Best place to buy Cat 5 Cable online?

CaliGirl

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I just went to home depot and their cable was pretty expensive. I bought it last time before after my research; it appeared that amazon and ebay sellers were not selling quality cable.

Anyone have a reputable online source for cat5 cable to be used for IP cameras outside not in direct sunlight? Will be putting these cables inside conduit.

Also, need direct burial cable for a max run length allowed on cat 5 cable.

Thank you so very much!
 

LeeH

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The cheap shite is CCA, copper coated aluminium, avoid.

Use a electrical wholesalers or your US equivalent.
 

zero-degrees

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Standard cable is fine if it is placed in conduit, you don't need anything special: 1000FT Cat5e Bulk Bare Cable Copper Ethernet Cable, UTP, Solid, Riser Rated (CMR), 350MHz, 24AWG - Red - GENERIC - Monoprice.com
Here is your direct bury cable. Gel filled just like underground RG6 that every cable operator uses nationwide who put's drops in the ground.
Shielded: 1000ft Cat5e Bulk Bare Copper STP 24AWG Outdoor Gel-filled Direct Burial - Black - Monoprice.com
Unshielded: 1000ft Cat5e Bulk Bare Copper UTP 24AWG Outdoor Gel-Filled Direct Burial Solid Cable, Black Generic - Monoprice.com

Also consider surge protection on your direct buried lines: Ubiquiti Ethernet Surge Protector - Network - Monoprice.com
 
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Shockwave199

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I got free 100' premade lenghts of cable back when. Thin blue stuff and I was gonna use it. Then I thought, why in the hell would I go through the trouble of installing that crap? I eneded up buying good cat5e from monoprice. The catch is, I still haven't installed the shit. Good lord I can find a billion reasons to avoid something I really don't want to do, lol
 

drmdolfan

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1000 ft sounds like a lot of cable until you have to snake it across the attic then down to the crawl space and back over to the wherever the router or media area is...
 

bug99

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1000 ft sounds like a lot of cable until you have to snake it across the attic then down to the crawl space and back over to the wherever the router or media area is...
yep. and if you are planning on dropping two drops to most locations, buy two boxes and pull them at the same time, then sit on the unused box for 10 years :).
 

Cupofschmoe

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Another vote for monoprice. I have also found good deals locally off of craigslist from folks offloading their gear and equipment
 

Akguy25

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Another vote for monoprice. I bought 2 1000ft boxes of cat6 23awg solid to pull two runs at a time through attic. I was impressed with the quality of the cable
 

CaliGirl

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Greatly appreciated everyone. I have this post bookmarked for this project and future projects.

My concern with Amazon was that I would think I am buying solid copper and end up with an inferior product and not know it (it's happened before :)) But as long as I know is what to look for that should be less risk.

I'd hate to go through all the work of
Pulling cable only to find out I'm having data loss down the road when I can no longer get to the remote site. That was the other concern with cheap Amazon Ethernet connectors. So I bought at Home Depot where I knew I was getting a name brand product.

I really like what monoprice has to offer and good pricing. I will keep an eye out on Craigs list too. Smart idea, especially here in Silicon Valley.

I'm planning on running direct burial from the house, using flexible conduit to get from house down to underground, then bury the cable, not all that deep, there will be tons of tree roots to deal with. I don't have the man power to go deep. Then another flex conduit to go from ground up to the trees where I will use junction boxes to cameras. I will get a few of those surge protectors too. I'll need to figure out what to do for a junction box on the underground side of the conduit to direct burial, but maybe it doesn't matter.
 

CaliGirl

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Do those Ethernet surge protectors need to be installed between each camera and the POE+ switch? Or could I install it between the NVR and switch or between the switch and wifi router?
 

zero-degrees

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I'll need to figure out what to do for a junction box on the underground side of the conduit to direct burial
There is something called a qwik cap which is a rubber boot with adjustable clamp around it that fits over the end of conduit. You could make a small incision in it to pass the cable out and then add a little silicon around the cable incision for added seal.

Do those Ethernet surge protectors need to be installed between each camera and the POE+ switch? Or could I install it between the NVR and switch or between the switch and wifi router?
That's really up to you - at what point do you want to add protection. Most people will use them on each camera. This assures if a lighting strike or something eletrical occures outside on that line it stops it prior to hitting the switch and damaging the single port or blowing out the entire switch.

If you place it on each camera line you protect the entire switch and everything up stream. You place it between the switch and NVR and you only protect the NVR so to speak and expose the entire switch and other components on it. So really it's upto how careful you want to be.
 

Solar Deity

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I'll chime in as well. I went the Monoprice route, but their shipping is ridiculous. $121 dollars shipped to NY for their Cat6 23 AWG.

1000FT 23AWG Cat6 500MHz UTP Solid, Riser Rated (CMR), Bulk Ethernet Bare Copper Cable, Orange - Monoprice.com

Needed to run power to mics and PIR's so I grabbed this off ebay.

BLUE BARE COPPER CAT5E 1000FT CAT5 CABLE UTP WIRE SOLID ETHERNET BULK RJ45 LAN | eBay

That's solid copper 24 AWG for $65 shipped to you door. I have two SD59225U-HNI's setup with a ~125' run to each. They both pull 12.8 -13.4 watts during the day, and 17.4 watts with the IR on.
I think Cat6 is overkill. especially from Monoprice. Don't get me wrong, it's good stuff and I'll be using it until it's gone, but the cams are 100Mb anyway. I can see the benefit of the thicker gauge for POE over long runs (300+ feet), but the solid 24AWG Cat5e is working superbly. Fixed varifocals need even less power than the PTZ's

My $0.02

Twin SD59s.JPG Microsemi_PD9012G_PM_Screen.jpg

SD
 
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Fastb

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Consider the source of the surge, and the electronics to be protected.
Outdoor cameras and outdoor wiring could see a surge from lightening strikes nearby. The surge would travel down the cable into the house, where the electronics live. So surge protection would be placed where it can stop that surge, eg: before the patch panel or after. But before your POE switch.
Installed there, all downstream electronics would be protected.

Maybe some folks in the thunderstorm prone midwest states can weigh in.... In Seattle, lightening occurs once every year or two.....

Fastb
 

zero-degrees

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$121 dollars shipped
Location, Location, Location. The only downside to Monoprice is they ship/distribute only out of CA, so the further you go east the more expensive (NJ is farthest US shipping zone from them via UPS/FedEx). Obviously the closer to the west coast the cheaper shipping will be.
 
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