Best way to power IR illuminators 250' or 500' away?

[EvanVanVan]

As the topic asks, what's the best way of doing this? I didn't really want to hijack this thread: Best way to power IR illuminator from POE switch, not using Cat6 and splitter

I don't understand the electric side of things/voltage drop well enough. Can PoE with a splitter really power this illuminator or this one? I don't see specific power requirements other than the free 12v 2a/3a adapters that are included with them. I think for the camera that's 500' away I would need another injector, to use PoE for the illuminator which should provide sufficient power anyway. But without an injector I'm not sure there's enough to power a large-ish illuminator (even if it's closer, i.e. 250').

Thanks

 

[TonyR]

You really need the 120VAC line to power the 12VDC power supply for the emitters to be a LOT closer.

To power the smaller, 2 Amp emitter from the shorter distance 250 feet with 12VDC and with acceptable voltage drop would still require two HUGE #8 copper conductors which is cost prohibitive and cumbersome.

To give you an idea of how much closer the 120VAC source would need to be to allow for smaller, less expensive conductors, one parallel zip cord (2 conductors) of #16 copper could be run only 25 feet to supply 2 Amps with a voltage drop of less than a half of a volt to 11.59 VDC or 3.4%. The large emitter that draws 3 Amps would have to be even closer at 20 feet to keep the voltage drop below 5%.

The above was calculated with this calculator ==>> Voltage Drop Calculator

Plug in your distance and if the voltage drop goes above 5%, go to the next larger conductor, find its resistance (Ohms) per 1,000 ft. in the chart and plug that in then re-calculate. Try to keep the drop below 5% by either shortening the wire distance or using a larger wire size.

 

[EvanVanVan]

That is disappointing but makes sense. That might be a future project lol...or try find some kind of solar/battery solution.

Thank you for the in depth explanation and the link

 

[ptzman]

Run 24VAC for less line loss over that distant from a transformer, then use a 24VAC to 12VDC converter

 

[EvanVanVan]

Interesting, thanks!

 

[ptzman]

I used 12 AWG landscape wire for my run. Connected the run to a DC voltage converter. With the IR on, I measured 12.5VDC

 

[ptzman]

The landscape wire is UL approved and you can bury it

 

[TonyR]

Or you could run 120VAC through two #16's for 250 ft. and supply 2 Amps with only 4.1 volt drop to 115.9 VAC; run the 12VDC power supply off that.