Pre wiring for an outdoor security camera

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sdav

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#143081 2-Apr-2014 19:33

Hey guys, I hope someone can help.

I am about to close in a veranda roof and before I do so I will be running a cable for an outdoor light. The thought struck me to also run cable for a potential security camera. Question is what cables should I put in? I'm aware I could probably go wireless but I want to give myself the option of a wired solution.

1: Would the cable for the light be good enough to power a security camera?

2: What sort of video cable would be needed? I haven't even looked in to types of cameras/systems yet, I'm hoping there is some sort of standard (lol), was thinking coax?

Thanks

gregmcc

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#1017478 2-Apr-2014 19:38

Wouldn't worry about what kind of cable for something you may do in the future, just drill 25mm holes and run a bit of bailing twine type string thru, this can be used as a draw wire for the right kind of cable when you eventually put the camera in

sbiddle

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#1017564 2-Apr-2014 22:54

Cat5e cable is fine - one would presume you're going to use an IP camera since they're so superior, but even if you decided to go old school with an analogue camera you just need a balun for each end. There is no reason to go analogue though these days unless you're really wanting inferior picture quality.

You'd power the camera over the cable, so no need for local power.

raytaylor

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#1017584 2-Apr-2014 23:48

+1 for cat5
Although I would do it now, rather than use a draw string as there is always risk that the draw string can fail with a bend or corner when pulling through the cat5

Leave at least a metre of cat5 in the ceiling so you can have some flexibility - nothing worse than trying to put plugs on a 1" long cable coming out a hole.

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#1017669 3-Apr-2014 09:21

Rather than cat5, go for a more modern cat6 FTP (foil twisted pair), that way you're alot less likely to run into any cable issues, especially with the data cable being close to a power cable. not to mention that if you use cat6a then that can be used for 10gig Ethernet in the future.

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sdav

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#1017822 3-Apr-2014 13:07

Ahh cool, that was a lot easier than I thought. Will run a cat cable.

sdav

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#1017823 3-Apr-2014 13:08

sbiddle:

There is no reason to go analogue though these days unless you're really wanting inferior picture quality.

No way will i sacrifice on picture quality! Why people but blurry, poor cameras in I'm not sure!

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richms

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#1017848 3-Apr-2014 13:36

Because the cameras for analog are $15-20 and is good enough in some situations. Just like not everyone needs a 20 megapixel full frame dslr .

Analog over cat5 needs baluns and cheap ones are rubbish. If you think you might cheap out on the camera pull a piece of rg58 as well. Cheaper than baluns over a short distance and also opens you up to hd sdi which is finally becoming a thing for security cams.

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