Pre-Wire Options for new home

[TexanDude]

Hello,

I am building a home and my builder has option to pre-wire for security cameras. One option is to have a network "Cat6-E cable +CoAx" combination (bit pricey, for PoE cameras) and other one is to have a regular electrical outlet (for wifi cameras)

And I am open to options of installing either 'Electrically Wired-Wifi' or 'PoE powered' cameras.

However, since the builder charges per drop of cable, I am thinking of installing 2 cameras per drop (example drop will be on corner, where I can install 2 cameras for adjacent walls) - this way I can minimize the cost.

Has anyone attempted any of these options? Would you have any feedback to offer for newbie like me?

Thank you in advance.

 

[looney2ns]

Study here: Cliff Notes.
Avoid WiFi cams.
Over cable, if you think you need 1 at a location, pull 2, if you think you need 2, pull 3.
What is he charging per drop? Does his price include the cable? The coax is not needed these days.

 

[TonyR]

When you decide which cable to use (CAT-5e or CAT-6, solid [not stranded] , pure copper [not CCA / Copper Clad Aluminum], CMR [riser] rated jacket) I would purchase it myself and not rely on the contractor to get quality cable.

P.S. - Welcome to IPCT!

 

[samplenhold]

There is no reason to run coax. I have it in every room and never have used it. Never will. This is a throw back to the 1990's. get him to give you a price for ethernet only.

 

[SouthernYankee]

I would drop only ethernet cable. Drop one more cable than you think you will need. Make sure to use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum).

Study were you want the drops, most cameras mounted on the soffets are too high. For example I have three cameras covering the front door, one pointing in, one point out and one on the door bell. The garage door cameras one on each side of the door and no higher than the top of the door.

a quote from another member:
If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 7ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.

Have the cables pulled to a patch panel in a closet. Make sure there is an A/C vent in that closet.

When I built my house 25+ years ago i installed my own wired alarm system, I ran all the wires, I ran extra wire to location i did not plan on using, well over the years have used them.

Note: it is child play to jam wifi. Never use wifi for critical security and surveillance system.

I have A/C vents in all walk in closets in the Texas heat. I also have power plugs in all walk in closets

 

[tigerwillow1]

There is no reason to run coax. I have it in every room and never have used it. Never will. This is a throw back to the 1990's.

Am I the only one left who watches OTA television?

 

[area651]

Am I the only one left who watches OTA television?

lol.....likely yeah. I'm gonna guess you also have a "home phone" as well? (I just saw an article that said something like 80% of people don't use "home phones" any more.)

 

[area651]

Hello,

I am building a home and my builder has option to pre-wire for security cameras. One option is to have a network "Cat6-E cable +CoAx" combination (bit pricey, for PoE cameras) and other one is to have a regular electrical outlet (for wifi cameras)

And I am open to options of installing either 'Electrically Wired-Wifi' or 'PoE powered' cameras.

However, since the builder charges per drop of cable, I am thinking of installing 2 cameras per drop (example drop will be on corner, where I can install 2 cameras for adjacent walls) - this way I can minimize the cost.

Has anyone attempted any of these options? Would you have any feedback to offer for newbie like me?

Thank you in advance.

I'd have runs like the others said. To reiterate though, you want solid cable ethernet. Many contractors will use CCA to cut corners. If it were me, first day he gets the cable in, I'd go with a pocketknife and verify myself.

imho, I'd have cables pulled into the eves on all corners of the house as well. and while I'm at it, I'd go ahead and have double runs into each room and double runs to the doors. It sounds like a hella lot of cable and it is. Remember, these things dont (and SHOULDNT) get spliced together. When contractors do houses, they want to splice it all together like phone wire as that servers the purpose for thermostats and wired alarm systems. Every single cable should be a solid, uninterrupted run to the wiring closet or home office. Once there, I'd have 6ft of each one coming out of the wall so I could bundle to a patch panel. If they all end right at the plug in the wall, what hell are you going to do? Have a 40 port patch panel INSIDE the wall??? Yikes! lol...

