Outdoor wire recommendations for POE camera mount on remote part of house? Dumb idea?

[ipcdal]

Hi guys -- I'd like to improve coverage in a remote part of my back yard, and unfortunately, mounting a camera to view it seems like quite a chore.

I've got a corner of the house where I can mount a camera, which faces the part of the back yard in question, but the corner is far away from any network hub in the house, and running wire internally in the house is super impractical due to the various walls, floors, and ceilings I'd have to deal with. It would be a giant migraine headache, if not impossible for a sane person. Wireless is also not an option due to other reasons, such as terrible signal near that part of the house. And I'd far prefer to just run a POE camera I own already if possible.

So I was thinking of just running the network wire externally along the outside of the house, all the way around a bunch of turns and corners, and then drilling just one hole that goes into a room where one of my powered network hubs is located. I'm guessing 100-150 ft should do it, if I'm clever. That would still be a pain in the neck, but SO much easier than internal wiring.

I just don't know what outdoor-rated wire to purchase (preferably white so it doesn't contrast too much with the house siding color), and I'd love any tips about how to route the wire. I was thinking of tucking it under rain gutters, and following the seams in the siding, etc... but I'd love some suggestions, and also suggestions about what mounting clips would be best for this? I'm definitely new at this. Feel free to suggest specific brands of wire, etc., perhaps on Amazon, etc.

Or is this just a terrible idea?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Swampledge]

I did this with a camera to watch my back door. Just bought a 100 ft premade outdoor cable from Amazon, and attached it along the soffit using white zip ties and self adhesive anchors. The eaves shelter the cable from the sun and weather, and the white cable along the white soffit is not objectionable appearance wise. It’s been there over a year so far, and will be easy to replace if needed.

It’s not secure against burglars (but nothing really is) and it satisfies my goal for that camera.

 

[wittaj]

While placing in conduit would be best, if you get outdoor rated cable you should be fine.

 

[TonyR]

If you go that route with a pre-made cable that will be protected from direct sun and rain exposure, I recommend these pure bare copper cables (not CCA) from Monoprice. I have bought a couple of dozen over the last few years of various lengths and colors. Great product, good price, fast shipping...the trifecta !

Monoprice Cat5e 100ft White Patch Cable, UTP, 24AWG, 350MHz, Pure Bare Copper, Snagless RJ45, Fullboot Series Ethernet Cable

EDIT: These come in handy, too. ==>> Steren Single Grip-Clip - White 100 per bag

 

[The Automation Guy]

You will be fine to run the cable outdoors. Definitely use "outdoor" rated cable as it will have better UV protection however. You'll also want to use a "drip loop" at each end to help prevent water from getting into the connectors or through holes into the structure.

 

[ipcdal]

Thank you, guys! This is all super helpful! I no longer dread hooking up this camera!

 

[mat200]

Thank you, guys! This is all super helpful! I no longer dread hooking up this camera!

Hi @ipcdal

Also consider if you can do ip over the houses electrical power cables ( powerline )

otherwise, I would consider running the cable outside around the house ..

 

[wittaj]

Hi @ipcdal

Also consider if you can do ip over the houses electrical power cables ( powerline )

otherwise, I would consider running the cable outside around the house ..

He is already willing to run the POE, so I would go with that route unless he has a power supply right next to where he plans to install the camera and wanted to try the powerline adapter route.

 

[ipcdal]

Sidenote: Years ago I experimented with powerline networking, and it wasn't up to snuff back then, but I understand it's gotten much better in recent years.

In this current situation, it's probably going to be easier to just run a cat5e/6 cable outside around the house. (There isn't any accessible power outlet connection to that part of the house anyway, so I might as well stick with POE.)

HOWEVER, there is another distant/inaccessible spot in the house I've been considering adding another camera, and that's another pain in the neck to get to. It's a lower priority, but a powerline network adapter plus a another POE hub in that part of the house might be the ticket on that little project.

So thank you for reminding me about powerline networking in general. The concept is pretty cool, and I'll keep it in mind for other various things that pop up around the house.

 

[wittaj]

Another option is could you get a cable to the basement for a POE switch or injector. Then go out near the corner of the house you are looking to put the camera and run the cable behind a downspout?

 

[ipcdal]

Good idea, but no basement in that part of the house. So I'm stuck running it around the sides. But it would be nice.

 

[wittaj]

Bummer. Worth a mention. Hopefully you can tuck it under siding or soffits in some locations.

 

[ipcdal]

Definitely. I will try to make it so it's not too hideous. The wire will mostly be on the back side of the house, so it won't be too bad.

And thanks again to everyone! I have really wanted to set up this camera for a while, but the prospect of internal wiring was just way too much for me in this case!

 

[Denwad]

I've been a lazy bum , when we moved I "temporarily" ran 200ft of CAT 5 indoor cable across my lawn to watch my gate.

Well it's been there for 18 months and the insulation is finally starting to show signs of aging. I will be replacing it with direct burial shielded CAT6 and won't have any more issues like that in the future.

 

[Robb27]

Definitely. I will try to make it so it's not too hideous. The wire will mostly be on the back side of the house, so it won't be too bad.

And thanks again to everyone! I have really wanted to set up this camera for a while, but the prospect of internal wiring was just way too much for me in this case!

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I just joined and thought I would throw something out there and see what sticks with you guys....I have a small shop in the backyard where I tinker and I needed a high bandwidth data run to it. I have a switch with an SFP port inside the house so I ran an armored fiber patch cable (in conduit, underground) from there to the shop where I added another switch and made the connection. It works well. So, I was thinking, if you used that idea you could run a patch cable to where you want the camera and install a small water proof box. Purchase a media converter (fiber converters are about 40 bucks on Amazon). If you didn't want to go with fiber, you could use a different converter and run RJ-59 to the location and use RJ-45 converter. Either way, store the converter in the box and mount the camera to the box. This (1) gives you a solid place to mount the camera, (2) the patch cable is much smaller and gives you more options to mount/bury/hide and (3) is not very expensive. IDK, what do you think?