mrshanes 0 Posted January 8, 2012 My house is about 1 year old and I ran two cat6 and 1 18 gauge speaker wire to all locations I thought I might want cameras. I'm now doing research to get this system going. I plan to start by adding one camera at a time, but I need some other equipment up front to get it started. My initial question is how to power the cameras? I'm looking at Vivotek IP domes that have POE capability. The 16 port POE injector I found is $500. Since I have the speaker wire at each location for power, I could by a MUCH cheaper DC power supply and use power leads to connect to each camera. I have a rack in my basement with all my A/V gear, and like the idea of a rackmount power injector though. Are there any pros/cons with a power injector vs. a DC power supply? Help me decide! Thanks, Shane FYI... I'm talking about the Vivotek FD8134 and the Altronix Netway16M POE injector... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thewireguys 3 Posted January 8, 2012 (edited) My house is about 1 year old and I ran two cat6 and 1 18 gauge speaker wire to all locations I thought I might want cameras. I'm now doing research to get this system going. I plan to start by adding one camera at a time, but I need some other equipment up front to get it started. My initial question is how to power the cameras? I'm looking at Vivotek IP domes that have POE capability. The 16 port POE injector I found is $500. Since I have the speaker wire at each location for power, I could by a MUCH cheaper DC power supply and use power leads to connect to each camera. I have a rack in my basement with all my A/V gear, and like the idea of a rackmount power injector though. Are there any pros/cons with a power injector vs. a DC power supply? Help me decide!Thanks, Shane FYI... I'm talking about the Vivotek FD8134 and the Altronix Netway16M POE injector... Don't waste your money on that mid span. You can get 24 port POE switchfor a lot less. Have a look a Netgear switches. Edited January 8, 2012 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 8, 2012 Don't waste your money on that mid span. You can get 24 port POE switched for a lot less. Have a look a Netgear switches. This - PoE switch, way cheaper than a separate injector... plus, you're ready to go if you want to add anything else PoE powered later (IP phones, access points, etc.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrshanes 0 Posted January 8, 2012 Don't waste your money on that mid span. You can get 24 port POE switchfor a lot less. Have a look a Netgear switches. If I swap out my existing rackmount switch for a POE switch, will that mess anything up already on the network? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 8, 2012 No. And actually, you don't need to replace your existing switch, either - you can just add a PoE switch (stick to 8-port if that's easier on the budget) and connect it to the existing switch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hardwired 0 Posted January 8, 2012 It shouldn't, unless you are using advanced features like VLAN's, port mirroring, etc. in the existing switch, then you'd have to make sure your new switch has those same features, and set them up accordingly. You should setup your new switch with an IP address that matches your internal address range, to be able to access it's programming and features. Midspan injectors are typically used when someone has a higher end switch (Cisco, Procurve, etc.) that has lots of advanced features, but not PoE. In a home or SOHO environment, switches like the one mentioned above, or Cisco's SOHO line, should work fine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrshanes 0 Posted January 8, 2012 No. And actually, you don't need to replace your existing switch, either - you can just add a PoE switch (stick to 8-port if that's easier on the budget) and connect it to the existing switch. So, I found this one on Amazon for $350. Netgear FS728TP. You're right it's much cheaper and probably a better switch than I currently have. The only reason I'd want to swap it with my current one is that I'm running out of space in my rack. By the time I add whole house audio, HTPC, NVR, etc... I won't have any room left. Thanks for the help guys! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted January 8, 2012 That should do the job... maybe a little overkill, but you're not likely to run out of capacity anytime soon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
