No Link errors cause and buried cable suggestions...

[IPCamGuy77]

I have a Hikvision DS7608 DVR with eight cameras. Two with indoor wire and six with non-gel buried cable that was supplied by my retailer. The longest underground cable run is about 300 feet. Besides short conduit sections entering and exiting the soil, I did not use conduit.

After a couple of months a first buried cable camera started getting No Link errors on hot days. Roughly 80 degrees. After cooling overnight, it would work the next day. I ran a temporary, regular above ground cable to test and the camera worked fine when it would normally fail with the underground cable. Eventually the underground cable camera was No Link failing all the time.

I bought an extender and installed it right behind the DVR and problem solved. Eventually over the span of a year or so, all of the underground cable cameras failed in the same way. I bought extenders for them, one by one, and problems solved. I have had no problems with the two indoor cable cameras.

I now have a buried camera cable that went from working to not working. Nothing unique about the conditions. My retailer tested, installed new clips and and tells me the wire has a break. I plan on running flexible conduit for the entirely new run with Cat 5e cable and two cable spares for potential problems with other nearby cameras. These lengths will all be about 150 feet.

I would like to know what might be the problem that caused me to get extenders?

For the new run I was going to buy the 1000 foot gel-filled reel from Home Depot Online. The only buried cable item they stock. They are currently out of stock. I just need to do this before winter and the ground freezes.

Menards and Lowes has Southwire products that are not gel filled. Any suggestions on cable brand or vendor?
Should I stick with gel filled? Thanks for any input.

 

[c hris527]

Sounds like you bought crap cable the first time. 300' is pushing it for POE camera runs especially cat 5e. You might have bought CCA cable, Copper Clad Aluminum cables, they need to be solid copper, that might explain your gradual breakdown of signal one by one. That being said, Use 23 Gauge solid copper Gel Filled. I would not limit myself to buying at home Depot either, Amazon had lots of good cable and it talked about all the time here about who used what and when.

Read the cliff notes

 

[bp2008]

Rigid conduit should be cheaper than flexible.

 

[tai4de2]

I used this cable and haven't had any problems:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JAVMYLM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[looney2ns]

www.monoprice.com

 

[Rakin]

You will have the same issue in conduit unless you use gel filled direct bury cable. The problem is moisture and dc voltage. And conduit will sweat and become a water line. I see it all the time working telco. People and vendors will wire unattached buildings with good cat cable and think just because it’s in conduit it safe from the elements. Well it’s not. Outdoors poses more issues from moisture, temp extremes, UV, insects and so on. If you are using standard cable you would be better off just laying it on the ground and covering with sand.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TonyR]

You will have the same issue in conduit unless you use gel filled direct bury cable. The problem is moisture and dc voltage. And conduit will sweat and become a water line. I see it all the time working telco. People and vendors will wire unattached buildings with good cat cable and think just because it’s in conduit it safe from the elements. Well it’s not. Outdoors poses more issues from moisture, temp extremes, UV, insects and so on. If you are using standard cable you would be better off just laying it on the ground and covering with sand.

+1^^ and so very true.

Water usually gets into perfectly sealed underground conduit by way of not-so-airtight, above-ground boxes and stub-ups, run just high enough to protect cable from weed-eaters: the sun heats the ground, the ground heats the air in the conduit, expanding it and pushing air out, the sun goes down, the ground cools which cools the air in the conduit and it contracts therefore drawing in the outside and moisture-laden air (it's after sundown) via those above-ground boxes and stub-ups, that air cools down inside the conduit, causing the moisture in it to condense and it travels to the lowest point(s) in the conduit run where it collects. Over time this cycle repeats many, many times and you end up with water in the conduit.

For this reason I have always used outdoor-rated, flooded-burial or direct-burial conductors in underground conduit. Water WILL get into underground conduit....just a fact of life.