Tapping into the Ethernet Cable to give Power to an IP Camera

[Unruffled]

I have 11 cameras which I want to install in our office location. 10 of these cameras are Realink cameras and 1 is a Q-See camera which I will be connecting to a Q-SEE NVR which has a hard drive in it. With these cameras I am going to be running a total of 500+ feet in total of Ethernet cable so I will be buying the 1000 Ft cable.

I came across someone that told me that I can tap into the power from the Ethernet Cable so that I do not have to run two wires one for power and one for Ethernet. I was looking around and found out that there are 4 unused wires in a Ethernet cable , would these 4 be able to provide power to the camera? If so does it provide power automatically or do I need to connect the remaining 4 to a power adapter that connect to the end of the camera as to avoid connecting it to a power outlet?

 

[Zorac]

you need an injector or poe switch as well. there is no usable current in the cable if your using just a regular switch/router. a number of NVRs will have built in poe switches as well. you'll also need to watch the voltages (for the injection and the cameras) as well as watch the poe standards each device is using.

 

[fenderman]

@Unruffled Welcome to the forum. What are the exact model numbers of the cameras. They may be POE capable and all you need is a poe swtich.

 

[nejakejnick]

Since active POE switches are very expensive, I use a passive POE injector which has fuses on each port + Meanwell power supply + cheapest switch.

btw I recetly tried to split the power from one ethernet cable to power two cameras (data to a switch, power to cameras), to save a power adapter, but it did not work, since the voltage went from 48V down to 36V after connecting one camera, the cable was ~60m long, that sucked...

 

[wcrowder]

Since active POE switches are very expensive, I use a passive POE injector which has fuses on each port + Meanwell power supply + cheapest switch.

btw I recetly tried to split the power from one ethernet cable to power two cameras (data to a switch, power to cameras), to save a power adapter, but it did not work, since the voltage went from 48V down to 36V after connecting one camera, the cable was ~60m long, that sucked...

Drawing 49w with 4 Dahua 3mp cameras. Came originally with a life time warranty...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-ProCurve-2600-PWR-PoE-J8762A-Integrated-10-100-TX-8-Port-and-Power-Cord-QTY-/361462397160?hash=item5428d678e8:g:ur4AAOSwnH1WYJMc

 

[tomw]

I have 11 cameras which I want to install in our office location. 10 of these cameras are Realink cameras and 1 is a Q-See camera which I will be connecting to a Q-SEE NVR which has a hard drive in it. With these cameras I am going to be running a total of 500+ feet in total of Ethernet cable so I will be buying the 1000 Ft cable.

I came across someone that told me that I can tap into the power from the Ethernet Cable so that I do not have to run two wires one for power and one for Ethernet. I was looking around and found out that there are 4 unused wires in a Ethernet cable , would these 4 be able to provide power to the camera? If so does it provide power automatically or do I need to connect the remaining 4 to a power adapter that connect to the end of the camera as to avoid connecting it to a power outlet?

Putting aside the obvious errors in the above statement (incl. that Ethernet is a protocol not a cable standard and Gigabit uses all 4 pairs)... No, you can not power devices without supplying additional power (either via an injector or a poorly named Power over Ethernet PoE switch).

Just buy these and supply your own power at one end using a plug pack/wall wart that came with the camera. You'll be limited to 10/100 but that's fine for an IP camera.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4x-Power-Over-Ethernet-POE-Adapter-Injector-Extractor-Splitter-Cables-White-/131506356499


I use them to power all sorts of things at remote end points - from cameras to rs232/484 equipment to doorbells. Cheap and super easy.
Or, just do it properly and buy a PoE capable camera and a PoE switch.

 

[fenderman]

Putting aside the obvious errors in the above statement (incl. that Ethernet is a protocol not a cable standard and Gigabit uses all 4 pairs)... No, you can not power devices without supplying additional power (either via an injector or a poorly named Power over Ethernet PoE switch).

