Do not use those for AP, at all. Terrible idea to introduce current noise into your optical system.

Totally agree! I have tested with 3 different systems and in fact, it's not a good idea. Gave up on that!
Performance is not addequate for AP. At least that was my experience.I am now running a 25m direct Cat5e cable (Cat6 soon) from my house floor to my Atik, connected to the Gigabit Lan port of my router. That's the best experience I had.

Thanks all, you've saved me money and heartache!

I think I am just going to run CAT5/6 cable. I am not even going to try wi-fi extenders and waps. I don't think it will turn out well.

Time to get out the measuring tape. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say 200 feet.

One thing I would like to do however is install an outdoors socket. That way I don't have to deal with mosquitoes getting in the house. It should be fairly easy to install since I am on the first floor and have an unfinished basement below me.

Are there any noise concerns with running cat5 in two segments (one from the router to the socket, the other from the socket to the telescope)?

Excellent choice, you won't regret it. I have a 7 meter cable feom my telescope to the outside socket in the garden, than a 15 meter cable under the house to a powered switch from TP-Link. From there another 15 meter cable to my internal network (+internet) which is another powered switch. From that switch the final 15 meter cable goes to my computer inside. Ping times are about 0.7ms with 0% packet loss and I can stream live video from my 6D at around 5 fps. Downloading a raw file takes 2-3 seconds, and the USB over IP now stays connected during the night if I want to use that. All of these things either didn't work or were way slower before. After a year of fiddling with wifi extenders, I gave up on it. I had great sessions on wifi, but it was more the exception than the rule and this is now reversed.

Just an update:

High Point Scientific has got a 15% off sale on ZWO products that may last only about a week or until their new inventory is exhausted or Sam pulls the plug on it! I purchased the ASI120MC, a 2.8mm-12mm zoom lens, and a T2-CS adapter: $185.40 with free shipping.

No telescope purchase yet. I am really torn between the "pros" of the ETX-90 and choosing a telescope with a larger aperture. I think the ETX-90 is a great value for $499: Mak-Cass optics, hard carry case, tripod carry bag. The two big negatives are: 3.5 inch aperture (I already have a 3 inch refractor so there will be no great improvement), and no motor focus (not even 3rd party).

So I am holding off on the scope. In the meantime I will be able to connect the ZWO camera to INDI and develop much-needed experience with it. I can do meteor showers with the 150 deg lens. And I have a fondness for appulses of the planets and the Moon; the zoom lens will give me a 30 deg FOV.

I made a trip to Home Depot yesterday and picked up the parts I need to install an outdoors CAT5 socket.

I have been watching some very good YouTube videos on wiring a home network. Now I see that I can use the four unused wires to carry DC voltage from the router in my office to a switch I want to install in the basement just at the point where the cable goes through the wall to the exterior of the house. Should I not do this?

Well you can do that, that is what PoE does, but normally you are limited to 48v maximum and need a power injector/divider.
And I would not risk more than that.


You can get some info from here: pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Over_Ethernet

Thanks, I learned that it is called PoE, I just failed to mention that in my post. I really just asked the question because of the strong reaction to wanting to try Powerline Ethernet. I figured that there could still be a small amount of crosstalk due to the fact that there is ripple and minor surges when loads change in the house like the refrigerator kicking in. Plus on top of that the PoE wires are running parallel to the signal lines. Sorry, just being anal retentive.

I understand why you are asking the question.

Well the thing is, PoE and Powerline are not the same thing. With powerline you are using an already existing power electrical cable to transfer data
between systems. There's a lot that can interfere with this system. Noise, outlets, cable splits, etc.

With PoE you are using a special standard for ethernet cables that carries current that is needed for a network device to function using separate cables.
Also, by design, twisted pair cables are highly resistant to interference pickup, so they are better and you want to carry DC, so interference is minimum or none.

To use that technology you need an injector on the power side. Normally the devices must be PoE compatible, if not you need another equipment.
It seems you want to use it for other purpose, well I never tried that. Maybe it's possible too.

@supernov, at the time I read your post I was intrigued by the maximum "15 meter" length between your devices. After running the numbers, wishing to do PoE, I came up with a maximum acceptable distance to the switch of 45 feet given a 5V power supply and 21AWG effective wire gauge (twisted pair). Should I be surprised that the laws of nature are the same for you and me?

Maybe, but the 15 meters (or 49 feet) were chosen at random. It happened to be about the distance in between the devices. I know of someone running a 30 meter Lan cable just fine as well, I guess with an active switch or so. For power I think it's different as you really get voltage drops over larger distances.

Yes, it's the power drop of 10% that we need to be careful with. I am looking online for a 12V switch then I can sleep soundly but they all seem to be 5V.