sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring 25 pair cable. Convert into BNC or RCA for cameras? Is this possible? What do I need?

Hello.

My house currently has a thick 25 pair cable going into every room in the house. This cable all eventually leads into the house's phone room where just 1 pair is used for the phone system. (other 24 pairs are wasted)

I honestly don't know why the builder wanted to put 25 pairs in each room for just 1 phone but he did.

Anyway, my next project is to get the house wired for Cameras. I was wondering if it was possible to use these existing coper pairs to convert into either a BNC or RCA cable for security cameras.

Alternative can you also run RCA or BNC cable like you can with CAT 5 cable?

I'm wondering what would be the best way to set this up in this situation.

Thanks for your help.

The builder obviously didn't know what he was doing. I'm sure he figured with all those conductors you could run telephones, network connections, cameras and TVs.

RCA and BNC are connector types, not cable types. You would run coax for the cameras and terminate the ends with RCA connectors. I'm not sure what cable you use for cameras, but there would be a specific type with a specific impedance. So yes, you can run new cable for your cameras just like you would with any other type of premises cable. I don't think you'd have much luck using your twisted pair cable for your cameras, but I might be wrong.

lol

They do make balun adapters that convert video to twisted pair a lot would depend on the rating of your 25 pair. If you can you would be better off installing new cables

The idea would be to make a BNC or RCA cable using some of those pair of coper wire unless that would not work? Basically putting an RCA connector on each end and them placing one end in the Camera and the other end in the DVR card(which takes RCA input)

Can't you make RCA cable with 2 pairs or are there issues with impedance if they are all running in the same 25 pair cable?

Thanks.

There would be impedance issues, but not because of what else you have running over other pairs of the cable. Different cable types have different impedance levels. The baluns that Merritt mentions would take care of the impedance matching problems, but you may encounter other problems. You should definately run, or have someone else run, the proper cable.

I already have fish tape running from a room upstairs to the phone room through the same conduit as the 25 pair.

The problem is the 25 pair cable is so thick that its hard to run other cables into the conduit.

Maybe those IP camera are not looking so bad now since I would just need 1 Cat 6 cable and very small switch in the other rooms instead of additional cables.

Thanks.

Well if you're lucky enough to have all that 25pr running through conduit, I would rip it out and pull in the proper cables. If someone was clueless enough to pull in 25pr cable in a new home, I can just imagine the mess they would have made of the terminations. Get rid of it and start fresh.

i don't see a problem with using the 25 pairs and baluns as long as the 25 pairs all run to a common terminix. I have used 25 pair cat 3 for the same purpose and run it 1000 ft and had no problem. The only problem I can see is powering the cameras and you might do that by doubling up on the pairs if they all run to a common point.

I forgot to mention that if the 25 pair is CAT5 you could also use it to put a network throughout your house for computer use.