Run several CAT6 cables to remote location, or one CAT6 connecting to a POE hub?

taschenmesser

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I am looking to replace an old camera system for my uncle. Currently there is a run of 3 coaxial cables that run from his basement DVR to his garage. This is a run of a good 150 feet, snaking underneath his house and basement area, up into his garage on the second floor (the house is on a hill). I am replacing his cameras with IP cameras and am trying to decide the best option for running cable.

A) I can do a run of 4 CAT6 cables from the basement DVR / POE switch to the garage, terminating into a wall plate. Then I can patch cables to the 3 cameras in the garage (2 in the front, 1 in the back). This leaves a fourth cable if I wanted to later install another camera or IR light.

B) I run 1 or 2 CAT6 cables to the garage, terminate into a wall plate. Then I install a small POE switch in the garage to power the cameras from there. I use the run as a 10gbs uplink. The big drawback I see here is that I would need to run another UPS at this location if I wanted the garage cameras to stay up in a power outage.

I am only considering the C option because of the rather extreme length of the run (150'). I think I would need to enlarge some of the holes throughout the underside of the house that run would go through with more than 2 CAT6 cables. Also, I wonder about power loss over such a long run.

However, it seems like option A) is probably the better choice. Any advice? Thanks.
 

SouthernYankee

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I have POE switches around the house to connect the cameras into. It simplifies the wire runs. If it is a difficult cable pull, ( running a drop down inside a wall, with insulation) I pull two cables one as a backup. I have all the switches on UPSs. I have a number of old APC 500 UPS that I replace the batters in every few years.
 

Arjun

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Look for a PoE Extender 1 PoE in to 4 PoE out; it does wonders
 

taschenmesser

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I have POE switches around the house to connect the cameras into. It simplifies the wire runs. If it is a difficult cable pull, ( running a drop down inside a wall, with insulation) I pull two cables one as a backup. I have all the switches on UPSs. I have a number of old APC 500 UPS that I replace the batters in every few years.
Yes, I did something similar at my house. I ran two lines through an insulated wall and ceiling to the upstairs bedroom. It wasn't an easy thing to do because of the insulation. Upstairs I put a small POE switch which powers 3 cameras. I use a single CAT5e cable to connect the upstairs/downstairs switches. It works fine, but the main issue is the second UPS I have to run upstairs to keep the cameras on during pretty frequent black outs.

My Uncle's place has enough room in the basement to do a larger run of cables. And I feel like adding another POE switch/UPS in the garage is perhaps unnecessary complexity. In which case, it would make more sense just to power the cables in the basement and send them to the garage powered. I am on the fence I guess.

I haven't heard of a PoE Extender before.
 

Fastb

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Some folks use coax to carry ip traffic. It's a converter-type widget.
Using the 3 coax cables already in place, but for ip cams might be an option to consider...
 

NickTheGreat

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What is the disadvantage of one wire with a switch, as opposed to multiple cables? I pulled 3 cables from my basement to my garage attic, because I assumed it'd be better. But I might actually need another one!
 

taschenmesser

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Some folks use coax to carry ip traffic. It's a converter-type widget.
Using the 3 coax cables already in place, but for ip cams might be an option to consider...
I had never considered this and didn't realize it was an option, thanks. Found this thread about doing it:

It does seem like a bit of added complexity, although it would mean I wouldn't have to run 150'+ CAT6 runs to the garage.
 

taschenmesser

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What is the disadvantage of one wire with a switch, as opposed to multiple cables? I pulled 3 cables from my basement to my garage attic, because I assumed it'd be better. But I might actually need another one!
This is a question I would love an answer to as well. I would imagine you would run into bandwidth problems if you had tons of cameras running off a remote switch. But if the uplink cable was CAT6 (properly run) and the uplink connection on both sides was 10Mbps, I would think that would be plenty of bandwidth for many cameras.

From what I gather, running CAT6 requires more skill than CAT5e. I've only ever run CAT5e cable in the past myself, which is relatively simple to crimp/terminate.
 

