Ran Cat 6 cable but looking at wired cams

Feb 29, 2020
16
2
NY
So I ran cat 6 cables to different locations outside my home for outdoor cams thinking I was going to go POE/IP.
Well I've been looking at Home kit Secure video cameras. Many of theme are wired but to a power pack/adapter. I don't really have a way or place to run this cable so I can plug it in somewhere.
Is there anyway I can cut the cord and splice it to my cat 6 cable and then somehow power it at the other end where the cat 6 ends at my rack?
Hope I'm making sense.

Or may there are POE/IP cams that support Home kit secure video. I haven't seen them. Thanks.
 
I suspect almost all of those cameras are wifi, not Ethernet. Depending on how many cameras you have, wifi really sucks for cameras, and more than four wifi cameras will really struggle if not fail all together.

Also, quality of the video is really poor compared to what are considered standard on here.

And a final note, depending on how many cameras you have, and the quality they are set to, you seriously start chewing through bandwidth. I had some nest cameras and a doorbell a couple of years ago and they could consume about 10% of my Comcast total bandwidth allowance. Yep, set them on high quality, get 10 cameras and your internet company will likely be slowing your connection due to exceeding their hush-hush cap.

To answer your question, yes, if you know what you are doing, and they are wifi, you could convert the cables to low voltage power feeds. I'm not aware of devices that do this, plugs or adapters, but they may exist.

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I suspect almost all of those cameras are wifi, not Ethernet. Depending on how many cameras you have, wifi really sucks for cameras, and more than four wifi cameras will really struggle if not fail all together.

Also, quality of the video is really poor compared to what are considered standard on here.

And a final note, depending on how many cameras you have, and the quality they are set to, you seriously start chewing through bandwidth. I had some nest cameras and a doorbell a couple of years ago and they could consume about 10% of my Comcast total bandwidth allowance. Yep, set them on high quality, get 10 cameras and your internet company will likely be slowing your connection due to exceeding their hush-hush cap.

To answer your question, yes, if you know what you are doing, and they are wifi, you could convert the cables to low voltage power feeds. I'm not aware of devices that do this, plugs or adapters, but they may exist.

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Thank you I appreciate the response. Well maybe they’ll have pie/up cameras soon that support home kit secure video.
 
Thank you I appreciate the response. Well maybe they’ll have pie/up cameras soon that support home kit secure video.
I doubt it. POE and simple install for most consumers aren't in the same sentence, let alone book. Most folks don't know what POE stands for and never will. They want a camera they pick up at Wally-World or BB, plug in, download an app, and, voila! If that's what you want, great! But if you want to identify prowlers or thiefs, those cameras won't cut it unless it's a doorbell camera, and they walk right up to it.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 
Something like this might do. UK based but you can obviously go local


Griswald
 
So I ran cat 6 cables to different locations outside my home for outdoor cams thinking I was going to go POE/IP.
Well I've been looking at Home kit Secure video cameras. Many of theme are wired but to a power pack/adapter. I don't really have a way or place to run this cable so I can plug it in somewhere.
Is there anyway I can cut the cord and splice it to my cat 6 cable and then somehow power it at the other end where the cat 6 ends at my rack?
Hope I'm making sense.

Or may there are POE/IP cams that support Home kit secure video. I haven't seen them. Thanks.

Hi @mstrlucky74

Question: Is home kit secure video more important to you than a better quality image capture?
 
Sure, one can use CAT-6 for power. Assuming that your cameras require low AC/DC voltage (5 to 24 volts) at low current (less than 1 amp) then combine the wires into a two conductor cable. To make it easy to remember, combine the orange and brown pairs for the plus side. Then the green and blue pairs for the negative side. Then solder the four wires on each set to ensure a good connection. Use only rosin core solder - NO acid core.

Cut off the connector on the power supply - tin the wires and attach with wire nuts. Or low voltage power supply wires could be soldered to the correct respective pairs. Then tape for insulation or use the correct size of wire nuts.

Keep the CAT-6 cable long enough so that if a future decision is made to go with POE cameras there is sufficient length remaining to crimp on RJ-45 connectors.
 
Sure, one can use CAT-6 for power. Assuming that your cameras require low AC/DC voltage (5 to 24 volts) at low current (less than 1 amp) then combine the wires into a two conductor cable. To make it easy to remember, combine the orange and brown pairs for the plus side. Then the green and blue pairs for the negative side. Then solder the four wires on each set to ensure a good connection. Use only rosin core solder - NO acid core.

