VU or NVT Baluns

[jason1838 0]

I'm needing to install a 16ch system with runs around 2,000ft. 1 will be 2,400ft, and 1 will be 600ft, the rest are less than 2,000ft. I'm wanting to use a rack mount hub, but I'm unsure if I should use passive or active. All of the wiring will be done with cat5e flooded. I have heard that NVT and VU are good. Which would you recommend?

Edited May 21, 2008 by Guest

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

Since most of your run probably are more than 1,500', then there are not many other choices on the passive balun side... Besides your 600' run (which will qualify using VU passive baluns), the rest should use active balun connections.

 

NVT provides decent active balun technology, but there are other who provide the same and costs less... I am sure other members will jump in shortly with their assessment...

[jason1838 0]

Well, I did some rough measurements and took a different path and most of the runs are less than 1500 ft now! Here are my run lengths:

 

these runs will have about 900ft conduit

#1 - 1400

#2 - 1400

#3 - 1300

#4 - 1400

#5 - 1300

#6 - 1200

#7 - 1100

#8 - 1000

#9 - 1100

#10 - 1100

#11 - 1200

 

these runs will have 1300ft conduit

#12 - 2500

#13 - 2400

#14 - 2500

#15 - 2300

 

this has about 300ft of conduit

#16 - 700

 

I'm wondering about using RG59 with 18/2 after the conduit then having passive hubs on each end of the conduit. I was originally planning on running a separate 18/2 wire with the cat5 in the buildings to power the cameras, I've heard some bad things about running power on cat5... Siamese cable seems like a simpler way to go inside the buildings. What are your thoughts on having a system with both RG59 and CAT5? Quality is one of my biggest concerns with this system, but then again so is price. Would passive work if i was just using cat5 inside the conduit?

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

RG-59 cable limitation are no more than 1,000' direct distance, so looks like Siamese cable solution will not do this trick for you.

 

Looks to me that the cable runs for cameras #1 through #11 and the #16 can use passive balun solution just fine. You have to make sure that you are running the CAT5e cable straight through without any splices (splicing adds more resistance, thus will effect the signal). VU will do a great job for these above runs just fine. Just remember that VU also has 16 channel balun hub, so you can have all your cables concentrate to this hub and then use simple RG59 and BNC patch cable to extend to your DVR. The CAT5e cable quality will determine how far you can run these cables, so make sure you are not picking up some cheap cable.

 

Here is VU specs on their baluns for one of their products: http://videobaluns.qc.net/PDF/specBL3725.pdf

 

As for cameras #12 through #15, use NVT or other brand active balun technology. I do not like NVT, but it will work. My personal preference is American Fibertek... and I am sure others will give you their assessments...

 

If you need any other info, please let me know.

[jason1838 0]

Thanks for the input. I will have to do 1 splice per run. Planning on using a 110 punch down block for the splices. Does that put me back to active then?

 

Can I not do this?

 

camera--------(100-500ft of RG59)--------passive balun---------(900 - 1300ft of cat5e)---------- passive balun----DVR

 

or would you recommend this:

 

camera----active balun -----------(100-500ft cat5e)----110 connecting block ------- (900-1300ft of cat5e) -------- passive or active balun ---- DVR

[cocacola 0]

Thanks for the input. I will have to do 1 splice per run. Planning on using a 110 punch down block for the splices. Does that put me back to active then?

 

Can I not do this?

 

camera--------(100-500ft of RG59)--------passive balun---------(900 - 1300ft of cat5e)---------- passive balun----DVR

 

or would you recommend this:

 

camera----active balun -----------(100-500ft cat5e)----110 connecting block ------- (900-1300ft of cat5e) -------- passive or active balun ---- DVR

Can i not wish for 3 more wishes..? Nice try

[jason1838 0]

What determines a high quality cat5 cable? I was planning on using flooded since this system is mostly outdoors.

 

Looks like i can't post a link. If you search google for: "5NF4 Ultra II Enhanced Category 5e Outdoor", you will find the spec sheet for this cable.

[C7 in CA 0]

Flooded is a good idea. The outdoor CAT5e I'm using has a flat strip of material in the jacket coated in a gritty powder. It doesn't gel until water hits it. That makes it a lot cleaner and faster to terminate.

 

This stuff is Genesis brand. But others may have a similar product. Sorry the picture is blurry. (cellphone picture) But the white blur on the left is the dry gel stuff. When you strip the jacket off this is wrapped around the conductors. In this picture it is pulled to the side and ready to be cut off... Much easier then wiping the gel off.

[jason1838 0]

I'm getting ready to order up the items I need. Who here can sell me VU baluns? I also need to get some samsung box cameras, enclosures, mounts, and an eyemax dvr.

[survtech 0]

You should have a fallback solution at those lengths. In tests, we have found that any runs much over 1000 ft. of passive-passive tend to show problems with the color burst and other high-frequency components of the video signals. This causes "color fringing" around bright objects and other artifacts.

 

Using passive-passive, the 1100 ft runs may have acceptable image quality; the 1400 ft. runs may be marginal and the 2000+ ft runs would be unuseable. It might pay to plan on using active hubs at the receive end for all cameras, or even active-active for the longest runs.

[jason1838 0]

How about an NVT NV-1662 active hub and NVT NV-208A-M passive baluns? I only want to do this once...

 

What are your thoughts on running 24VAC up to 500ft using 2 pairs of the cat5? I'm using box cameras that consume 3 watts. How does the power in the cat5 affect the quality of video?

[survtech 0]

How about an NVT NV-1662 active hub and NVT NV-208A-M passive baluns? I only want to do this once...

 

What are your thoughts on running 24VAC up to 500ft using 2 pairs of the cat5? I'm using box cameras that consume 3 watts. How does the power in the cat5 affect the quality of video?

The NVT active hub would most likely handle most of the runs, but only you will be able to judge the picture quality on the 2000 ft. (+) runs. They might need active transmitters and receivers to get high quality video free from artifacts.

 

Also, there are less expensive alternatives to NVT that perform just as good. You also might be able to get by with active on one end only for the longest runs if you use CAT-6 instead of CAT-5e.

 

Using two pairs of CAT-x would probably be sufficient for 3W cameras, but you might consider using 3 of the 4 pairs for safety's sake.

[jason1838 0]

thanks for the input. What would you use for this setup? NVT is expensive... I liked the idea of having a hub to keep things clean and neat, but it is not necessary. I have no problem mixing passive and active, passive and passive, and active and active. I would rather just use cat5e throughout. I will be running through a noisy environment. Would shielded cat5e help reduce interference? The price difference isn't all that much to use shielded wire, but also don't want to waste money on wire if it could be spent on the balun side of things.

[jason1838 0]

I read up on using shielded cat5, and NVT doesn't recommend it. So now I'm wondering about cat6 throughout the whole project.

 

Still waiting on some alternatives to NVT. I only have experience with some cheaper active baluns imported from china, and some passive telpix which have seemed to work well in the past.

[survtech 0]

Pelco's TW30xx active hubs work pretty well and don't require adjustment for distance.

 

http://www.pelco.com/products/default.aspx?id=496