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securityguy
join:2012-08-14
Birmingham, AL

securityguy

Member

Wiring power to Network Cameras

I think this is the right place for this since my question centers around wiring.

I want to mount a Wansview network camera on my front porch. This isn't an outdoor camera but it will be mounted completely out of the elements on my porch. My home has a full basement, the main level above it, and then the attic above that. My network equipment is kept in the basement and it will be no issue for me to run ethernet from that point up to the attic and then to the camera on the porch. If possible I'd like to have the power source for the camera located in the basement as well, which means I'd have to run power from the basement up to the attic as well. The camera is 5v and came with a wall-wart that has maybe an 8ft cord.

How should I go about running power to the wall-wart for the camera? I'd like to avoid having to get an electrician so is it possible to just run a normal extension cord up to the attic and to the camera's power supply? The reason I ask is because some folks say you should have the wall wart plugged directly into your 120v power source and then extend the 5v supply from that point to the camera. Others say to extend 120v from an outlet using to the camera and the plug the camera's power supply into that.

Which way is better and safer?

robbin
Mod
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX

robbin

Mod

It would much easier to just get a proper outdoor camera which is powered by POE. Otherwise you could possibly build an adapter to power your camera over POE using the wal-wart it came with if there isn't too much loss due to line length. Otherwise you could probably still do it but you may need a new power supply.

John Galt6
Forward, March
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp

John Galt6 to securityguy

Premium Member

to securityguy
Putting anything up in the attic like a power supply will greatly shorten its lifespan.

You can probably get away using an 18GA jacketed cable with appropriate connectors and mount the PS in your basement.

As robbin See Profile suggested, get a 'real' POE cam. These are good:

»www.aliexpress.com/store ··· 015.html

You can see one here:

»sharxdemo2.servehttp.com ··· main.asp

Mine is here (see it during the day as it looks at the ocean from my house):

»oceancam1.dyndns.org/en/ ··· main.asp

Ignore the 'branding' differences between the website and the two cams listed above...they're exactly the same camera. The Aliexpress site is the manufacturers online store. You can save a lot there.

If you're running them on your local LAN, you can run them at 30 FPS and the quality is much better than what you see. Mine is running at 2 FPS and 2048 kbps since the distance to the ocean is about 400 ft.

They also support three simultaneous streams with different framerates and resolutions to accommodate cellphones, etc. they do all the tricks, too, such as motion detection, email notification and such.

You can read about them here:

»www.y-cam.com/

cosmicvoid
Infinity Or Bust
join:2001-01-02
Kingston, WA

cosmicvoid to securityguy

Member

to securityguy
You might consider a PoE kit like this, which can provide 5, 9, or 12V at the far end:

»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 33997236

John Galt6
Forward, March
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp

1 recommendation

John Galt6 to securityguy

Premium Member

to securityguy
Could even use this, since you are running Cat5 anyway:

»www.streakwave.com/itemd ··· E-SPLT-S

You'll need two...

AnonEEMouse
@bhn.net

AnonEEMouse to securityguy

Anon

to securityguy
Why not just run a second low voltage cable with the ethernet cable? I used 18-2 bell wire for my camera's (just remember to get the kind that has polarity markings), home-depot has it in 50 foot and 100 foot rolls for like $10-15. If you camera pulls 1A like mine the vdrop is .25 volts @ 5v on a 50 foot cable. My camera's are cheap ones from China I got off eBay for $40 each and look exactly like yours.. they worked fine down to 3.9v, as I tested by simulating the vdrop with resistors.

It's really not suitable to inject the 5v over Ethernet, as the voltage drop at that voltage on cat5/6 gauge wire is pretty substantial, even if you use the two unused pairs on 10/100. Most POE adapters boost the voltage to 40v or so for transmission over the Ethernet cable, then convert it down at the point of use to a regulated voltage.

I don't think either way is any different in terms of safety, as long as the wiring is done properly. In my case I choose running the cameras off of a high quality 5v power supply plugged into my UPS so that they continue to work if the power is cut. If anything the most unsafe thing about these cheap cameras are the cheap junk power supplies - I took one apart and there was literally no isolation of the high voltage and low voltage PCB tracks as-well as the use of substandard knockoff and underrated power transistors and zero fusing at all.
securityguy
join:2012-08-14
Birmingham, AL

securityguy

Member

This is more along the lines of what I want to do. I already have the Wansview camera and it works fine so I don't really want to upgrade to a POE camera just yet, although if I add any cameras I'll be sure to check POE cameras out. Bell wire would be a lot easier and cheaper to run.

Using 18-2 bell wire what would be the proper way of wiring this? Do I need to buy another power supply or could I just cut the barrel adapter off the wall-wart, splice in the bell wire and then reattach the barrel adapter at the camera?

ArgMeMatey
join:2001-08-09
Milwaukee, WI

ArgMeMatey

Member

said by securityguy:

Do I need to buy another power supply or could I just cut the barrel adapter off the wall-wart, splice in the bell wire and then reattach the barrel adapter at the camera?

That's quick and easy. It's what I did with old lamp wire so I could remote the wall wart from my water softener. I soldered in the lamp wire.

However for my cordless phone base, I bought two sets of polarized quick-connectors and used those instead of direct splicing a 25' length of cable. That made it easy when I later moved the base; I just unplugged the extension cable and plugged the wall wart connector directly into the barrel cable going to the phone base.

Test the voltage BEFORE you cut anything and AFTER the extension is spliced in. If it's a DC transformer, observe polarity.

PSWired
join:2006-03-26
Annapolis, MD

PSWired to John Galt6

Member

to John Galt6
Yeah, use those passive PoE injector/splitters from Tycon power that John linked. Though keep in mind there's a different part number for the injector and splitter. One has a female barrel connector, the other male.

Be aware there are current limits for Cat5, but it's very unlikely you'll run into a problem with a little webcam.

John Galt6
Forward, March
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp

John Galt6 to securityguy

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to securityguy
Full set of passive POE splinters (both ends):

»www.ebay.com/itm/AIR802- ··· -content
securityguy
join:2012-08-14
Birmingham, AL

1 edit

securityguy to PSWired

Member

to PSWired
Would the PoE adapters work for this setup? Someone else said that the voltage drop over that distance with 5v would be too great for the camera to work. Is that the case?

Also I've noticed that on the PoE adapters that both ends have a barrel adapter port. One is for the PoE adapter's power supply but the one on the other end supplies power to the LAN device. How would I connect that port to the barrel adapter port on my camera?

John Galt6
Forward, March
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp

John Galt6 to securityguy

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What kind of distance are we talking about here?
securityguy
join:2012-08-14
Birmingham, AL

securityguy

Member

25-50 feet at most. Probably closer to 25 than 50.

John Galt6
Forward, March
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp

John Galt6

Premium Member

No problem then.

"Do the math" yourself:

»videos.cctvcamerapros.co ··· lculator
AnonEEMouse
join:2013-02-27

AnonEEMouse to securityguy

Member

to securityguy
at that distance, no need to run bell wire, as John Galt said, that POE adapter should work, as long as the barrel connectors are the correct size, otherwise you'll have to splice your own on or find an adapter with the correct size.

My camera's were about 50-75 ft each from the switch, so the voltage drop @ 5v was too much on cat5, hence me using bell wire.

I'm interested in finding polarized quick-connectors now... I soldered and heat shrink-ed my connections, but the polarized-quick connectors would be a much better solution. Where can you find these at?
securityguy
join:2012-08-14
Birmingham, AL

securityguy

Member

Thanks for the help, everyone! I'll go with the PoE adapters.