Cut off the connector on the power supply - tin the wires and attach with wire nuts. Or low voltage power supply wires could be soldered to the correct respective pairs. Then tape for insulation or use the correct size of wire nuts.

Keep the CAT-6 cable long enough so that if a future decision is made to go with POE cameras there is sufficient length remaining to crimp on RJ-45 connectors.
Thanks .when you say cut the wires on the pier supply side you mean the low voltage side or “120v” side ? I’d imagine I should solder the low voltage side to the cat 6 but then I need to power the camera with 120v so what do I do at the end of my cat 6 at the rack .
But if you mean go splice/solder at the other side of the power supply to the cat 6 then ok but that the side that gets plugged in so I’d imagine I can’t solder those wires to cat 6 wires. Thanks
 
My nephew's house has Comcast/xfinity. he added a Reolink, 4 channel wifi NVR. Now when I visit, his wifi internet to my iPhone is noticeabley slower, almost painfully slower, than it was before.
So without scientific data, I just see a very noticable difference in that installation.
but if you dont have 15 devices on wifi, it'll work, but we are here quietly nudging you further down the Path in understanding and experience about security camera's
Like Looneytunes said, you may find yourself a bit dissapointed with the results. But hey that's how you will decide for yourself which way to proceed from there.
We've seen a lot of people come in here with preconcieved notions that change over time as they discover what the limitations and benefits are of different approaches to Recording security video, and actually being able to retrieve ( efficiently) that data when there is a true incident.
 
My nephew's house has Comcast/xfinity. he added a Reolink, 4 channel wifi NVR. Now when I visit, his wifi internet to my iPhone is noticeabley slower, almost painfully slower, than it was before.
So without scientific data, I just see a very noticable difference in that installation.
but if you dont have 15 devices on wifi, it'll work, but we are here quietly nudging you further down the Path in understanding and experience about security camera's
Like Looneytunes said, you may find yourself a bit dissapointed with the results. But hey that's how you will decide for yourself which way to proceed from there.
We've seen a lot of people come in here with preconcieved notions that change over time as they discover what the limitations and benefits of certain Cam systems are.
Appreciate it.
Just want to be able to easily see video feeds pop on on phone/tv. Are there systems out there that allow that? Also what about notifications on phone.
 
Your on "IP Cam talk", so your gonna get lambasted a little for going the route your after. These guys know IP Cams. The consumer level EZPZ stuff they have outgrown.
Pretty much all of these Camera systems have an App to get notifications and review video. I had originally used a Nightowl/Costco DVR with 8 wired Camera's. It has an App, it's been updated once in 3 years. It works in a rudimentary way. The motion notifications were bombing our phones so bad we had to shut them off. motion recording is the only way this system is any good. The 24/7 option is limiting and impossible to review the true "events" efficiently. And the App often isn't working when you need it. Unless you reboot the recorder occasionally, thats really fun when your in Chicago and the the recorder is in Minneapolis.
it's a living breathing piece of Shit. If I was a mean SOB I'd recommend it to a newbie who wants what your after. Simplicity, availabilty,,,,,But at a price of inconsistency.
That, and it's useless in the dark, and useless to identify people beyond 10 feet.
Amcrest has an App called Amcrest View Pro
Dahua has DMSS App
Night Owl has several Apps
tons of phone cam apps.
You can hook a recorder to output to a TV. and use the App to view cams.
but the experts will tell you that the hackers like to "backdoor" security camera's vulnerability and use them for DoS attacks and other bad things. Chinese camera's all seem to try and "phone home"
according to what I've seen here.
 
Your on "IP Cam talk", so your gonna get lambasted a little for going the route your after. These guys know IP Cams. The consumer level EZPZ stuff they have outgrown.
Pretty much all of these Camera systems have an App to get notifications and review video. I had originally used a Nightowl/Costco DVR with 8 wired Camera's. It has an App, it's been updated once in 3 years. It works in a rudimentary way. The motion notifications were bombing our phones so bad we had to shut them off. motion recording is the only way this system is any good. The 24/7 option is limiting and impossible to review the true "events" efficiently. And the App often isn't working when you need it. Unless you reboot the recorder occasionally, thats really fun when your in Chicago and the the recorder is in Minneapolis.
it's a living breathing piece of Shit. If I was a mean SOB I'd recommend it to a newbie who wants what your after. Simplicity, availabilty,,,,,But at a price of inconsistency.
That, and it's useless in the dark, and useless to identify people beyond 10 feet.
Amcrest has an App called Amcrest View Pro
Dahua has DMSS App
Night Owl has several Apps
tons of phone cam apps.
You can hook a recorder to output to a TV. and use the App to view cams.
but the experts will tell you that the hackers like to "backdoor" security camera's vulnerability and use them for DoS attacks and other bad things. Chinese camera's all seem to try and "phone home"
according to what I've seen here.
Thanks you . So what the structure/equipment is need in place to get an IP based camera system up and running? Camera, cable to nvr and patch panel them what lol ? Thank you
 
