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Poe catching fire?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:24 am
by jonah1810
I have a couple of customers out in a community that is off the grid. They power their equipment through inverters and generals/solar panels.

I've had two customers contact me after a storm both with equipment that burnt up.

The one just had his router power supply fry. (burnt a hole right through the plastic case. The other one burnt the mikrotik Poe and power supply.

The line is buried directly in the ground for a couple hundred feet on the pictured one. Both places are very close to eachother, a few hundred meters.

We are thinking it was due to lightning somehow.. But we're not sure. Any thoughts? Image

Re: Poe catching fire?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2023 1:06 am
by msatter
Looks like lighting and Mikrotik have a product for that protects: https://mikrotik.com/product/rbgesp

GESP is Gigabit Ethernet Surge Protector that can be used to protect the network from lightning or surge damages.

Here’s what a typical use-case would be like. You have a mast with some antennas. And some switches on the ground. Put the GESP surge protectors on each end. They come sealed inside a new and improved IP67 weatherproof enclosure. Your antennas are now safe during a lightning storm.

And with POE: https://mikrotik.com/product/gesp_poe_in only for indoor usage.

You can’t buy safety, but you can buy MikroTik devices to keep your setup safe. Take a look at the GESP product line. It consists of a new revision of the classic MikroTik GESP surge protector and a brand new device – the GESP+POE-IN, a passive PoE injector with surge protection. Together these two devices offer maximum security and peace of mind.

Here’s what a typical use-case would be like. You have a mast with some antennas. And some switches on the ground. Put the GESP surge protector up there. It comes sealed inside a new and improved IP67 weatherproof enclosure. Your antennas are now safe during a lightning storm. Now add the GESP+POE-IN injector below the mast - to protect the switches and to power the antennas.

Re: Poe catching fire?

Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2023 4:37 pm
by CTSsean
I have a couple of customers out in a community that is off the grid. They power their equipment through inverters and generals/solar panels.

I've had two customers contact me after a storm both with equipment that burnt up.

The one just had his router power supply fry. (burnt a hole right through the plastic case. The other one burnt the mikrotik Poe and power supply.

The line is buried directly in the ground for a couple hundred feet on the pictured one. Both places are very close to eachother, a few hundred meters.

We are thinking it was due to lightning somehow.. But we're not sure. Any thoughts? Image
POE itself doesn't cause damage like this... even when over voltage is applied (I've friend 24v only devices with 48v poe, and while it did smell, it didn't catch fire).
Looks like you had some lightning strikes. You need 1 or more inline protectors. If you want to be safe safe.... its one inline protector near the switch side of things, and another one right next to the Wireless radio itself. This way both sides should be protected no matter which side gets the blunt hit.

Sorry for your loss!

Re: Poe catching fire?

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 3:24 am
by pcunite
The line is buried directly in the ground for a couple hundred feet on the pictured one. Both places are very close to each other, a few hundred meters.

Run direct burial fiber and avoid the power spike issues.