PoE switch placement

[wpsfan]

Did the final walkthrough of our new home yesterday and realized that theres no outlets in the attic, where I planned to run all 4 cam cables to a switch and then fish just a single cable own to my router. As of now it looks like I'll have to fish all 4 wires unless I figure out power.

I'm thinking either have an electrician install an attic outlet, place the switch in my crawl space which is surprisingly nice and has somewhat of a floor if theres an outlet, or just fish all the cable which i'd rather not do. Looking for recommendations or any other ideas on where you all installed yours, thanks.

 

[zero-degrees]

@wpsfan

Your questions cause additional questions before proper answered

1. If you're in the southern US you may want to avoid the attic since temps in the summer can approach 150-175 degrees. If you are not in an area where that is possible the next question is "how strict are your building codes"? For example if you are in Chicago where EVERYTHING has to be in conduit you could have a little more work of locating and splicing electricity. However, if you are not in an area that requires conduit you should very comfortably be able to turn off your power - locate one of your electrical runs, cut that run, place a junction box and wire in an electrical outlet with little work/concern.

2. Crawl Space - Are you somewhere that gets a LOT of rain? If so and your crawl space will have moisture in it or water at times before the sump pump kicks it out you might want to reconsider another are placement because moisture can cause some serious issues with that switch over time.

3. Consider shelves in the top of closets as a place to install the NVR or switch, also in a dry crawl consider just mounting it between the rafters to the sub floor inside down. Regardless you may at times need to access it to perform a physical reset, so don't make things painful/impossible.

 

[badmop]

I think the crawlspace he's talking about is in the attic, I may be wrong. But good points!

I would run the electric into the attic, it's always nice to have in the future for other things. Depending how hot the attic gets, you could always hook up a fan to expell the hot air in the attic. Not saying that makes it good to put electrical items like a POE switch up there, just arguing the point it's probably best to have some electrical outlets in the attic.