How to Wire & Install Power Over Ethernet Cameras
This is the fifth in a series of six articles that is intended to provide you all of the necessary information to install a good and reliable camera system while helping to remove any uncertainty associated with purchasing the proper hardware. Simply put, the goal of this series is to help you determine the appropriate system hardware and components to ensure proper protection of your most valued assets. In this article I intend to provide you with information about the components that you may want to consider when planning the layout your surveillance system. I also will give you an idea of the cost that you may expect for a DIY surveillance system.
Prior Important Content
If you missed the previous articles of this series allow me to encourage you to take the opportunity to review them. Particularly, I suggest that you watch the previous three articles. In the second edition of this series I compare and contrast the PoE (Power over Ethernet) cameras to WiFi cameras and make recommendations regarding the best cameras for indoor and outdoor surveillance systems. In the third article talk about the many elements that you will want to consider when planning the layout your surveillance system. That article gave multiple tips for the enhancement of your surveillance coverage, it also addressed many factors that you must consider for the proper placement of your Network Video Recorder. In the fourth article I gave information about the various components that make up my camera surveillance system, gave some system specs and provided information about each component's cost. If you missed any of these prior articles be sure to check them out.
Wiring & Installing Power over Ethernet Cameras
In this article I intend to talk about the steps took and considerations that I made when I installed a fifth camera to my current four camera system. The camera that I used, pictured here:
is the Amcrest IP2M-842EW. This camera is a great external PoE camera which is capable to 1080p resolution, has a wide 72 degree viewing angle and is capable of night vision up to 98 feet.
This camera comes with mounting hardware, an installation disk and a weather tight cable connector that you can use assuming you buy your cables in bulk and attach your own ethernet connectors. You will need to decide if you will buy pre-made network cables with the ends already installed, however I highly recommend that you make your own cables.
Three Good Reasons to Make Network Cables
There are three main reasons why attaching your cable ends are a very good idea. First, you will likely have several barrier walls and ceilings between your NVR and your camera mounting points. The size hole you must drill to penetrate these barriers will be significantly smaller if your attach your connectors after you pull your wire.
Secondly, pulling wire with cable ends increases the possibility that you may damage a connector. If a connector gets damaged you will need to cut it off and replace the connector. Third, when pulling wire without connectors you can merely draw wire from the box eliminating the need to pre-measure each individual cable run.
The fourth and most importantly, pulling network wire without cable end connectors allows you to deploy the water tight connection housing provided by Amcrest to insure that your out-of-door connections are protected from the elements. These connection housings cannot be utilized if you use pre-assembled network cables with the cable ends already in place.
Other Considerations When Installing Cameras
If you determine to install your own cable ends you must be sure to have a easy and reliable means of checking your connectors to ensure a proper connection. The Tonor Network Lan Cable Tester, pictured above will save you time and headaches when attaching these connectors.
Make sure you test your camera prior to attaching it to your mounting point. This is easily accomplished with a short ethernet cable at your NVR prior to mounting.
When you get your camera connected on the mounting point, use the Amcrest app on your smartphone to observe your field of view. This way you can easy adjust the view at the camera to ensure proper capture of your most critical entry points.
There are additional details about proper installation of PoE cameras in my YouTube video. You can view the entire project by clicking here. I cover topics like the easy method I used to pull wire from my attic to the ceiling mount. I also show you how I ran my cables from my basement to my attic and I discuss the need to run additional cable when making your initial cable runs. Running several additional cables will save you much frustration if you should decide to add additional cameras at some point in the future.
I trust the information presented in this article has gotten you a little more comfortable with installing your own surveillance system. If you are currently considering the installation of security cameras, I am certain that you will eventually come to the same conclusion that I did; the relatively low cost and minimal effort needed to install a good and reliable camera system is not only a good idea, it is also a very wise investment. The peace of mind I have gained by after installing my Amcrest system is invaluable to me. If you are contemplating the purchase of a good and reliable surveillance system be certain to check out the component list for my system listed below.
Thanks for reading this segment on Home Video Surveillance. Be sure to subscribe to this website so that you'll get notice of the additional articles in this series!
My System Components
The following are the components of my current security surveillance system
Optional Installation & testing items:
* Tonor Network Lan Cable Tester (compatible with RJ45 RJ11 RJ12 CAT5 CAT6 )
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