knightmb
Everybody Lies
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| Does Fiber Conduct Electrcity?
I think that's the issue. Last I heard, it conducts about as well as glass does, which is very poor. So unless the fiber can somehow withstand the trillion volts it would need to pass any electricity from it (probably more than will ever come from a lightning bolt), I wouldn't worry about the grounding issue anymore than I would worry about the grounding issue of my plastic lawn furniture. 
But, I find no mention of any battery backup units and such that keeps any points/nodes/whatever running (if any), so an overcharged, exploding battery might be an issue, but from what I can tell it's just fiber with some light shining out the end, hardly worth a mass panic of electrical circuit checking.
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Edrick
Premium
join:2004-09-11
Orlando, FL | Why?
Why is it only in New York that it doesn't meet code? Surely they must have installed it the same throughout the US.
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Ricky Smith
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
| reply to knightmb
Re: Does Fiber Conduct Electrcity?
It's not about the fiber optic cable carrying voltage, its about the grounding of the ONT, which has electronics in it and also connects to the coax in your house, which can have a voltage on it from crappy VCRs, TVs and other AV equipment.
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avd706
insert annoying animated gif here
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Union, NJ
1 edit | Well if he's so brave...
quote:
"We bring in photons. And the only person I've ever seen harmed by photons was on Star Trek.
...I dare him to walk around New York wearing a red verizon shirt. |
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Enlightener
join:2006-01-28
Cedar Park, TX
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to NetAdmin
Re: Does Fiber Conduct Electrcity?
Here's what I don't understand....
I have AT&T U-Verse FTTP. I have your typical setup with a UPS inside the garage and an ONT mounted outside.
Why couldn't they have just mounted the ONT inside the garage and terminated my cat5 there?
It seems they could have put a simple passive enclosure on the outside of the house where the ONT is just to allow for the fiber to bend slowely and then go through the wall through a small conduit pipe.
Then the ONT could have just mounted inside the house like any other piece of CPE with simplified grounding requirements.
Do they really need that much access to the ONT to have it outside? |
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Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | reply to NetAdmin
however shouldnt that be handled by the third prong on the plug? not that an earth ground would hurt, can never be oversafe.
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majortom1029
join:2006-10-19
Lindenhurst, NY
1 edit | hmm
Yes but isnt the unit that attaches to the house powered? Aren't the tvs conencted via coax to that unit? |
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beaups
join:2003-08-11
Hilliard, OH | I think the coax is the problem. with an indoor wiring issue or a failure in the box, you could have a lot of power running through the indoor coax. with no ground, you would find out the "hard" way, vs tripping a breaker if it was grounded |
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
| reply to Kearnstd
Re: Does Fiber Conduct Electrcity?
said by Kearnstd  :however shouldnt that be handled by the third prong on the plug? not that an earth ground would hurt, can never be oversafe. In the previous discussions on this topic, it was noted that the electrical power to the ONT is supplied by a two prong plug.
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Drilling for more oil is akin to giving a methhead the keys to the meth lab. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX
1 edit | reply to Enlightener
The usual reason for the ONT, or the SMI for copper pots service being on the outside of the house is to allow the technician access without having to have someone at home to provide access.
This is somewhat different from business locations which, quite frequently have the network demarc located in side the building, as there is usually access to the that location through out the day, as well as off hours if there is trouble.
Having it on the outside allows testing of the facility, while removing the CPE from the equation. Should CPE be found to be the trouble, arrangements can be made to access, or, the customer can do his own CPE maintenance, depending on the individual situation. |
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jacour
join:2001-12-11
Ypsilanti, MI
 ·Comcast
| reply to Kearnstd
Grounding is a very complex topic, but suffice it to say that while the third prong on a standard electrical plug provides a degree of safety, it does not cure all ills and is not designed to handle lightning which can supply voltages of several hundred kV.
When you take a lightning strike on one part of your house, the electricity has to go somewhere. If one path is grounded and the others are not, you get different electrical potentials and current flow through the house, potentially frying much of the system and anything attached to it. Your computer surge supressor is designed to knock down transient voltage spikes from the electric company; it will not take care of big spike.
The right solution is to take the spike to ground BEFORE it enters the house, not after. If the external installation is properly grounded, that is exactly what happens. In an ideal situation, all sources of aberrant voltages are grounded externally and all ground rods are bonded together (i.e. the ground rods for your main electrical panel, cable, antennas, etc. are tied together).
