CAT5 to the House

[Dazz_4130]

Hi Gazers,

i live in a Flat and my garden is 70M away, which i use a very long cable to reach.  im wanting to get set up more indoors so i do not have to stand in the garden evening when not doing visual observations any would like to know what other people do if they have long runs im currently thinking of doing the following Scope+Utility's into a powered 7 port USB hub, from their connected to a USB to CAT5 cross over , cat5 cable to Power line internet hub extender > other end of extender in the house with cat 5 cable to cat5 to usb into my laptop next to a cosy fire!  has anyone done this set up before? does it work? any issues u had?

 

Thx in advance 

[MarkAR]

I looked into those USB Eternet adapters and I don't think they work.

I ended up getting a Raspberry Pi, loaded with Astroberry and set it up as a Lan connection (rather than Ethernet) to my MacBook. I currently have 20m cable but you can easily go up to 100m.

I also contacted Lindy and they recommended a CAT6a cable. 

[gilesco]

1 minute ago, MarkAR said:

I looked into those USB Eternet adapters and I don't think they work.

I ended up getting a Raspberry Pi, loaded with Astroberry and set it up as a Lan connection (rather than Ethernet) to my MacBook. I currently have 20m cable but you can easily go up to 100m.

I also contacted Lindy and they recommended a CAT6a cable. 

Get one that is rated as suitable for external use.

I personally have a reel of Cat6 external rated cable and crimp the RJ45 ends myself when I need a new cable, it is a lot cheaper than purchasing pre-fabricated cables.

[szymon]

Set up a mini pc with all your astro software, then connect to it remotely.  This article has a lot of relevant ideas.

https://darkskies.space/mobile-remote-imaging/

[MarkAR]

Remote via Wifi is one way out but when I tested the Raspberry (using as a server only) it took around 8 seconds to download an image whereas my Lan connection is about 0.2 seconds. 

You can always use Wifi, run everything on a Rpi or mini computer and connect via VNC to remotely control everything. Images saved on a USB drive can then be transferred to main computer.

Edited September 10, 2020 by MarkAR

[7170]

I would agree with @szymon, setting up a mini pc on the rig is the way to go with a 70m distance. The only way I would ever consider extending USB over that sort of length is using something like a StarTech USB extender over gigabit LAN, but they are very expensive >$500 for a 4 port version, and are 100m limit @USB2 speed I think. Maybe they have better ones these days.

[DaveL59]

20 hours ago, Dazz_4130 said:

Hi Gazers,

i live in a Flat and my garden is 70M away, which i use a very long cable to reach.  im wanting to get set up more indoors so i do not have to stand in the garden evening when not doing visual observations any would like to know what other people do if they have long runs im currently thinking of doing the following Scope+Utility's into a powered 7 port USB hub, from their connected to a USB to CAT5 cross over , cat5 cable to Power line internet hub extender > other end of extender in the house with cat 5 cable to cat5 to usb into my laptop next to a cosy fire!  has anyone done this set up before? does it work? any issues u had?

 

Thx in advance 

 

I expect you'll find that those USB-RJ45 are not LAN converters but simply allow you to use a length of network cable to extend between USB connected devices. Even if they were LAN converters they'd not work as the powerline adaptors won't have drivers and neither would the USB hub so they'd not operate and form a link. You also wouldn't be able to connect a 70m LAN cable between them as the signal wouldn't be strong enough to make a reliable link and speed would drop significantly even if it did manage to connect.

Simplest way would be a LAN cable out to the rig and appropriate gear at the remote end to serve the scope etc as others have mentioned. Network-USB hubs are available but not cheap and I've yet to see a USB3 one in the flesh but Digi and others do solid USB2 versions. I've a couple from Maplin some years back, more consumer than business version, that are fine for serving things like a scanner or webcam across the network. Was thinking I'd use one remotely for the sky camera if I switch to a USB camera later on.

Edited September 11, 2020 by DaveL59

[Carbon Brush]

The mains ethernet adapter may or may not work. The signal is seriously attenuated by cable capacitance. You are looking at a long run of mains cable, and it may well have higher core to core capacitance than the twin & earth around your house. Some years ago I tried this type of device for a run between house and observatory, and it failed. That was using an armoured cable, which you would expect to be better for capacitance than an extension reel. If you want to give it a try, buy a 100M roll of mains cable. No need to unravel it. Just dig out the end at the centre. Put the adapters at each end and see what sort of data rate you can manage.

My solution was a high gain wifi antenna on the observatory to a 'normal' conveniently placed router in the house. The outdoor antenna is course weatherproof and fastened to the observatory. For you it may mean another tripod outside to hold the antenna.

HTH, David.

Edited September 11, 2020 by Carbon Brush

[iapa]

On 10/09/2020 at 12:13, Dazz_4130 said:

Hi Gazers,

i live in a Flat and my garden is 70M away, which i use a very long cable to reach.  im wanting to get set up more indoors so i do not have to stand in the garden evening when not doing visual observations any would like to know what other people do if they have long runs im currently thinking of doing the following Scope+Utility's into a powered 7 port USB hub, from their connected to a USB to CAT5 cross over , cat5 cable to Power line internet hub extender > other end of extender in the house with cat 5 cable to cat5 to usb into my laptop next to a cosy fire!  has anyone done this set up before? does it work? any issues u had?

 

Thx in advance 

I have a ELCB (or whatever they are called today) on the power to my mount, the various power link devices I have tried don't work with it in circuit.

I resorted to a 5GHz 3 node mesh network, one at the window nearest mount, one about half way and the 3rd by the mount - yes I had to run separate power for the middle one.

My final alternative was outdoor grade cat 6, alongside the power line to the mount, to an 8 pot gigabit switch. There's a stick PC controlling the mount with wifi connection to one of the mesh nodes. 

Edited September 12, 2020 by iapa