Switching from WiFi to wired, can someone help?

[Marcelor73]

My current set up consists of a dedicated PC running BI and 2 WiFi cameras. The PC running BI is connected to my router via cat 6. It works. Sometimes one of the cameras will lose connectivity, and a reboot of the camera solves the problem. I actually added a smart home plug and have the camera set up to reboot automatically every couple of days and haven't had any issues.

I'd like to add more cameras and since wired is more reliable than WiFi, I'm willing to go the extra mile to hard wire. Rather than running power to every camera, I'd like for the cameras to be PoE.

Can someone help with what I need to buy and what the set up will be like?

- Do I need another router to piggy back off my existing one?

- is there a router/PoE combined? If not, where does the PoE get included in the system?

Any advice on brand/models would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[fenderman]

My current set up consists of a dedicated PC running BI and 2 WiFi cameras. The PC running BI is connected to my router via cat 6. It works. Sometimes one of the cameras will lose connectivity, and a reboot of the camera solves the problem. I actually added a smart home plug and have the camera set up to reboot automatically every couple of days and haven't had any issues.

I'd like to add more cameras and since wired is more reliable than WiFi, I'm willing to go the extra mile to hard wire. Rather than running power to every camera, I'd like for the cameras to be PoE.

Can someone help with what I need to buy and what the set up will be like?

- Do I need another router to piggy back off my existing one?

- is there a router/PoE combined? If not, where does the PoE get included in the system?

Any advice on brand/models would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Do your current cameras support poe?
do you have two spare ports in your router?
if the answer to both is no, all you need is a standard switch and plug that into your router https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Unmanaged-GREENnet-Switching-TEG-S50g/dp/B001QUA6R0/ref=sr_1_12?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1515342693&sr=1-12&keywords=gigabit+switch
if your cams support poe and you want to eliminate the current power adapter you are using then use one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Lifetime-TL-SF1008P/dp/B003CFATT2/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1515342750&sr=1-5&keywords=poe+switch

 

[Marcelor73]

@fenderman thanks for the reply. My current cameras do not support, but I think I'll go that way and use PoE for the new cameras, and eventually switch them to all PoE. I didn't realize that the PoE switch was that easy to set up.

Thanks again.

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman thanks for the reply. My current cameras do not support, but I think I'll go that way and use PoE for the new cameras, and eventually switch them to all PoE. I didn't realize that the PoE switch was that easy to set up.

Thanks again.

there are two types of poe switches...managed and unmanged..unmanged are plug and play...the managed switches require a bit of work but add functionality ..
here is a cheap one https://www.amazon.com/5-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Managed-GS1200-5HP/dp/B01INVLPU6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1515346190&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=zyxel+poe&th=1
4 ports are poe....there is an 8 port version but that also only has 4 ports poe the rest are not...

 

[Philip Gonzales]

For what it's worth you can convert a non PoE Wi-Fi cam to PoE with one of these adapters.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00CDT7KPO/ref=ya_aw_oh_bia_dp?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Plug an Ethernet cable into a PoE switch and plug the other side into this adapter where it splits the power back to the barrel. Plug the barrel into the cam and the Ethernet cable into the cam as well. This adapter supports 5, 9, and 12V output via a selector switch. Also has 4 different barrel sizes. You can find cheaper ones but I found this one worked well as I did not know what barrel size my Wi-Fi cams had. The Wi-Fi cams I have are not Amcrest and I could not find any specs on the barrel size. Anyway I like that these eliminate the power cable for my cheap indoor cams.

 

[Marcelor73]

@fenderman Thank you for the info. I'm only connecting cameras. Any reason I'd benefit from a managed switch?

@Philip Gonzales Thanks. I like the idea, but I'm not sure how that'd survive an outdoor install.

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman Thank you for the info. I'm only connecting cameras. Any reason I'd benefit from a managed switch?

@Philip Gonzales Thanks. I like the idea, but I'm not sure how that'd survive an outdoor install.

Yes... You can remotely power cycle them, check power consumption, and use them to set up vlans so that your cameras are isolated from the rest of your network... The particular switch I link to is also gigabit and can provide Poe+ ... But you'll likely will never need either of those functions..

 

[Marcelor73]

@fenderman Thanks! That helps a lot.

 

[Snapper30]

@Philip Gonzales Thanks for posting the POE adapter! I commented on this thread earlier about a Reolink C1 cam with two-way audio that supports RJ-45 but not POE. This adapter opens up some possibilities for front door conversations.

 

[Marcelor73]

@fenderman last question (for now, on this topic).... If I get a managed switch, is there a way to set it up quickly as unmanaged, then change it?

 

[fenderman]

@fenderman last question (for now, on this topic).... If I get a managed switch, is there a way to set it up quickly as unmanaged, then change it?

it depends on the switch...most come preconfigured to a default static ip that may conflict with your current network settings...so you would have to login and change the ip...then you are good to go..