Advice on running cat6 along the gutter

[gulo]

Hello

I would like to install a camera under my soffit looking down. Going through the attic is not really an option as it is extremely cramped, full of deep insulation and just a miserable place to be in.

My idea was to install the camera through the bedroom window below and then run the cat6 cable down along the gutter (cable being tucked between the gutter and the house on the backside). I have a coax cable going from the garage into my living room that was installed before I bought the house and was used to get satelite/phone into the house from the satelite dish on the garage. My idea is to cut that cable and use the existing hole to get the cat6 inside the house where I would terminate it with a keystone wall jack.

I have couple questions:

Do I need to buy expensive burial cat6 cable since I won't be technically burying it? It will be outside but not underground and fairly shielded by the house from the sun (running along north side of the house). I can get a PVC pipe to run it through but only the bottom portion as I don't have a ladder long enough to cover the entire run.

Do I need to worry about lightning? I live in Colorado where we do get lightning but it's fairly rare with the exception of couple summer months and I never experienced any kind of surge or damage from these storms before.

Is there some other reason why it would be a bad idea to run cat6 along the gutter?

thanks

 

[fenderman]

@gulo Welcome to the forum..you can run a cable along the gutter it will be fine. You can get away with standard cable..whatever you do dont use copper clad aluminum cable or CCA. Lots of cheap burial cable is cca, NEVER use it. My suggestion is to hire a low voltage contractor to do the run, they may be able to do it in the wall. Also your camera placement is not ideal. You wont get a good image from that high, all you will get is a head shot. It needs to be mounted MUCH lower.

 

[gulo]

Thanks for the reply. The camera is not really for security reasons, it's more to see what the weather is like outside and what kind of critters are roaming through my yard :laugh: So more of a fun project. I realize that the IR light will probably not illuminate the whole yard from this height, but again - it's nothing super crucial.

I already did similar installation on the other side of the house (although the camera is much lower there) but now I am reading different things about lightning being dangerous so I wonder if I should do something different on this one.

thanks

 

[nayr]

fenderman is right, that is way too high.. you'd need considerable zoom just to get any detail at ground level.. then the whole point of putting it up there for a wide perspective would be lost..

put it at human heights, 8ft tops.. the IR probably wont even do anything at that height, might as well not have it.. better to look out with objects both up close and far away then have all objects far away.. you'll understand when you try to get an image at night, at that height you'd miss a bear pass through.

 

[gulo]

hmmm, well I guess once I get the camera I will put it out of the window so see what it looks like...

I have to say originally my plan WAS to put it much lower (maybe 8-10 feet) and I was planning to somehow attach it to the gutter but I couldn't think of any good way to do it. Any ideas? Perhaps some zip ties or something along that way. I do not want to drill holes in the stucco.

thanks

 

[nayr]

use these and screw em into your gutter instead

always setup a test rig to play with the camera a full 24h at least before you go drilling holes in your house.. patching holes sux

 

[gulo]

use these and screw em into your gutter instead

always setup a test rig to play with the camera a full 24h at least before you go drilling holes in your house.. patching holes sux

You mean these are to hold the Ethernet cable right?

What about something attaching the actual camera to the gutter?

btw I am getting Hikvision DS-2CD2032

 

[nayr]

no, bad idea.. camera has to be fixed to the house, your not getting away from that.. it should not budge in the stiffest wind or worst weather, or it'll just ruin the image..

a junction box is what i'd suggest you mount it to so you dont have to make big holes.

your lighting worries will go up an order of magnitude if you insist on installing this on a piece of conductive metal.. normally your gutters are not wired into your house and are floating with no ground connection, they were not much of a threat.. but now u just gave it a copper path to ground via your network and put it higher than any other metal around.. bad mojo.

ps: your camera will be a pile of broken bits if it falls off your gutter at that height.

 

[code2]

use these and screw em into your gutter instead

always setup a test rig to play with the camera a full 24h at least before you go drilling holes in your house.. patching holes sux

Nay what is the exact name of those been trying to find them but my old searching skills suck at times

 

[nayr]

Grip Clip Cable Clips

 

[code2]

Grip Clip Cable Clips

Thank you thank you