POE cameras, POE NVR, and a screen to view it all. you have to terminate the cat6 with rj45 jacks. no patch panel needed if you plug them directly into a POE switch or a POE NVR. The equipment i have experience with is Blue Iris running on a PC as an NVR,
or the Amcrest(Dahua OEM) recorders
or the Nightowl( Hikvison OEM) recorders.
And I'm an iphone user.
I have an Amcrest video doorbell as well.
I am able to run the nice Dahua camera's on an Amcrest POE-NVR for 1 part of my recording solution. Then you can use the the amcrest View Pro App to view, and you can connect the NVR to a TV or a PC monitor to view at home.
after a year of fooling around with shitty NVR menu's I decided to go and try Blue iris. You have to start somewhere, and you will hear stuff about NVR's and security issues, and VPN's and your head may explode. LOL
Some people here buy Blue Iris and a used PC, some use NVR's. I do both.
My job as the onsite property manager, requires my time to be spent everywhere but on a Security system. So whe it comes to the fastest way to review video of Maroons doing stupid shit with packages in the Lobby or parking lots. Blue Iris is the fastest Gun in the West to go straight to the location, scrub thru motion alerts and find the needed footage, and deal with the situation and give the Condo resident's answers to to " Who stole my pretzels out of the walmart grocery delivery bags" and other deep mysteries.
 
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Here is a recent thread updated today showing a person and his experience with wifi and his cameras dropping off tremendously and the wifi stability and cameras not loosing signal have improved since taking cameras off wifi. Yes a wifi camera can bring down your whole wifi in the house and even cause issues with wired devices....


Stay away from any systems that are home security alarms and cameras all in one. It will be crap. You can go to Home Assistant or any other variety if you want to marry good cameras and alarms together.
 
Which path ? Wifi cameras?
Both. As others have said, wifi cameras will create issues. The HSV system will not provide you anywhere near the quality and usability that systems we use on here will.

Think I can have pretty good quality video and HSV.
Pretty good is a relative term. Pretty good will show you when someone walks by 15 feet from the camera at night. You will be lucky to tell if it is a man or woman, and even if they are wearing a hat. One of my over view cameras can tell that at 75' away and more in pitch black. My Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) system automatically reads plates at 130'. At night. These are not top end cameras either. The overview is 4 MP, the LPR is 2 MP (1080) with a very good lens.

The HSV system is using what we call consumer grade cameras. With that you get consumer grade video. I think @wittaj has a story about a bunch of his neighbors having consumer grade systems, and he is the only one who captured a good enough image to identify the thieves. Another person on here had package thief in their neighborhood and all of the Ring cameras images could not identify them. His camera caught the license plate of the motorcycle. Your choice - what do you want? An overview to see where the per came from, or a system capable of identifying them?

Here is something to think about - my normal cameras (not ones with a big zoom lens) will see and observe (recognize them as people and see what they are doing) folks at 75' and beyond, at night. It will identify them at 20 - 36', even at night, if setup properly. The system you have already selected says the IR at night is good to 15'. If that is what you want, go for it.

Thanks .when you say cut the wires on the pier supply side you mean the low voltage side or “120v” side ? I’d imagine I should solder the low voltage side to the cat 6 but then I need to power the camera with 120v so what do I do at the end of my cat 6 at the rack .
But if you mean go splice/solder at the other side of the power supply to the cat 6 then ok but that the side that gets plugged in so I’d imagine I can’t solder those wires to cat 6 wires. Thanks
The Logitech Circle View camera, which I believe is the newest and best HSV outdoor camera, is powered by USB, with a 10 foot cord attached to the camera. So your USB wall wart would need to be within 10 feet of the camera. As @Alaska Country said, low voltage that means probably up to 50 volts. NOT 120 volts. I doubt the 5 volts from USB to power the camera will go very far down an ethernet line before voltage drop becomes an issue.