atcomsystems.ca/forum
A customer of mine wants to add another camera in their warehouse/production floor. I've already got a cat 5 cable going between the DVR and the warehouse with one pair being used for a camera on a balun. It would be much easier if I could run the second camera off another pair of this same cable. Has anyone done this and will it work? Otherwise I would have to run several hundred feet of cable and work around a lot of equipment that is in the room.
Thanks!
Technically, it might work but that's not the correct way to do it as you know.

It could possibly degrade the picture quality on both cameras for one thing.

Also, rigging it like you are talking about will come back and bite you in the rear if the customer decides to install IP cameras that require Power Over Ethernet (POE) in the future.

I would say run a new cable and be done with it. It may cost a little more in labor now but it could possibly save the customer more money in the future. :toast:
Quote
Originally posted by jeffmoss26:
...Otherwise I would have to run several hundred feet of cable and work around a lot of equipment that is in the room.
Thanks!
Welcome to "Reality" kiddo, where REAL men work on a daily basis. laugh
Jeff - I got two cameras (two video and two power from 1 4-pair CAT5E) several times with no problems. I am sure it will work. If it is 12-volt or 24-volt power, you may be able to power both cameras from one pair with the correct power supply. I am sure you can get video from one pair with inexpensive baluns. The prices on video baluns have really come down. I just spent the better part of today tweaking my 9 camera DVR system for my condo building. I back fed the video of 9 cameras from the DVR back down to the garage on one pair where I have all the CAT5Es going to each separate unit. I installed a CELabs AV700 composite amplifier, and with 1 pair I can give each unit the entire video of the DVR with 1 pair from the distribution amp. The rearranging of the twisted pair took a little tweaking to get rid of any noise, but now it's clean and distributes the video nicely.
Quote
Originally posted by bfdatacom:
...The rearranging of the twisted pair took a little tweaking to get rid of any noise, but...
Now do you see why it's best to do it the correct way to begin with Jeff? If you do the job right the first time there won't be a need for "tweaking" and the return trips to "tweak" it over and over and over...

Most of us here can make just about anything "work" one way or another, but that isn't really the goal in the long run when you provide a professional service.
Yeah. I think I'll play it safe and run a whole new cable. I charge by the hour anyway laugh
© Sundance Phone System Forums - VOIP & Cloud Phone Help