PoE Switch Purchase Help 16 Plus Cameras

botics

botics

Getting comfortable
Feb 9, 2019
245
113
Coral Gables, Florida
I have looked at the list several times but I am confusing myself - I admit it! 16 cameras plus that I am installing and for days have been looking at the switch suggestion list but cannot figure out which model to go with. Along with this I am thinking do I need a managed or unmanaged switch.

I am confusing myself in terms of the usable wattage for cameras... I want 16 cameras plus 2 PTZs and 2 Audio Capable Cameras.

What switch would you recommend?

Thank you in advance!
 
get a used 24 port managed switch with gigabit uplink ports.
here's an example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/-/223350103979 (not my auction, just an example)
assuming it's working, worst case you'll need to replace the fans. easy & cheap.
even if you don't use the 'managed' features to begin with, they come in handy down the road,
when you need VLAN's or want to power cycle cams remotely via their PoE etc...
 
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good question. the 728TP I linked to has 24 PoE ports, and the Netgear data sheet for these models indicates 192w poe budget
(vs 100w for the 728TLP), but the sticker shows max draw of 1 amp (or 115W in the US @115V)
https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/datasheet/en/FS526T-FS726T-FS728TLP-FS728TP-FS750T2.pdf
My guess is that this particular one was intended for the chinese market, where 1amp @ 220V covers the rated budget.
Does that mean it won't deliver 192 W on 115V? I don't know. sorry.

ok, so not the best example, perhaps...

My point is that there are lots of good units available on the used market,
as IT departments upgrade to all gigabit switches (which is overkill for individual cams but useful for aggregated uplinks to NVR or network)
 
Bear in mind the back panel rating isn't necessarily listed at max possible/worst case load.

If the PoE budget of a reputable brand says "x" watts, I'd go by that rather than the back panel rating. The back panel rating may be just a nominal rating based on the mfg's typical use scenario. Whether the back panel rating reflects worst case, nominal/typical, or other depends on the type of device and the regulatory agencies in different market regions.
 
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agreed. that's what i was referring to with a chinese-market unit labelled as drawing a max of 1A (@220v).
it doesn't mean it can't draw 2 amps or more at 115V, but if that worries you, then avoid such vaguely spec'd units.
Now i have to check my stash of switches and see if any of em have the same 'issue' - really hadn't look that closely before... :)
 
I suggest not getting wrapped around that wheel.

As I said, the back panel rating isn't necessarily listed under worst case/max load. Trying to correlate it usually just causes unnecessary concern and confusion; just what is happening to you right now...
 
I'd guess it's fine, if you need that much switch and the PoE port count and power available is enough.

Do you need a managed switch?
 
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Wouldn’t getting a switch with a gigabit uplink be a good idea? I’ve been looking for standard 100Mb POE ports for the cameras and 1or 2 uplink ports rated at gigabit.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Wouldn’t getting a switch with a gigabit uplink be a good idea? I’ve been looking for standard 100Mb POE ports for the cameras and 1or 2 uplink ports rated at gigabit.
Click to expand...

Depends on how much traffic there is whether gig uplink is necessary or not. Having gig uplink wont hurt, but whether it might help or is necessary is a different matter.

A 100Mb/s port will ideally have throughput with overhead of about ~90Mb/s. If the total of the camera traffic on the switch is approaching a big chunk of that then a gig uplink port probably would be a good idea.
 
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Whoaru99 said:
Depends on how much traffic there is whether gig uplink is necessary or not. Having gig uplink wont hurt, but whether it might help or is necessary is a different matter.

A 100Mb/s port will ideally have throughput with overhead of about ~90Mb/s. If the total of the camera traffic on the switch is approaching a big chunk of that then a gig uplink port probably would be a good idea.
Click to expand...

Is that sort of speed possible? I always thought that it would saturate at around 50 maybe 60% utilisation. Don’t forget that there will be multiple devices making use of the available bandwidth so contention will be an issue.
 
botics said:
So I guess the way to go would be a 100mbs 24 port switch with one or two ports for gigabit up-link then?
Click to expand...

This is what I'm going to be doing, so I made sure that the switch I purchased has a gigabit port, another advantage, which I think is logical but I don't know if it's true, my guess is that a switch with a gigabit port is going to have better/faster switching capabilities? Again no idea how true this is but that was my logic when choosing. Although having said this I went for a complete gigabit switch, only a 10 port but I got it off ebay pretty cheap so can't complain.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Is that sort of speed possible? I always thought that it would saturate at around 50 maybe 60% utilisation. Don’t forget that there will be multiple devices making use of the available bandwidth so contention will be an issue.
Click to expand...

I think if you can get only 50-60% of LAN there is a problem.

My gig backbone consistently tests at 940Mb/s even going through two switches and a router. 940Mb/s is pretty much the max taking into consideration overhead. That's 94%.

Now, if it consistently had utilization of 94% then I'd opine it needs to be split up or go to 10Gb/s or whatever. But, you should be able to hit a good chunk of max capability.
 
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If you want to buy a managed switch then buy one... it's your $.

But there is not advantage to one if you are not going to use it that way.
 
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