Tinman

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I think it really depends on your own setup. I run one cable to my shop and then have 6 cams off a couple of POE switches there. I would believe by running a cable to each camera you could say you are not relying on just that one cable too, BUT in the end I am still relying on just one cable to feed my BI computer. If I was building new construction, then yes I would definitely run a home run cable to each camera to multiple POE switches just in case one switch would fail I would still have some cameras up and running. I really doubt you are going to see any performance advantages of it though.
 

looney2ns

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I am looking to replace an old camera system for my uncle. Currently there is a run of 3 coaxial cables that run from his basement DVR to his garage. This is a run of a good 150 feet, snaking underneath his house and basement area, up into his garage on the second floor (the house is on a hill). I am replacing his cameras with IP cameras and am trying to decide the best option for running cable.

A) I can do a run of 4 CAT6 cables from the basement DVR / POE switch to the garage, terminating into a wall plate. Then I can patch cables to the 3 cameras in the garage (2 in the front, 1 in the back). This leaves a fourth cable if I wanted to later install another camera or IR light.

B) I run 1 or 2 CAT6 cables to the garage, terminate into a wall plate. Then I install a small POE switch in the garage to power the cameras from there. I use the run as a 10gbs uplink. The big drawback I see here is that I would need to run another UPS at this location if I wanted the garage cameras to stay up in a power outage.

I am only considering the C option because of the rather extreme length of the run (150'). I think I would need to enlarge some of the holes throughout the underside of the house that run would go through with more than 2 CAT6 cables. Also, I wonder about power loss over such a long run.

However, it seems like option A) is probably the better choice. Any advice? Thanks.
150' is no problem, cat 5e or 6 is good for 330' as per standard, it can be successfully ran past that.
Running one cable and using a POE switch in the garage as long as it has a gigabyte up-link port or the switch is gigabyte and it would work just fine.

You could also use a HDCVI cameras & NVR which would eliminate the need to replace the cable, but still allow upgrading to current technology.

Be sure to use solid copper cable, and not copper clad aluminum Ethernet if you go that route.
 
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bradner

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What is the disadvantage of one wire with a switch, as opposed to multiple cables? I pulled 3 cables from my basement to my garage attic, because I assumed it'd be better. But I might actually need another one!
  • Total wattage is limited to the switches output capability. A small switch may be limited to 60W total for example and if you had two big PTZ's pulling 35W each or higher, you may notices glitches and couldn't use more than the two ports. For regular non-PTZ cams, total wattage usage is usually a non-issue as they use maybe 5-12W each depending on their features.
  • Troubleshooting multiple switches can be a hassle if they are unmanaged, I use small managed Ubiquiti switches so I can track better what's on what port. Again this may be a non-issue too.

That's just a couple things I can think of.

On the other hand, I'm converting a few of my multiple cable runs to single runs to a USW-Flex managed POE switch for my basic cams and using the leftover cable runs to power external IR illuminators.
 

Fcam

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Please, can someone helps me to reset thMy Hikvision Ip Camera. I forgot the password. You'll can see information about the camera in the attacched file.IP Camera Capture.PNG
Thanks.
 

jaycanter

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I would run several cables and use the switches. I have 18 cameras on my house feeding thru 1 cat 6 cable about 130ft to my garage out back then it is connected to a switch with another 18 cameras and the BI machine in the garage with no issues.
 

Arjun

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Sounds like a good idea with the only exception being the age and type of Coax.

Some folks use coax to carry ip traffic. It's a converter-type widget.
Using the 3 coax cables already in place, but for ip cams might be an option to consider...
 

sebastiantombs

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Cable doesn't wear out very fast, as in a century or so. The age isn't important as long as the outer jacket is in good shape.
 

Arjun

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Well, as long as you don't run them outside, you should be fine :p Squirrels are notorious for well...you know, lol

Cable doesn't wear out very fast, as in a century or so. The age isn't important as long as the outer jacket is in good shape.
 
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