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Thread: How to get internet to my shop - Help

  1. #1
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    How to get internet to my shop - Help

    I have a metal building that is my shop. It is about 50 feet away from my house. Without having to run cables through my attic, across my entire house, over the mother-in-laws apartment, and then across the gap between house and shop...and THEN into my shop......is there an easier way? Internet signal over electrical wiring? Like the NetGear Powerline 500 type of devices?

    I don't need much out there....just a slow connection would be awesome since I have "zero" connectivity out there right now.

    Please advise.
    Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
    Dennis -
    Get the Benefits of Being an SMC Contributor..!
    ....DEBT is nothing more than yesterday's spending taken from tomorrow's income.

  2. #2
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    I used Unifi mesh access points to get WI-FI to my garage which is probably close to 50 feet away. In my case I was able to run an Ethernet cable to the corner of my house and put a mesh AP there. I then put a second mesh AP in the garage. I believe they use a second set of radios for the backhaul so your WI-FI is not slowed down.

  3. #3
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    A mesh system should do it as long as you can have line of sight that doesn't involve the metal on the building, Dennis. So if there's a window pointing toward the house, that would be best...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    A mesh system should do it as long as you can have line of sight that doesn't involve the metal on the building, Dennis. So if there's a window pointing toward the house, that would be best...
    All metal....no windows.
    Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
    Dennis -
    Get the Benefits of Being an SMC Contributor..!
    ....DEBT is nothing more than yesterday's spending taken from tomorrow's income.

  5. #5
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    The internet over electrical system works fairly well, but they must be on the same service. Many of the sites mistakenly say the say circuit, but that's incorrect.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lisa Starr View Post
    The internet over electrical system works fairly well, but they must be on the same service. Many of the sites mistakenly say the say circuit, but that's incorrect.
    I have had highly variable results with this. My farm is all on one service, but there are buildings I can do network-over-powerline between, and others I can't. I wouldn't count on it without testing. Order the equipment from somewhere you can get returns to easily.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis Peacock View Post
    I have a metal building that is my shop. It is about 50 feet away from my house. Without having to run cables through my attic, across my entire house, over the mother-in-laws apartment, and then across the gap between house and shop...and THEN into my shop......is there an easier way? Internet signal over electrical wiring? Like the NetGear Powerline 500 type of devices?

    I don't need much out there....just a slow connection would be awesome since I have "zero" connectivity out there right now.

    Please advise.
    You could get mesh routers. I went cheaper, and just put cheap router in the shop connected to an antenna mounted outside that can pick up the wireless signal from the outdoor access point on my patio. I had to get a couple hundred feet and through some trees, but if you're really only 50 ft from the house, you might not need the outdoor AP - just pick up the signals from your house using the antenna on the shop.

    Here's what I have in my shop:

    https://www.amazon.com/REMO-BAS-2301...=fsclp_pl_dp_2

    https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-N300...tronics&sr=1-9

    That particular router has a network extension mode that is kinda counterintuitive to set up, but which works fine.

    If you want to verify signal strength from the house to the shop, and have a smart phone, get a wifi signal analyzer app like this (for Android, others exist for iOS):

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...lyzer&hl=en_US

    If you need it, something like this is what I use as my outdoor / patio AP:

    https://www.amazon.com/COMFAST-Outdo...ef=sr_1_1_sspa
    Last edited by Steve Demuth; 05-27-2020 at 6:31 PM.

  8. #8
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    With a MESH system like UniFi (great products in general, I don't have the MESH system) you should be able to use a wired backbone from outside the shop to inside-- so wireless from the house to an exterior Wifi hub outside, then wired backbone to get inside to another router. 50 ft of open air between house and shop shouldn't be a problem.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis Peacock View Post
    All metal....no windows.
    In that case, point to point antennas might be best because they will not interfere with having an access point inside the shop relative to frequency contention. That said, I bought a direct burial Ethernet cable from Amazon and got that to my shop building underground. It's much better long term solution and a lot more reliable than wireless. PowerLine is fine for low bandwidth IF you can get it to work reliably. That didn't fly for my shop for some reason, despite being on the same service and trying alternate sides of the service to try and find a connection that, um...connected.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis Peacock View Post
    I have a metal building that is my shop. It is about 50 feet away from my house. Without having to run cables through my attic, across my entire house, over the mother-in-laws apartment, and then across the gap between house and shop...and THEN into my shop......is there an easier way? Internet signal over electrical wiring? Like the NetGear Powerline 500 type of devices?

    I don't need much out there....just a slow connection would be awesome since I have "zero" connectivity out there right now.

    Please advise.
    I built my shop about 250' from the house. The wireless alternatives were all unattractive to me for one reason or another. I bit the bullet and put direct burial ethernet cable in conduit. It doesn't have to be buried deep. This gives me full-speed broadband in the shop. A wifi router with the same SSID gives good coverage the shop. My metal roof stops cell phone signals and neither of two devices I bought helped much but with broadband ethernet I was able to connect a personal cell tower in the building for full bars on the Verizon cell network.

    JKJ

  11. #11
    My shop is fifty feet from house. Wireless router is located next to window on second floor. No problems with getting signal, but my shop is wood construction. Research using a "CANTENNA, and a second router. FYI, a cantenna is built from a "Bush's Baked Bean Can."

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Demuth View Post
    I have had highly variable results with this. My farm is all on one service, but there are buildings I can do network-over-powerline between, and others I can't. I wouldn't count on it without testing. Order the equipment from somewhere you can get returns to easily.
    I have no experience with this but did some checking into powerline network some years ago. It used to be the case that outlets used for powerline networking had to be on the same leg in the service panel. I recall somebody made a bridging device that was installed between the bus bars in the service panel to enable internet from all outlets. That may well no longer be true though. There are exterior wifi antennas but if there's a tree in the line of sight that'd be out.

  13. #13
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    The metal siding will be the limiting factor Dennis. Personally, I would consider either the point-to-point antenna type system as suggested or as Jim stated, an underground ethernet cable.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Curt Harms View Post
    I have no experience with this but did some checking into powerline network some years ago. It used to be the case that outlets used for powerline networking had to be on the same leg in the service panel. I recall somebody made a bridging device that was installed between the bus bars in the service panel to enable internet from all outlets. That may well no longer be true though. There are exterior wifi antennas but if there's a tree in the line of sight that'd be out.
    It definitely doesn't help if you run the signal all the way back to and through the transformer ;-)

    The other thing to watch for in a shop is that noisy motors - think universal motors with brushes, e.g. - can trip up a marginal but working signal if electrically nearby and on the same leg.

  15. #15
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    Unifi makes mesh access points under the Unifi name and also under the Amplifi name. I suggest the Unifi units instead of Amplifi. The Unifi units can be outside, but then I don't know how well the WI-FI would go through the steel siding.

    Ubiquiti (makers of Unfi) also has a Nanobeam product that can be mounted on the house and shop with an Ethernet cable going into the shop to an access point of some sort.

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