Extending internet to our outbuilding

Today's episode is a bit of a departure from being in construction mode inside the He Said - She Shed (our outbuilding) or doing gardening projects or other outdoor stuff. We needed a solution for extending our home network and internet service to the outbuilding so I thought I'd share what we came up with.

Props to a fellow YouTuber "Crosstalk Solutions" where I found a ridiculously easy tutorial for setting up the gadgets I bought to create a wireless bridge. Here is the link to his video:

Thanks for watching!
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#DIY #newblog #homesteading #woodworking #garage #networking

[deanwilliams]

Yes, David, this was worthwhile content. You won't be the only folks who need to spread wifi connectivity beyond the walls of their residence.

[jenniferolton]

I love the diversity! I like that you guys do videos together and separately.

[kaylakitty]

This was very helpful and useful, especially the bit about the Power Over Ethernet device! I didn’t know something like that existed.

[LauraG]

Ok, I am totally impressed with both of you! I have an IT/PM background and totally appreciate how well produced/edited these videos are! I can certainly see your technical writing and Renee’s PM skills being used here! ❤ I have loved all the variety of content! 👍🏻

[Theguyinthefez]

Very great content! You can tell this subject was really well researched and concisely presented.

[lauragrandgenett]

David, that was extremely helpful. Our neighbor needs this information to connect his garage to his house because he installed a whole house Generac that automatically kicks on when power is lost. I have that also but mine is close enough to my house to see the wifi so it sends me texts and emails when it exercises each week, needs maintenance or if we experience power loss and it takes over. Since our neighbor actually lives in Chicago, he wants that communication and needs exactly this set up you describe.
Also, we want wifi in our barn so we can install a camera to check on our chickens. Something periodically treats our place like KFC and starts dragging off our hens. We need to know who needs to be dealt with. Also interested in installing a way to open and close their door via wifi.
So thank you SO much for this! Loved it!

[LisaB_at_Pine_Ridge]

Perfect timing! We are finally (after forever) finally getting fiber to the house and we’re wondering best way to get to barn. Love the content - thanks!

[boatchild]

This was perfect, we are struggling to get our internet working at our shop too! Now I understand better why and where i might try some new options

[crystallbell]

Thank you for sharing that information very interesting.

[yarningasmile]

Hahaha, I feel this video so much! We have been working on figuring out how I can get super fast internet service out there and I have not even got the shed yet that I will be finishing out! We use Orbi system and have it all ready to go now!

[TheCollabCurator]

Dig your trench 3 feet wide. Lay power to one side, data and water on the other side.

[Browningate]

Oh wow. These things (the 5AC; not the crummy 2.4Ghz ones) are actually back in stock now after 3 years.

[Andrea-sivs]

Our power had to be deeper, so we were able to get an Ethernet line to the outbuilding spaced higher up in the trench. That said, I may want to get WiFi to the hoop house this year, so this was helpful for thinking about options for that task. Thanks!

[jensschroder]

If you take fiberglass you can put that in the trench with the AC Line.
Fiberglass insulates and is ideal for connecting scattered buildings. Then you have no problem with different potentials.

[asdlfk]

Fortunately I dropped some direct bury CAT6 into the electrical trench from our house to our outbuilding. I ran coax as well but I’m yet to use that.
Nice building by the way. I thought ours looked kinda big sitting 75’ from the house.

[ghostsintheforum]

This is actually becoming big business. As more rural and backwoods areas are getting hooked up with fibre and starlink, there has become a demand for expansion into outbuildings. Many try to do it with simple range extenders only to find out that such equipment is not sufficient. While hard wired backhaul (wired bridge) will always be best, a wireless bridge is the next best way to expand to outbuildings. After running aerial ethernet to my shed, my neighbor wanted their's ran to their greenhouse and then the guy down the road wanted it done and then...

[timothystockman]

You might have run a fiber pair for your ethernet. Fiber does care about being next to power lines.

[mscroggi]

I would tweak your process a little. I had to extend my wifi to a back building like your scenario. I could not run a cable. I had a TPLink CPE device in the outbuilding pointed at the main house and it was able to connect to the household WIFI and extend the WIFI to my outbuilding with its own local WIFI broadcast. This worked fine for about a year or so, until recently the antenna died.

I needed to replace the TPLink so I decided to go with Ubiquiti, and bought the loco and also the WIFI cube to use for WIFI in the outbuilding. For some reason the loco had issues getting an IP from the house network.. I worked and worked but finally gave up and decided to change my tactic.

Instead of using the loco as a sensitive receiving antenna, I moved it to the house and set it up as a WIFI access point blaster aimed at the outbuilding. This is working just fine. I did NOT install another loco at the outbuilding. I simply use one at the house. I would recommend anyone attempting to set up this kind of connectivity, to buy only one loco and see if it delivers what you need at the remote location. You can always get a second loco and install it at the outbuilding later if needed.

Evidently powerline technology has come a long way too.. I used powerline extension many years ago.. and it mostly worked.. but it was unreliable.. Reading about current powerline adapters.. they seem to be pretty solid. I wish I had a current powerline combo to test it. It might have been a good alternative.

[mspencerl]

There exists an option of aerial cables for RJ45 and also I would say it would be safe to run the data cables with the power underground as long as you get some shielded cable rated for outdoor..

But you live and you learn.
You could also done fiber and got a media converter to convert it back to RJ45 which would have probably worked well also.

[skyacefox]

can you take the cord from the power of either that goes in to the wifi thing and just plug it in to a PC ?