I'm looking to install some cheap cameras outdoors, in a greenhouse environment to monitor some plant pots. Hence, I need some kind of ingress protection against liquid spray etc and the high humidity.
I found the Amphenol RJB range, which are IP68 rated Ethernet connectors (overview video).
For completeness, here are other waterproofing alternatives I considered:
The Amphenol RJ range has both composite and metal shell versions, and you can have them in either threaded or bayonet style mounting. Also, they can be field-installed, which means you can just use your existing RJ45 plug ends, and pass them through.
(Assembly video for the plug side)
However, on the receptacle side I'm a little stumped. If you look at the FAQ here, they list the receptacle-side options:
Diagrams (source):
Type 1 is just a RJ45 socket on both sides (i.e. used to join two RJ45 patch cables together). This item comes with a cable gland as well, so you can waterproof the RJ45 plug you connect into the back of this as well.
There's also Type 2, which ends in a RJ45 pigtail - I could potentially plug that pigtail into the camera's RJ45 socket - but then I'd also need to waterproof that second connection as well. (I spoke to Amphenol - if you look at the diagram, you'll see the receptacle is actually designed to be panel-mounted. The idea is that when you use Type 2 - the actual pigtail itself is meant to be inside the device's enclosure, or another box - and isn't exposed to the elements).
Amphenol also offers solderable versions - you can then solder your Ethernet connections directly onto the PCB. However, I don't know if I trust myself soldering Ethernet cable directly onto a PCB, and still passing Ethernet specs?
The only option I can think that might work is to cut the factory socket off - and crimp my own Ethernet RJ45 plug-end directly to that. I found this video where somebody seems to do it:
That's something suggested in ipcamtalk cliff notes here, and there's a YouTube video of somebody doing it to a camera here
What do people think of that? Or which approach would you use it? It's going to be a potentially very wet/humid environment.
Also - I've noticed some cameras include a little plastic packet of silica pellets inside - are those designed to work perpetually? Or surely they wear out over time?
I found the Amphenol RJB range, which are IP68 rated Ethernet connectors (overview video).
For completeness, here are other waterproofing alternatives I considered:
- M12 Ethernet - but I don't have the tooling to field-terminate these easily, it seems like there's different keyings available, and I'm worried about compatibility/shielding etc.
- Neutrik etherCon (connectors)
- Lemo (product page, catalog, datasheet) - however, these are crazy expensive - it's over $100 per connector (Mouser link)
The Amphenol RJ range has both composite and metal shell versions, and you can have them in either threaded or bayonet style mounting. Also, they can be field-installed, which means you can just use your existing RJ45 plug ends, and pass them through.
(Assembly video for the plug side)
However, on the receptacle side I'm a little stumped. If you look at the FAQ here, they list the receptacle-side options:
Diagrams (source):
Type 1 is just a RJ45 socket on both sides (i.e. used to join two RJ45 patch cables together). This item comes with a cable gland as well, so you can waterproof the RJ45 plug you connect into the back of this as well.
There's also Type 2, which ends in a RJ45 pigtail - I could potentially plug that pigtail into the camera's RJ45 socket - but then I'd also need to waterproof that second connection as well. (I spoke to Amphenol - if you look at the diagram, you'll see the receptacle is actually designed to be panel-mounted. The idea is that when you use Type 2 - the actual pigtail itself is meant to be inside the device's enclosure, or another box - and isn't exposed to the elements).
Amphenol also offers solderable versions - you can then solder your Ethernet connections directly onto the PCB. However, I don't know if I trust myself soldering Ethernet cable directly onto a PCB, and still passing Ethernet specs?
The only option I can think that might work is to cut the factory socket off - and crimp my own Ethernet RJ45 plug-end directly to that. I found this video where somebody seems to do it:
That's something suggested in ipcamtalk cliff notes here, and there's a YouTube video of somebody doing it to a camera here
What do people think of that? Or which approach would you use it? It's going to be a potentially very wet/humid environment.
Also - I've noticed some cameras include a little plastic packet of silica pellets inside - are those designed to work perpetually? Or surely they wear out over time?
