I have been tasked with the research, acquisition, and installation of a camera system for my shopping center. I started by getting quotes from a few local installers. These quotes came in roughly 1000% higher than the expected budgeted amount. Thus, I want to try and do things myself. The biggest problem that I have run into thus far is that my place of work is rather large, and the 300ft limitation of PoE equipment is hampering me. My building is a narrow rectangular shape roughly 1000 ft at its longest. Our internet router is on one of the far ends of this 1000ft span. The quotes that I have received thus far have all included a pull of fiber line from one side of the building to the other and have all cameras attached to a NVR by the router in our offices. Im not sure if this fiber run is necessary or just some local companies trying to get as much money as possible out of this job.
Here are my goals:
-At most a 16 camera system viewing both inside and outside
-Do not need 100% coverage
-Main goal is to verify building is empty after hours, not to count the hairs on their head and see their facial pores.
-Email or text alerts would be nice to receive if motion is detected inside during set times
-Remote viewing on PC or smartphone would be a nice option.
-I dont want to have to install a power outlet at every camera.
Here is what I have done thus far:
-After seeing some marketing on an analog kit at a big box store advertising a max distance of 1600ft for each camera I purchased the kit to test it out (didn't do what we wanted it to do)
-Received staggeringly high quotes from a few local installers.
-Measured distances and decided camera placement
So... I have HEARD that I can run cat6 300ft from the router towards the center of the building, attach the NVR in a utility closet then run another 300ft cat6 to a gigabit PoE switch, and finally I can use both the NVR and the switch as a hub for cameras to go 300 ft in all directions. This would leave me with two overlapping circles of possible camera placement coverage spanning like 450ft from one end to the other. Please correct me if im wrong before I purchase a different setup under this assumption. This doesn't get me the full 1000 ft of the building which would be ideal, but its a start. Can i then continue another 300ft and install ANOTHER switch by daisy chaining them? Like I said earlier, is a fiber run with media converters necessary from the NVR to a switch like I have seen in all my quotes? Is there any way to stretch the length of the cat6 in-between the NVR and the switch so I could reach further in the far direction and have less overlap between my two circles if placement coverage? My budget cap is 15k, but honestly I think thats way too high and the lower the better so long as my goals are attained.
I greatly welcome any recommendations for systems, solutions for questions, and opinions. My main questions are can I indeed run cat6 300ft between a nvr and a PoE switch? Can I then daisy chain to another switch 300 feet further? Is PoE right for me?
