Use of powerline networking and RJ45 surge protector

JonathanLee

Hello fellow Netgate community members,

I started using my older TPlink AV1200 to use my homes electric outlets as a network port.

I have never had issues with surges again, I want to have a RJ45 surge protector to protect our firewall.

I purchased one that uses diodes, has anyone else played with RJ45 surge protectors? Or diodes.

I have personally tested diodes with an electric fly swatter and they function as expected. One can assume this provides some protection over nothing. The device contains a diode for each pin. The diode in the test below contained only one.

https://youtu.be/iAF_9JruCrU?feature=shared

Does official Netgate appliance hardware have any built in port protections?

NollipfSense

@JonathanLee said in Use of poweline networking and RJ45 surge protector:

has anyone else played with RJ45 surge protectors?

Yes, I have...waste of time and never sure if it's doing anything...that's me though.

stephenw10

Mmm, always hard to prove something like that is doing anything useful. Without destroying something at least.

azdeltawye

@JonathanLee said in Use of poweline networking and RJ45 surge protector:

has anyone else played with RJ45 surge protectors?

Yes.
I have Ethernet cables running around the perimeter of my house under the eves for my security cams. We have a lot of lightning in our summer monsoon season and I think it would be foolish to not have any surge protection for this application. However, if your network environment is all indoors, then Ethernet surge protection may not be necessary...

I'm using the L-Com Item # CMSP-CAT6-4

6d741dbc-4ed5-4f19-b905-b3d9bae18445-Netgate surge protector.PNG

JonathanLee

@stephenw10 that YouTube video I made shows me testing a single diode in a keychain with an elective fly swatter. I know they work good for discharge of overages. I couldn't feel a thing. That surge protector has one for each and every pin diode looks a lot bigger than my keychain one.

JonathanLee

@azdeltawye that's amazing tech. I had to fix a couple different remote post office sites a couple years ago because lighting hit the telephone line and it shorted out the router's wan cards by way of the ports. They had zero protection on the wan line coming in.