I've seen guys put a pvc pipe tube down the interior wall from the attic to the patch room/office just so they can more easily do it themselves later. Just in case you want to put it off, there's the idea of putting in ports/tubes in teh top plates of the walls for later work yourself.

 

[tigerwillow1]

I'm gonna guess you also have a "home phone" as well?

You're darned right about that! And I am NOT a throw back to the 1990s, I'm a throw back to the 1950s. It's my car that's from the 90s. But I'm not totally backwoods: I do have a flip phone. More seriously, since the subchannels came about, a few percent of OTA television programming is really good.

 

[TexanDude]

Thank you all for such a welcoming flood of responses.

The ethernet cable drop (for PoE enabled cameras) is more than twice costly then a regular power drop (for wifi enabled camera). Which was the reason, it seemed interesting. But thank you for clearing my misconception of WiFi Cameras = Ethernet Cameras.

Few questions.
(1) does regular Cat-6E cable suffice for providing power? or do I need a specialized Ethernet cable for powering PoE cameras
(2) Can I add a 1x2 switch at the outside end, and thus power two cameras with a single cable end?

I apologize if these questions seem too silly. But I am very green about this.

 

[fenderman]

Thank you all for such a welcoming flood of responses.

The ethernet cable drop (for PoE enabled cameras) is more than twice costly then a regular power drop (for wifi enabled camera). Which was the reason, it seemed interesting. But thank you for clearing my misconception of WiFi Cameras = Ethernet Cameras.

Few questions.
(1) does regular Cat-6E cable suffice for providing power? or do I need a specialized Ethernet cable for powering PoE cameras
(2) Can I add a 1x2 switch at the outside end, and thus power two cameras with a single cable end?

I apologize if these questions seem too silly. But I am very green about this.

1 Regular cable will work. There is no specialized poe cable.
2 you can do this but it creates a mess and with the cost of the device you are not saving much if anything. How much is he charging you per ethernet drop?

 

[wittaj]

Thank you all for such a welcoming flood of responses.

The ethernet cable drop (for PoE enabled cameras) is more than twice costly then a regular power drop (for wifi enabled camera). Which was the reason, it seemed interesting. But thank you for clearing my misconception of WiFi Cameras = Ethernet Cameras.

Few questions.
(1) does regular Cat-6E cable suffice for providing power? or do I need a specialized Ethernet cable for powering PoE cameras
(2) Can I add a 1x2 switch at the outside end, and thus power two cameras with a single cable end?

I apologize if these questions seem too silly. But I am very green about this.

Why is the ethernet drop double what an electric wiring and outlet would be?

 

[fenderman]

Why is the ethernet drop double what an electric wiring and outlet would be?

This is a very good point. It should be cheaper. The answer as usual is because they can charge more because it sounds more techie.

 

[Holbs]

Today's IP cameras can survive on Cat5e network cabling good enough. 95% of the time, we can Fluke certify Cat5e for gigabit speed. However, purchasing bulk Cat5e is a challenge as the industry standard that distributors carry is Cat6 cabling.
So when someone mentions "Cat6e" or "Cat7" for home use, I laugh. That is like saying "do not buy a Dodge 1500 for a pickup to use around the house, buy a dump truck".
To give idea of rates for your standard Cat6 ethernet drop, we charge in the neighborhood of $60 per cable, in a business office setting. It would be faster & easier in an open framed house under construction.
If you do not like the price your housing contractor gives you, you have the option of DIY (it's not THAT hard), or hiring low voltage contractor who can also run everything low voltage wise (ethernet, alarm, speakers, etc).

 

[mat200]

..
(2) Can I add a 1x2 switch at the outside end, and thus power two cameras with a single cable end?
...

imho always better to pull the cables now while it is easy to a central location. You'll save on headaches later when you only have 2 end point to trouble shoot.

