Industry standard cabling

[Team Loco 0]

hi guys, what's considered the best cable to use for cctv installation. at present, i use rg-59. is the use of cat5e cable with some baluns considered better/cheaper? thanks

[quaidorsay 0]

hi guys, what's considered the best cable to use for cctv installation. at present, i use rg-59. is the use of cat5e cable with some baluns considered better/cheaper? thanks

 

No, cheaper would be RG6 quad shield or RG59. I prefer RG59 due to its easier ability to bend corners for indoor applications than RG6 (due to more pure copper) but however, definitely RG6 for longer distance and outdoor applications.

 

I buy in bulk RG6, its a great solid cable but when I have to terminate the ends say in a tight area, it becomes such a pain in the rear.

 

There are always new and better cables developed as we speak.

 

Regards,

 

Joey

[survtech 0]

CAT-5 with baluns can be comparable in cost to RG-59 or RG-6, depending on the length of the runs and the layout of the system. Since you can theoretically put 4 cameras on a single run of CAT-5, and since CAT-5 is approximately the same cost per foot as RG-59, for longer runs the cost of the baluns is around the same or less than the cost of running 3 additional RG-59 cables.

 

Also, some cameras have an optional built-in passive balun that adds even less to the cost than an external balun, saving even more.

 

As far as picture quality, there is little discernable difference between coax and twisted-pair for most applications.

[securitymonster 0]

Cat5 can sometimes cost more in the long run, especially if you use good equipment. You will still need small BNC patch cables to go from the UTP hub to the DVR. The last job we quoted from RG59 to Cat5 option was $3,000 more, for 15 cameras.

[survtech 0]

Cat5 can sometimes cost more in the long run, especially if you use good equipment. You will still need small BNC patch cables to go from the UTP hub to the DVR. The last job we quoted from RG59 to Cat5 option was $3,000 more, for 15 cameras.

You can get by for a lot less. A hub is definitely not necessary unless the cable lengths require active receivers, in which case RG-59 is not an option anyway. The cost of passive baluns is typically $20 to $30 each for reasonable quality. You need two of them for each camera unless the cameras have built-in baluns, in which case you'd only need one at the DVR end for each camera. Not using a hub also saves on bnc-bnc patch cables.

[benf 0]

hi guys, what's considered the best cable to use for cctv installation. at present, i use rg-59. is the use of cat5e cable with some baluns considered better/cheaper? thanks

 

I'm a little late in seeing/replying to this but if you're going to use CAT5 with baluns be careful about *where* you're going to run it. In my case I ran CAT5 for a 300ft run, and it's a long story and I didn't have much choice, but the cable is laid in an underground conduit right alongside an electrical line. In my case I'm getting a lot of interference likely because of the proximity to the electrical cable. I'm planning on running RG6 later on this fall.

 

Long story short, if you're not running near any potential interference sources and/or it's a short run, CAT5 should be fine. Otherwise consider a shielded cable.

[Team Loco 0]

thanks guys for all the advice. will post how the install turns out

[CollinR 0]

Long story short, if you're not running near any potential

interference sources and/or it's a short run, CAT5 should be fine. Otherwise consider a shielded cable.

 

In my experience Cat5 has better interference rejection when compared to RG59, never tried RG6 as the correct stuff is so hard to find.

 

I've been Cat5 only for over a year now and no regrets, when going building to building or runs to camera clusters Cat5 is the only logical choice.

 

I have never used a "UTP hub" dunno what that is. I am thinking it's marketing speak for multibalun and power distribution in a 1-2U form factor. I just build my own.

[oldtimer 0]

You can use all the CAT5 you want to. For me, I stick with 59U of good quality. Make sure it's top grade copper/ So installers will make the mistake in an attempt to save money and use the same cable they use for stringing cable TV. What a mistake this is. Mostly they do it to save money. Because if you can make good contact with a cable installer, they sell the junk for 20 dollars per 500. Sometimes 10 dollars is the going price. It's all profit for them, because they steal it from the cable company.

I use a lot of siamese cable with the power lines encased with the 59U.

I haven't had any problems with it, if you use a quality power supply.

That's the trick because the cheaper supplies do not have sufficient filtering. We run the siamese up to 750 feet at times.