How to route ethernet along the outside wall to gateway

[godbreath]

I have a spare ethernet cable close to the Tesla Gateway, but unsure what is the best way to connect to it. The gateway is outdoors, so I am worried about how to weather proof the entire thing for rain. Would it be okay to just punch out a hole on the bottom of the gateway and run the ethernet through there? Or would I have to put everything inside a conduit?

Here is a picture of my current setup. The ethernet cable comes out of the house in the blue box.

 

[wwhitney]

Entering the GW from the bottom through a KO with a cable gland seems like a good choice. You'd need an Ethernet cable type that's designed for exposed outdoor use--weather resistant, UV resistant, etc.

Or you could use a short sleeve of LFNC or LFMC terminated in a KO at the bottom of the GW. You'd still need weather resistant Ethernet cable, but I guess you could skip the UV resistance that way. I don't think this approach gains you much, other than physical protection of the Ethernet cable.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[linux-works]

why not use a wireless bridge to connect 2 lan cables (that use wifi to wifi as a link). I use that to cross a room boundary where I can't drill a hole. its called bridging (also other terms but that's the main one). wireless bridge.

 

[ATPMSD]

If you run the wire be sure to use a weatherproof service entrance (knock-out) connector.

 

[miimura]

I just did this myself. I ran 1/2" NMC from the Gateway to the Telephone point of entry box. I had to drill through the stucco to get into that wall space. The point of entry box had two unused Cat6 cables leading back to my structured wiring box. Total material cost $37. I even have a spare knock out connector and 6' of conduit.

 

[taphil]

Why not just try wifi first? I have a Asus ax mesh system, never gives me a problem with GW, inverter, or any device.

 

[miimura]

Why not just try wifi first? I have a Asus ax mesh system, never gives me a problem with GW, inverter, or any device.

My Gateway was unable to remain connected to my UniFi wireless system. Ethernet was the only good solution. Ethernet over Powerline would also work.

 

[SRO-Sean]

You'd need an Ethernet cable type that's designed for exposed outdoor use--weather resistant, UV resistant, etc.

THIS (or conduit). From direct personal experience: if you run indoor cable (cause you didn't have a box of direct burial and didn't bother to order) it MAY last up to three years and 7 months in "semi-harsh" conditions. Mine was run on top of some trim, so ice packed onto it all winter. Run BELOW trim (out of way of direct sun and ice) it might last substantially longer. Either way, save yourself the rewiring and go UV resistant outdoor cable or conduit.

 

[wwhitney]

THIS (or conduit).

Even in conduit outside you'd want Ethernet cable designed for a wet location.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[itsc]

Depends on where you are. In my old house I had standard Ethernet cable running just below the siding on the cement foundation for seven years without a problem. But we don’t get a lot of sun or ice.

 

[godbreath]

I would get an outdoor rated ethernet cable to connect the gateway. I'm just worried about how the ethernet cable would enter the gateway to make sure that no water can get into the gateway. If I did a conduit all the way, it would somehow have to pass over the main service conduit.

I looked up the solutions mentioned here and think I will just be going with a bare ethernet wire through a cable gland into the gateway.

 

[jboy210]

Now you guys have me relooking at my ethernet connection. It is just a cable indoor cat 6 cable from Amazon. It sits under the GW2 box, but is not in conduit. I wonder if there is a way to encase this is something without having to rerun the cable through the wall.

 

[BGbreeder]

Now you guys have me relooking at my ethernet connection. It is just a cable indoor cat 6 cable from Amazon. It sits under the GW2 box, but is not in conduit. I wonder if there is a way to encase this is something without having to rerun the cable through the wall.

View attachment 758587

While you could get a small piece of a plastic surface mount conduit, I am not sure that I would sweat it. If there is some excess cable in the panel, you might want to push it out to create a drip loop there. It also would hurt to throw a little paint on that patch (and the cable to give it some UV protection) to seal it and the cracks/holes. Water is the enemy of homes in my opinion. Just my. $.02...

