ground rods bonded.

    So between Option A and D, the latter would have slightly lower ground resistance, but this probably isn’t worth the substantial complexity for not much increased protection against indirect lightning strikes.

    All this also applies for any sort of household device, unless you’re about to install a Faraday cage, which isn’t practical for a Wifi device. So I think your Option A is optimal here.