any recommendations for UTP system

[smedley 0]

I have 4 DVRs placed around a large school and have wired for 40 cams throughout with UTP. Longest run is probably between 500-700ft. I'd like to use vid baluns with 24AC passthrough. My first thought is to use hubs like Muxlabs 500121 and their 500024 at the cam end. They also recommend a class 2 p/s as well - something like the Altronix P2416ULCB. The cams that are on the longest runs are exterior with low temp/hi wattage resistors for heat - usually around 10Watts. Are these baluns and class 2 p/supps a waste of money or should I just run a regular balun and run power through the remaining pairs of the UTP to the cams. Anyone who has had any experience with this kind of setup?

[Soundy 1]

I have 4 DVRs placed around a large school and have wired for 40 cams throughout with UTP. Longest run is probably between 500-700ft. I'd like to use vid baluns with 24AC passthrough. My first thought is to use hubs like Muxlabs 500121 and their 500024 at the cam end. They also recommend a class 2 p/s as well - something like the Altronix P2416ULCB. The cams that are on the longest runs are exterior with low temp/hi wattage resistors for heat - usually around 10Watts. Are these baluns and class 2 p/supps a waste of money or should I just run a regular balun and run power through the remaining pairs of the UTP to the cams. Anyone who has had any experience with this kind of setup?

 

I've very rarely used the baluns with the power pass-thru... mostly because they're substantially more expensive and other than convenience there's no advantage to them. I'll typically just use the blue pair for video with a standard GVI or GEM balun (Muxlabs are WAY more expensive, and I've never noticed a difference in video quality), orange and green for power (either split out of the jacket, or extended with 18/2 or station wire if necessary), and save the brown for future use, although it could be separated and added to the orange and green runs for a little more current capacity as well.

 

Nothing wrong with the power supply - I believe that's a 24VAC, 16-channel, UL-listed model with circuit breakers on each channel? You could possibly go a little cheaper with something that uses glass fuses, but they're functionally the same. Local building codes may dictate whether Class 2 is sufficient or UL-listing is required for this purpose.

[survtech 0]

500 to 700 feet is very do-able for the video signal using passive baluns. It is not possible for power over twisted-pair. I suggest you use at least 18/2. One pair of 24 gauge wire has a maximum distance capability of a bit over 200 feet for a 24VAC camera that draws about 5 watts (200mA @24VAC). Using two of the four pairs for power would increase that distance to about 450 feet.

 

Increasing the power needs of the camera (for instance, with LED IR) would decrease that capability substantially.

 

Link to a CCTV Wire Length Calculator HERE

 

Link to a calculator that determines the effective gauge of tying multiple wires together HERE

[smedley 0]

OK, so I have 5 watt ext cams and am running an 18/2 next to the Cat5e for power - should be good up to 500' since these cams run on 12-24AC while the usual 24AC cam spec is +/- 10%.

The baluns for video choices are immense. The bandwidth specs are anywhere from 6 to 11Mhz (which I know I won't need) so I'm looking at something around 8 Mhz since that should give me enough b/w for a 540line cam.

Nitek, NVT and Muxlabs are pricey while Gem and GVI seem to be better. Anybody have any others baluns worth looking at?

[survtech 0]

We've used the GVI's with good results. We've also had good results from the Video Baluns Unlimited products.