foodguy123

Well, since the overwhelming majority of people feel as though the central supply is better, I suppose I would be foolish not to use it. Thank you for all the input.

To respond to both Lolo Wolf and scorpion - thank you both for your helpful replies thus far! I do value your input, so please don't interpret my response as one of a person who already made his decision and doesn't seek additional feedback. I'm still on the fence. I guess I should have provided more details... These are for some restaurants. The first two were professionally done, and while the company provided great service at a decent price, I found that I was doing half the setup work by having to help the techs aim the cameras and generally have to be there for the whole process. Further, it was left up to me to learn how to back up to external hard drive and get the dynamic IP stuff working for remote viewing. I got an estimate for the professional job again, but I think I can do it myself for less than half the price while getting even better quality equipment. Given the T-bar commercial ceilings, even as a not so handy person I can comfortably run the wires. This third location is all interior, no bright sunlight to contend with, yet, at night, the lights stay halfway on, so there's never a time where there are extreme lighting conditions. There's only one door, so I can get away with 4 cameras only. It's a very low crime area along busy streets, so the cameras are mainly for keeping an eye on the employees and guarding against slip and fall type situations from customers. All things considered, this has to be considered a rather "easy" job. I'm probably going to go with a Vitek VT-E4 and four VTD-C410 "high resolution" dome cameras. This setup will be comparable to my other locations where the video quality has been adequate for my needs. Appearances and extra wires do not concern me. Since it's a commercial location it'll be up high in a back office, it's not a problem. Cost of surge protector/power strip + UPS is free because I have a few extra sitting around. I also have an existing LCD to hook up for live viewing. Battery backup - this is a valid point, and believe me, I've thought about it. The restaurant sits alone a well-lit busy road, so it's probably not going to be a target for a complex robbery. If they're good enough to cut the power lines or to pounce during a prolonged power outage, they're probably going to be smart enough to steal or tamper with the CCTV equipment. I'm mostly concerned with the following points: Troubleshooting - I don't think I follow here. How would troubleshooting individual lines that go from camera to outlet be more difficult than from camera to box to outlet? It seems like there would be fewer variables to consider as you could isolate the problem. For example, if camera #3 went out, it would be really easy to just switch out one transformer and re-test rather than switch out an entire box. Voltage or "adequate power" - the camera specs say they need 12 V DC that supplies at least 2.5 watts on power. One camera will be 100' away, and another only 25'. I used the online wire length calculator, and with 12VDC, 18 AWG wire, and it looks like I should get 500 milliamp transformers for the far cameras, and 1000 milliamp transformer for the close camera. Is this correct, if I go this route? In-line fuses: will get some at radioshack if I go this route. Common grounding - I don't understand this at all? I guess what I'm hearing is that what I want to do is possible, yet not the best route. Thanks again for the help.

I've hired professionals to install the first two systems I needed, but I've decided to take the plunge myself and try and install a simple 4 dome cam + DVR system. I plan to use "siamese" video and 18/2 power cables that are plug and play, varying between 25' and 100'. These cameras require a 12VDC power supply. I know I can purchase the necessary pigtail cables to hook the 18/2 plug and play power cable to a 12VDC power supply box. But, why can't I just simply buy four 1 or 0.5 amp 12VDC transformers and plug them into a power strip/UPS? This would make the central power supply box unnecessary. This method seems like it would be both cheaper and easier to implement. But, I realized there has to be a reason people use the central power supply boxes. Are there energy savings? Better reliability? Safety? Something I'm not considering? This forum has been an immense help for learning about CCTV/DVR systems, so thank you for any advice in advance.