Home Run Cables - Need a solution

beardog

Young grasshopper
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
33
Reaction score
1
I have a situation where it is becoming time prohibitive for me to run my cat6 cable all the way from my rack mounted switch to each camera on the other side of my attached garage.

I am planning 4 cameras all on the outside. I am assuming I don't need make complicated home runs all the way back to my PoE Switch... So could I drop a home run somewhere near my garage and attach a switch to that, then run short simple cable runs to each of the exterior mounted IP cameras?

If I do this...
1. I know the switch near the garage needs to be PoE even though its connected to my main PoE?

2. Will the home run coming from the PoE switch near the garage back to my main PoE switch be able to effectively transfer all the data for 4 or 5 cameras on that single home run?

3. What is a good inexpensive Poe Switch that will be able to handle freezing temps temps in the 90's and some humidity?
Has anyone had the same problem as me? It becomes unreasonable making all home runs and uses a ton of cat6 cable.
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Last edited by a moderator:
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.

beardog

Young grasshopper
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
33
Reaction score
1
@beardog Not having to homerun is one of the benefits of ip cameras.
1) yes
2)yes
3) Most switches will handle that just fine. http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-SF1008P-100Mbps-8-Port-802-3af/dp/B003CFATT2/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1449436379&sr=1-4&keywords=poe+switch
Thanks Fenderman. I thought this was the case.

If I wanted 6-8 cams at that end of the property am I better off with TWO 4 port PoE Switches and TWO Home Runs back to my main PoE Switch, or would ONE 8 port with all the feeds coming back on ONE home run not be any different for performance, speed, and quality?
 
As an Amazon Associate IPCamTalk earns from qualifying purchases.

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,897
Reaction score
21,250
Thanks Fenderman. I thought this was the case.

If I wanted 6-8 cams at that end of the property am I better off with TWO 4 port PoE Switches and TWO Home Runs back to my main PoE Switch, or would ONE 8 port with all the feeds coming back on ONE home run not be any different for performance, speed, and quality?
You can still use a single switch, but might want to use a gigabit switch to give you more headroom, but not really needed...note that most 8 port poe switches can only support 7 cams as you use a port for uplink...some have a separate uplink port...It can never hurt to run an extra cable anyway, just incase...make sure to use good quality cable, not no name copper clad aluminium (CCA) junk.
 

beardog

Young grasshopper
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
33
Reaction score
1
You can still use a single switch, but might want to use a gigabit switch to give you more headroom, but not really needed...note that most 8 port poe switches can only support 7 cams as you use a port for uplink...some have a separate uplink port...It can never hurt to run an extra cable anyway, just incase...make sure to use good quality cable, not no name copper clad aluminium (CCA) junk.
I am using 2 types of cable. One is CMR Cat6 by "CableMatters" the other is CMXF Cat6 by "Firefold" I am using the flooded core for the home runs around the exterior of my house underneath the vinyl siding. It is a pain in the neck to run, but I felt if I was going to spend the time running difficult pulls, I want them to last.

I guess what I didnt understand is when you said "it can never hurt to run an extra cable anyway" - did you mean for another switch down the road?

Also, 7 cameras at 3MP - 15fs can all come into my main switch on ONE Cat6 with no problem? That is pretty impressive. (I am new to this whole networking world so thanks for being patient)
 

CamFan

Getting the hang of it
Joined
May 25, 2014
Messages
143
Reaction score
65
Location
California
Think about a UPS on that switch too. Assuming you have one in your main closet.
 

tomw

Getting the hang of it
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
114
Reaction score
22
Cat6 will do 1Gb/s that's 115MB/s (note MegaByte) infact on short runs it can handle 10Gb (I've run 10Gb over cat6 ~15m at home - not because I need it...but because I can :))

So, at 3MP/cam that's 35+ cam's on the one cable no problem.

wrt extra cable runs. Good advice is to always run more cables...IP is the future for all devices and you will always find a need for them..not for the cams, but for say TV's, NAS system in the garage, music streaming, sensors etc. Cable is cheap, pulling it is expensive, so I always just run another few cables and leave it unconnected just in case.
 

beardog

Young grasshopper
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
33
Reaction score
1
Cat6 will do 1Gb/s that's 115MB/s (note MegaByte) infact on short runs it can handle 10Gb (I've run 10Gb over cat6 ~15m at home - not because I need it...but because I can :))

So, at 3MP/cam that's 35+ cam's on the one cable no problem.

wrt extra cable runs. Good advice is to always run more cables...IP is the future for all devices and you will always find a need for them..not for the cams, but for say TV's, NAS system in the garage, music streaming, sensors etc. Cable is cheap, pulling it is expensive, so I always just run another few cables and leave it unconnected just in case.
Thank you for the clarification! I will drop a line for the 8 port PoE switch for all of my cams on that side of the property.
 
Top