Just buy these and supply your own power at one end using a plug pack/wall wart that came with the camera. You'll be limited to 10/100 but that's fine for an IP camera.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4x-Power-Over-Ethernet-POE-Adapter-Injector-Extractor-Splitter-Cables-White-/131506356499
View attachment 7837

I use them to power all sorts of things at remote end points - from cameras to rs232/484 equipment to doorbells. Cheap and super easy.
Or, just do it properly and buy a PoE capable camera and a PoE switch.

Those adapters can only handle a limited length before the voltage drop is too great. You also need a power adapter for each camera (many dont come with an adapter) and creats a wireing mess on both ends. A brand new 4 camera poe switch is 45 dollars.

 

[fenderman]

Drawing 49w with 4 Dahua 3mp cameras. Came originally with a life time warranty...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-ProCurve-2600-PWR-PoE-J8762A-Integrated-10-100-TX-8-Port-and-Power-Cord-QTY-/361462397160?hash=item5428d678e8:g:ur4AAOSwnH1WYJMc

That is a very high draw for 4 dahua cameras. They generally pull around 3w. So you are wasting a ton of power there. How are you measuring?

 

[Unruffled]

you need an injector or poe switch as well. there is no usable current in the cable if your using just a regular switch/router. a number of NVRs will have built in poe switches as well. you'll also need to watch the voltages (for the injection and the cameras) as well as watch the poe standards each device is using.

In fact our NVR does have a built in POE.

http://www.q-see.com/sixteen-channel-1080p-nvr-with-4tb-hd-included-qt8416-4

what would be the procedures that I would need to take?

Putting aside the obvious errors in the above statement (incl. that Ethernet is a protocol not a cable standard and Gigabit uses all 4 pairs)... No, you can not power devices without supplying additional power (either via an injector or a poorly named Power over Ethernet PoE switch).

Just buy these and supply your own power at one end using a plug pack/wall wart that came with the camera. You'll be limited to 10/100 but that's fine for an IP camera.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4x-Power-Over-Ethernet-POE-Adapter-Injector-Extractor-Splitter-Cables-White-/131506356499
View attachment 7837

I use them to power all sorts of things at remote end points - from cameras to rs232/484 equipment to doorbells. Cheap and super easy.
Or, just do it properly and buy a PoE capable camera and a PoE switch.

So the NVR would be drawing gigabit connection from the Ethernet cords?

 

[tomw]

Those adapters can only handle a limited length before the voltage drop is too great. You also need a power adapter for each camera (many dont come with an adapter) and creats a wireing mess on both ends. A brand new 4 camera poe switch is 45 dollars.

What?
How do these behave any differently to a PoE switch? Does a PoE switch magically deliver the same DC voltage overr the same cable but is able to defy the laws of physics and travel further with no voltage drop. Please explain? If you are trying to do more than 300' a run you'll need to do some tests wrt volage drop. The OP states 500' in total for all 10 cams, so I assume any one cam will be under 300'. The voltage drop is really down to the quality of the cable...be realistically any cat5e would be fine at these distances.

Sure you have a power supply for each cam or a single power supply that can supply to all injectors...as nejakejnick suggested. The Meanwell's are great option and really cheap too. It's not nearly as messy as you might think.

Not all cameras can handle PoE (all mine do) so this is a real need for some people.

OP are your camera's PoE capable?

 

[fenderman]

In fact our NVR does have a built in POE.

http://www.q-see.com/sixteen-channel-1080p-nvr-with-4tb-hd-included-qt8416-4

what would be the procedures that I would need to take?



So the NVR would be drawing gigabit connection from the Ethernet cords?

If your nvr is poe and your cameras are poe, you dont need any adapters or anything, that is why its important the you tell us the exact camera models.

 

[Unruffled]

If your nvr is poe and your cameras are poe, you dont need any adapters or anything, that is why its important the you tell us the exact camera models.

I do not know if the camera is POE I will check and reply when I find out.

 

[tomw]

So the NVR would be drawing gigabit connection from the Ethernet cords?

That statement makes no sense.

But I assume you are asking will it negotiate to gigabit or 100Mbit? Your cams will be 100M so it will run the links at 100M...which is the max. the cams can do and way more than enough.

