Installing Lorex (Dahua?) camera on brick wall

[ncnmra]

I purchased a house that used to have a security system. They ran CAT5e cable around to various points around the house through the brick wall on the exterior. I don't believe that the previous cameras were IP based.

I purchased a Lorex 4K system with IP cameras. They look good, but I realized that the pigtail on them (RJ45 + power) is massive and doesn't appear to be able to be disconnected. I do NOT want to drill a massive hole in the wall just to get the pigtail through, and there is NO way to fit the pigtail behind the camera itself.

What is the solution in this case? I am very hesitant to cut/splice the pigtail. It seems insane to me that they would include such a massive connector with no way of disconnecting it. Makes for a difficult installation.

Am I missing something?

 

[fenderman]

I purchased a house that used to have a security system. They ran CAT5e cable around to various points around the house through the brick wall on the exterior. I don't believe that the previous cameras were IP based.

I purchased a Lorex 4K system with IP cameras. They look good, but I realized that the pigtail on them (RJ45 + power) is massive and doesn't appear to be able to be disconnected. I do NOT want to drill a massive hole in the wall just to get the pigtail through, and there is NO way to fit the pigtail behind the camera itself.

What is the solution in this case? I am very hesitant to cut/splice the pigtail. It seems insane to me that they would include such a massive connector with no way of disconnecting it. Makes for a difficult installation.

Am I missing something?

This is normal for most cameras - some have a female ethernet port inside. You need to find the appropriate junction box. There are matching boxes for most cams.

 

[aristobrat]

Use a junction box, ... all manufactures and resellers make specific ones for specific camera models. Then you only have to drill a hole in the wall wide enough to pull an unterminated ethernet cable through, ... this gives you the chance to put the waterproof shield thing on before crimping the end onto that cable.

 

[ncnmra]

Ok thanks guys. I guess I'm surprised that they wouldn't make the pigtail with a small junction to run inside a wall. I didn't want to brutalize my new house brick wall to run the connector.

On a related note, since I'll be running POE, what should I do with the unconnected 12V plug? Wrap with electrical tape?

 

[awsum140]

Yes, wrap the 12v connector well with electrical tape.

To put some perspective on the size of the pigtail, keep in mind that PoE uses 8 wires total, four for power and four for communications. Any connector that will support eight conductors, round, square or rectangular, is going to be big for that reason. Additionally there are also impedance issues involved which effect spacing. There's just no way to avoid that.

 

[cyberwolf_uk]

Ok thanks guys. I guess I'm surprised that they wouldn't make the pigtail with a small junction to run inside a wall. I didn't want to brutalize my new house brick wall to run the connector.

On a related note, since I'll be running POE, what should I do with the unconnected 12V plug? Wrap with electrical tape?

Any electrically water proof tape... I use silicon gel, the water proof one personally.

 

[fenderman]

Yes, wrap the 12v connector well with electrical tape.

To put some perspective on the size of the pigtail, keep in mind that PoE uses 8 wires total, four for power and four for communications. Any connector that will support eight conductors, round, square or rectangular, is going to be big for that reason. Additionally there are also impedance issues involved which effect spacing. There's just no way to avoid that.

To clarify, in most cases only 2 pair (4 wires) are used for both the data and poe.

 

[awsum140]

Son of a gun, you're right (as usual). I assumed, and we know what that does, that pairs three and four were used for DC feed and the data was kept separate on pairs one and two. Oh well, life is a constant learning lesson.

 

[mat200]

I purchased a house that used to have a security system. They ran CAT5e cable around to various points around the house through the brick wall on the exterior. I don't believe that the previous cameras were IP based.

I purchased a Lorex 4K system with IP cameras. They look good, but I realized that the pigtail on them (RJ45 + power) is massive and doesn't appear to be able to be disconnected. I do NOT want to drill a massive hole in the wall just to get the pigtail through, and there is NO way to fit the pigtail behind the camera itself.

What is the solution in this case? I am very hesitant to cut/splice the pigtail. It seems insane to me that they would include such a massive connector with no way of disconnecting it. Makes for a difficult installation.

Am I missing something?

Welcome @ncnmra

Depending on the lorex camera model you should be able to find some nice junction boxes to hold the pigtail connection within the box.

Use dielectric gel in the connector, wrap it ( I use silicone stretch tape ), use a silicone caulk around the top and sides of the junction box

If you have a Dahua OEM bullet camera, this is the junction box to look for Dahua OEM PFA121
( Lorex has it under a different part number - now in multiple colors )

Consider painting the junction box to match the brick wall to blend in better.