What is you surge suppression experience

I can't speak precisely on Ethernet, but we used to put surge suppression interfaces on some of our RS-485 MODBUS runs. When you're replacing the monitor station for the third time due to a near lightning event... it makes fiscal sense.  Basically, they were opto-isolators.

Do you know what is causing the cable failure?  If your grain bin is the highest point around, you may be fighting nature.  Nothing protects from a direct lightning strike.  "Lightning protection" is really just trying to transfer where it happens when it happens.

K, this is preventative or paranoid i haven't decided yet. The network site is requiring more and more outdoor equipment. An ad for these devices came across my desk and I got thinking about my landline days. Fuse and surge suppression was the standard for all landlines. I find myself dragging long runs of CAT6 with nary a  care in the world about interference.

Sounds like you have some experience. Anything on outdoor network CAT runs?

Sorry.  It was all single pair, twisted shielded.  And it was no where near the distances outside that you are dealing with.  We had some crazy long indoor runs, but that's not even close to what you're up against.  If the access points are relatively inexpensive and you haven't experienced any issues up to this point, I would recommend still rolling the dice.  And remember... a little bit of paranoia is good.  It increases your chances of survival.

Also sorry.  I think this stuff is cool and I don't get to talk about it much anymore.

If you have lost equipment or the access points are kind of expensive... keep considering the isolators.  When we needed to power a remote device, sometimes we used 18/2 thermostat wire.  It's cheap.  2-pair Belden was a possibility, but that stuff is expensive.  The power draw on the isolators was so small that the line loss was negligible, even for long runs. Per the NEC, thermostat wire can be run in the same conduit as the communication circuits.  And, since it's DC, there's no worry of cross-talk.  I will say that the low voltage and communications circuits did always get their own conduit run - even if it was non-metallic.  Don't put it in the same conduit as the power circuit.

As long as you don't run your CAT6 across the ground wire on a power pole, you should be in good shape.  Your "risk" is EMP.  If the bin has a ground strap that attaches it to a ground grid... don't run your CAT6 there.  The thing that used to kill all of our telephone modems was pole ground EMP.

Sorry.  It was all single pair, twisted shielded.  And it was no where near the distances outside that you are dealing with.  We had some crazy long indoor runs, but that's not even close to what you're up against.  If the access points are relatively inexpensive and you haven't experienced any issues up to this point, I would recommend still rolling the dice.  And remember... a little bit of paranoia is good.  It increases your chances of survival.

Also sorry.  I think this stuff is cool and I don't get to talk about it much anymore.

If you have lost equipment or the access points are kind of expensive... keep considering the isolators.  When we needed to power a remote device, sometimes we used 18/2 thermostat wire.  It's cheap.  2-pair Belden was a possibility, but that stuff is expensive.  The power draw on the isolators was so small that the line loss was negligible, even for long runs. Per the NEC, thermostat wire can be run in the same conduit as the communication circuits.  And, since it's DC, there's no worry of cross-talk.  I will say that the low voltage and communications circuits did always get their own conduit run - even if it was non-metallic.  Don't put it in the same conduit as the power circuit.

As long as you don't run your CAT6 across the ground wire on a power pole, you should be in good shape.  Your "risk" is EMP.  If the bin has a ground strap that attaches it to a ground grid... don't run your CAT6 there.  The thing that used to kill all of our telephone modems was pole ground EMP.