All the best,

BG

 

[BGbreeder]

I would get an outdoor rated ethernet cable to connect the gateway. I'm just worried about how the ethernet cable would enter the gateway to make sure that no water can get into the gateway. If I did a conduit all the way, it would somehow have to pass over the main service conduit.
View attachment 758569

I looked up the solutions mentioned here and think I will just be going with a bare ethernet wire through a cable gland into the gateway.

If the cable enters from the bottom with a short loop, you should be ok. If you want to run conduit, and don't want to do a fancy bend over the big conduit, I would suggest two things 1) use flexible conduit, or 2) just run flexible conduit over the main conduit.

If it was me, I would buy exterior rated cable and run it along side the main conduit. I would paint it just to reduce UV and ozone exposure. By the time it dies, your network will be on to some other networking system...(Gandalf modems, thick net coax, 3Com, anyone?)

All the best,

BG

 

[CrazyRabbit]

DON'T! please use wifi, mount a wifi access point in the room closest to gateway. ever heard of lightning, i'm really familiar with it now!!!!

 

[miimura]

DON'T! please use wifi, mount a wifi access point in the room closest to gateway. ever heard of lightning, i'm really familiar with it now!!!!

No, in California we don't know about lightning.

 

[astrorob]

dumb question on this topic - i assume the only way to safely work on the gateway is to flip the service breaker, open the solar cutoff, and also flip the two breakers for the powerwalls themselves, thus powering down the whole house. i want to try installing wired ethernet to my gateway as the wifi is just flaky enough that my pvoutput scripts keep timing out.

also with preassembled ethernet cables it seems like a lot of cable glands are impossible to use. anyone know of a solution that might work without making my own cables?

 

[miimura]

dumb question on this topic - i assume the only way to safely work on the gateway is to flip the service breaker, open the solar cutoff, and also flip the two breakers for the powerwalls themselves, thus powering down the whole house. i want to try installing wired ethernet to my gateway as the wifi is just flaky enough that my pvoutput scripts keep timing out.

also with preassembled ethernet cables it seems like a lot of cable glands are impossible to use. anyone know of a solution that might work without making my own cables?

Personally, I didn't shut anything off when I removed the Gateway cover and connected the Ethernet. I used 1/2" electrical PVC and the Ethernet plug fits through, but only if it doesn't have a molded boot that protects the latch tang. I didn't have a pre-made Ethernet cord of the proper length, so I just crimped my own ends on a piece of Riser rated Cat5e that I had sitting around. I had RJ45 plugs and a crimper on hand too.

 

[GJones]

My connection is much the same as miimura - except I used a simple exterior rated cable - the exposed portion is about 4 inches. Did not power anything down to connect.
FWIW - I keep a spare iPad monitoring the TEG via WiFi with a distance from the TEG of about 20 feet (plus the shielding of stucco cladding in between) and it drops several times per week. The ethernet connection is rock solid - have never had any sort of problem. I am a bit OCD about data and having the iPad running to glance at status as I walk by satisfies that need.

 

[astrorob]

ok - i haven't seen too many pictures of the gateway opened but the tesla documentation made it seem like there were live connections exposed with the panel taken off.

my wifi base station is pretty near the powerwall but sometimes i see pings in excess of 1 second. this seems to correlate with https requests timing out. the scripts i'm using are pretty primitive and just bail out if there's an http read error. i guess i could improve that.

I used 1/2" electrical PVC and the Ethernet plug fits through, but only if it doesn't have a molded boot that protects the latch tang

unfortunately the outdoor cable i ordered has these boots. maybe i can rig something up as i expect to take the cable out the bottom of the gateway and so water probably won't enter there unless it's dripping around the gateway and held on by surface tension.

there is a "pigtail" style cable gland on amazon but i don't know if the pigtail is long enough to reach from the ethernet port to the bottom of the case. also the reviews say they are faulty.

i'm gonna lose my IoT vlan isolation with this unless i get a switch that supports generation of Q tags.