Adding cams; UPS/Switch in the garage ok?

Frankenscript

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Hi folks,

Short story: the expedient expansion plan I'm considering means putting a UPS and a POE switch into my garage, in Indiana so temp range in there goes from about -10 (garage open on cold winter day) to probably 120 at its hottest. Will the UPS and switch be seriously compromised by temperature?

Longer story:

I'm sliding down the slippery IPCAM slope. I've had 9 cameras running great for nearly two years. But it's time to freshen the mix by adding a couple new ones.

Currently, all nine are wired home-run to the computer/POE switch (and one single port injector) which lives in a corner of the basement where there's a dedicated circuit with a UPS. If the power goes out, I've got about an hour of recording before things shut off. Of my 9 cameras, 5 are mounted on exterior walls of the garage; it juts out a bit from the house so it has east, west, and north facing angles which point in the directions I care the most about. I wired them one at a time over a three month period, and toward the end I wondered why I didn't just run one wire to the garage, and get a POE switch in the garage, instead of dragging all those cables down into my basement.

The new cameras are mostly going to be wired through the garage, one way or another, so rather than adding more home runs, I figured to tap into one of the existing cables, pop a POE switch on it, and run the new cameras (and the camera I stole the line from) out of that switch. There would be a UPS to drive the POE switch. But, I worry about the UPS batteries or circuitry failing due to hot garage syndrome, and somewhat the switch too. It gets hot and cold in there.

Am I making a mountain out of a molehill here? I mean, car batteries are lead acid too, and they survive in the garage... but then again maybe UPS batteries aren't spec'ed for the temp swings. Sure, I could always forsake the UPS, and have a few blind spots when the power goes out, occasionally, but that's not how my scientist/engineer mindset works.

Would appreciate your thoughts on this. The job is a LOT easier if I can wire 'em up from a splitter in the garage....
 

Frankenscript

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Googled a bit, most of the guys were about running garage doors from UPS which requires high amperage stuff. Not much on typical PC UPS in hot environments.

Can anyone recommend a POE switch likely to survive heat (8 port is enough).

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SouthernYankee

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I had a netgear GS108PP in my houston texas garage for over a year with no problems, I have since move it to a closet inside the house. I have a APC 500 UPS in the garage for over 5 years with no problems other than replacing the battery once., it is still there running.
 

Netscan

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FWIW I've had a UPS in my (Florida) garage for about 4 years. Replaced the battery once, which is in line with APC's published FAQ:


1. Operating Temperature: The optimum operating temperature for a lead-acid battery is 20-25° C (68-77° F). Elevated temperature reduces longevity. As a guideline, every 8° C (15° F) rise in temperature will cut the battery life in half. A battery which would last for 4 years at 25° C (77° F), will only be good for 2 years if operated at 33° C (95° F). Keep in mind that the battery temperature inside your UPS will always be warmer than the ambient temperature of the location where the UPS is installed.
 

Frankenscript

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Thanks for these replies. I will push forward with the switch and UPS in the garage, with understanding that there may be some reduction in the operating life of the components.

I've ordered two new cams from Andy and will get on the UPS and switch tonight.

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Will.I.Am

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You could house the battery externally. You can buy ventilated and fanned cctv cabinets that would maybe help a bit, but ultimately if it's warm outside the cabinet then fans aren't going to make an awful lot of difference as long as the equipment is installed somewhere well ventilated to begin with.
Any UPS I've ever seen comes with its own fans anyway, as do most decent switches, but the traffic of a couple of cameras isn't really going to heat the switch up much anyway.
 

mikeynags

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I'm currently running a Ubiquiti 8-port POE switch in the garage on a cheap 600VA UPS. It does get hot in there so I added a pair of AC Infinity Fans with a temp controller. Here are the details:

 
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th182

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I just installed an 8-port Cisco POE switch in my non-heated shed. Haven’t added a UPS yet but likely will. We will see how it all survives the Minnesota winter!


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Frankenscript

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Great info and ideas from this thread. Thank you all!

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