N+1 cable runs to each location.

Remember also to cable to locations for other internet connected devices.

 

[Kevin_Essiambre]

Why is the ethernet drop double what an electric wiring and outlet would be?

Probably because they're going to take power from the nearest thing, making the wire run as short as possible, with no GFCI protection.

[QUOTE="fenderman, post: 448573]
This is a very good point. It should be cheaper. The answer as usual is because they can charge more because it sounds more techie.[/QUOTE]
This is likely the reason... but I know many who will do a price per drop then realize they lost money on the last job, and on the next job Jack the price sky high.

OP may be able to bring in a different company to do the wiring rather than pay the electrician... I'm one of those different companies to bring in. Last house had 30 drops... I even ran some on my own dime just in case because the client didn't want to have extra cables everywhere.

Sent from my new phone. Autocorrect may have changed stuff.

 

[sdkid]

OP may be able to bring in a different company to do the wiring rather than pay the electrician... I'm one of those different companies to bring in. Last house had 30 drops... I even ran some on my own dime just in case because the client didn't want to have extra cables everywhere.

Sent from my new phone. Autocorrect may have changed stuff.

Wow--- 30 drops! That would be AWESOME.
I built in '99 and absolutely did NOT see how I might need network drops all over. While all my walls and ceilings now are closed, I need to do a bunch of expansion to my network. I can get from my switch area in the basement up into the attic, but there, part of the house is a scissor-truss vaulted ceiling that stretches over 20 feet to the garage (where I want to add runs. How the hell do I span that distance?? I have a fiberglass fish rod set-- but it just flexes and gets hung up on the blown-in insulation or the next rafter.
Do I need something to "shoot" a string from the garage side to the middle of the house? If not that---What Tool do I buy??

Here are those vaulted ceiling trusses, looking towards the garage.... I took a lot of video when I built that is helpful now.

The 1st floor uses a truss system too-- this is mostly blocked now by ductwork that runs left to right going across this view... Same issue--- no simple access from underneath (sheetrock ceiling), and I need to go diagonally about 30 feet to where my home entertainment system sits today.


EDIT-- view of the floor trusses from the ceiling of my switch area / utility room now... Heat/AC ductwork blocking ...



I hope this kind of info helps the OP see how important it is to run as many lines as he can now--- but to ALSO plan a way to expand easily. Not too many people in 1999 ever thought networking would be such a big deal-- my electrician thought I was crazy running cat5 in the very limited way I did. LOL.

 

[tigerwillow1]

Wow--- 30 drops! That would be AWESOME.

What a bipolar world! Hang around here and network drops all over the house are good. I've got 25 drops in the house (not including camera system) and almost everybody I rub shoulders with thinks I'm crazy. The whole rest of the world is wifi everything. When I tell people I like wires better I get the "you are nuts" stare in return.

Spanning the vaulted ceilings is a pain, and drove me to put most of the network wiring in the crawlspace. I've read of various solutions like bow and arrow trailing a string. Search for "cable dart gun" for some ready-to-go solutions. My attic has over a foot of blown in insulation just to make things more interesting.

 

[samplenhold]

I had a 20 foot span with a similar problem. I used PVC pipe to go the distance and fished through it.

If you don't want the Cat5e in the pipe, fish a cord through it and once secured on the other side, pull the PVC back.

 

[Holbs]

back in the day, we used (1/2"? 3/4"? ) PVC as a gopher pole. They even have thick (3/8?) fiberglass rods that connect to each other to give stiffness (do not want rods to bend much if you go thinner). Poke a hole at your camera/AP/down pathway to station location...stick 5 feet of pull string up in there with a tied off loop knot at the end...use the fiberglass sticks / PVC pipe with a hook taped to it, to grab the string...whalla. Pathway set.
Tiger...I still gots that Pistol grip that shoots a plastic dart attached to a fishing line gizmo Use it maybe 1x a year but when we do use it, happy to have it.