The real question is can your cams handle PoE? Can you pls. post the specific models?

 

[fenderman]

What?
How do these behave any differently to a PoE switch? Does a PoE switch magically deliver the same DC voltage overr the same cable but is able to defy the laws of physics and travel further with no voltage drop. Please explain? If you are trying to do more than 300' a run you'll need to do some tests wrt volage drop. The OP states 500' in total for all 10 cams, so I assume any one cam will be under 300'. The voltage drop is really down to the quality of the cable...be realistically any cat5e would be fine at these distances.

Sure you have a power supply for each cam or a single power supply that can supply to all injectors...as nejakejnick suggested. The Meanwell's are great option and really cheap too. It's not nearly as messy as you might think.

Not all cameras can handle PoE (all mine do) so this is a real need for some people.

OP are your camera's PoE capable?

These are WAY different than active poe or even passive poe midspans. These will NOT supply proper voltage if you use the standard 12v power supply that comes with the camera. With these adapters will have to properly calculate the voltage to supply for the end of the line under load, its simply silly to use these for cameras that are poe capable.

 

[nejakejnick]

What?
How do these behave any differently to a PoE switch? Does a PoE switch magically deliver the same DC voltage overr the same cable but is able to defy the laws of physics and travel further with no voltage drop. Please explain? If you are trying to do more than 300' a run you'll need to do some tests wrt volage drop. The OP states 500' in total for all 10 cams, so I assume any one cam will be under 300'. The voltage drop is really down to the quality of the cable...be realistically any cat5e would be fine at these distances.

Sure you have a power supply for each cam or a single power supply that can supply to all injectors...as nejakejnick suggested. The Meanwell's are great option and really cheap too. It's not nearly as messy as you might think.

Not all cameras can handle PoE (all mine do) so this is a real need for some people.

OP are your camera's PoE capable?

You linked injector+extractor, which would be used for example with Hikvision cameras to deliver 12V on short distances, or you could use injector only for 48V as true POE on +360' - but that would be way nicer with something like this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/802-3af-4-Ports-Passive-POE-injector-Power-Supply-Module-For-AP-IP-Camera-Phone-/191782611123?hash=item2ca72268b3:g:svAAAOSwLVZVyylc

Higher voltage can be transfered on longer distance, right?

 

[nejakejnick]

These are WAY different than active poe or even passive poe midspans. These will NOT supply proper voltage if you use the standard 12v power supply that comes with the camera. With these adapters will have to properly calculate the voltage to supply for the end of the line under load, its simply silly to use these for cameras that are poe capable.

Sorry, but these are exactly like passive poe midspans (excluding the fuse) + you have a useless extractor.

 

[fenderman]

Sorry, but these are exactly like passive poe midspans (excluding the fuse) + you have a useless extractor.

no because they dont supply the power. Thats my point. Since passive midspans supply 48v down the line to the camera they can maintain the same distance as active poe, they are simply using mode B 802.3.
Bottom line is these adapters should not be used with poe camera and neither should 7 dollar ali crap when, a 4 camera switch from a reliable source is 45 dollars. Using these adapters with power bricks or even a midspan alone is a wiring mess.

 

[wcrowder]

That is a very high draw for 4 dahua cameras. They generally pull around 3w. So you are wasting a ton of power there. How are you measuring?

That's kinda funny, originally when being a smart, I pulled up the interface and it was 22watts, then I logged into the switch and at jumped to 49. I'm using an AP7931 APC Switched Rack PDU to measure. Latest firmware... Looking at it now it's at 21... Sorta doesn't make sense...

 

[fenderman]

That's kinda funny, originally when being a smart, I pulled up the interface and it was 22watts, then I logged into the switch and at jumped to 49. I'm using an AP7931 APC Switched Rack PDU to measure. Latest firmware... Looking at it now it's at 21... Sorta doesn't make sense...

That is more reasonable...

 

[tomw]

Assuming a 5W max draw at 12v, that's only a 0.8v drop at 50' so it's not as dire as you suggest.

Anyway, we agree, he should use PoE.