The issue here is not the fiber optic, it is the other copper conductors in the box. |
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kdwycha
join:2003-01-30
Riverview, FL
·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | reply to NetAdmin
In the previous discussions on this topic, it was noted that the electrical power to the ONT is supplied by a two prong plug. Just went out into my garage and my ONT has 3 prong plug. I was thinking the same thing when I was just on the toilet having my morning poo after reading this. Fiber doesnt conduct electricity very well and the ONT is grounded by the third prong. |
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Austinloop
join:2001-08-19
Austin, TX | reply to jacour
Based on the results of some lightning strikes on houses here in recent months, the grounding of the ONT would be the least of the homeowner's worries, rebuilding the house and replacing the contents would be much higher on the priority list. |
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UofMiamiGrad
Premium
join:2001-02-03
Great Neck, NY
| NY PSC Paid Off & Owned by Cable Companies!
This is a joke. How is it that NY is the only state having issue with FIOS installs & the miracle of fiber conducting electricity? Dangerous photons I tell ya! The damn ONT is plugged into the house electrical system, so how is lightning going to come into the house via glass? If a house get hits then best of luck to all your electronics, the ONT will be the least of your worries. |
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ATTek
Got Sand?
Premium
join:2000-12-13
Pinon Hills, CA
| WIKI.......
......in the original story, the one with all the photos of the "non-code installations" MANY of them were said to be deviant because they were grounded "to the meter pan". In all the areas I've worked in in southern California, if the house builder didn't provide a bond for CATV/DBS, they would always end up grounding to a questionable looking clamp they would install on the BREAKER COVER which is attached to the METER PAN by way of a very loose fitting hook and slot hinge which has usually been painted with the house. I assume this isn't a code violation since it's very common to see and they have a clamp specifically made for this purpose. We however are required to bond to the main common bond or an outside cold water pipe.
So yeah....there could be some meddling here by VZ's competitors -or- it could just be NY being anal about a stricter than the norm electrical code.
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NetAdmin
CCNA
join:2008-05-22
1 edit | reply to kdwycha
Re: Does Fiber Conduct Electrcity?
said by kdwycha :Just went out into my garage and my ONT has 3 prong plug. I was thinking the same thing when I was just on the toilet having my morning poo after reading this. Fiber doesnt conduct electricity very well and the ONT is grounded by the third prong. Before making wise-ass comments, I'd recommend knowing what you are talking about. For your reading pleasure:
»Ground and Bond class will start asap...
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Drilling for more oil is akin to giving a methhead the keys to the meth lab. |
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Enlightener
join:2006-01-28
Cedar Park, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
| reply to Austinloop
I understand (see my very last statement) but if the powersupply is on the inside, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?
Besides, they (AT&T in my case) have already deployed the remote gateway ( that has the VOIP TA built in ) and STB's for video far into the customer area so I'm kind of wondering if the old pattern of `this is the demarc` isn't just obsolete by now. |
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RayW
Premium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
clubs:
·XMission
| reply to UofMiamiGrad
Re: NY PSC Paid Off & Owned by Cable Companies!
said by UofMiamiGrad :This is a joke. How is it that NY is the only state having issue with FIOS installs & the miracle of fiber conducting electricity? Dangerous photons I tell ya! The damn ONT is plugged into the house electrical system, so how is lightning going to come into the house via glass? If a house get hits then best of luck to all your electronics, the ONT will be the least of your worries. Umm...it is not an issue with the fibre. Unless Verizon has come up with new technology, they still need a converter to go from photon over fibre to the electrical over copper that your toys use, and that is where the problem is.
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guppy_fish
Premium
join:2003-12-09
Lakeland, FL
·Verizon FIOS
| Its not a safety issue
Ground is to prevent a user accessible part for being at a potential that can cause a shock, nothing else, ever.
As far as I can tell an ungrounded ont has no risk, zero
On the pots side, nether wire is at ground potential, so no effect what-so-ever on pots, the phone devices don't rely on the 2 wire pots, they are double insulated
On the WAN network side, the Cat5 OR coax is grounded at the computer or router or STB ... no issue there unless you have compounded issues were all the attached devices are not properly grounded
The ont is abs plastic, its powered by a transformer ( galvanic isolation ) so no issue there.
Its just a big to do about nothing and further, its all low-voltage wiring which for the most part doesn't fall under NEC rules as its below 48V.
When's the last time a laptop or external disk or other computer part had a ground? , they don't as they are double insulated
This is all hype and politically motivated and has nothing to do with operation or safety |
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Vathral
Premium
join:2002-08-26
New York, NY
clubs:
·Earthlink Cable Mo..
| reply to avd706
Re: Well if he's so brave...
said by avd706 : quote:
"We bring in photons. And the only person I've ever seen harmed by photons was on Star Trek.
...I dare him to walk around New York wearing a red verizon shirt. I see more and more people GREETING Verizon drivers/technicians in the city. |
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