POWER and VIDEO over Cat-5...Good, Bad, Ugly?

[kandcorp 0]

Just wondering if anyone has used any of these baluns that carry video and power over one UTP (cat-5). What kind of interference or problems have you had. What kind of power 12v or 24v.

[scottj 0]

We tested the budget baluns up against the Nitek and NVT gear and found the difference in quality to be huge using the exact same wiring. Some guys on here have had great success using the lower cost balun, but we certainly didn't see any reason to go that route once we used the Nitek and NVT product. It was a noticable difference, I wish I had the screenshots to post of the video.

 

Scottj

[VST_Man 1]

lots of different Baluns out there.sometimes they work ok, most times not. I do both but always go with RG siamese first and only to CAT5 Baluns when it calls for it.

 

Power for that one is most likely 12VDC. If you are running AC voltage, get a balun without any power and screw connections. Then connect your power to a spare pair in the CAT5 cable.

 

But, best way to do it is to power the camera at the building/location and keep power off the UTP. Avoids noisy pics. I also use a small UPS to power up cameras in seperate buildings to ensure the video stays running during power outages.

 

Runs under 200ft I always run RG siamese.

[jisaac 0]

i have had problems with the cheaper baluns almost every time I tried to use some. Definitly go with the Nitek or NVT. Watch those passive baluns. You will run into Ground loops alot.

[lvguy 0]

So it seems like baluns are more problematic than coax? I was considering baluns on a job that required pulling everything though emt.

[hopper 0]

At present have a customer on the phone about the length of his run to the camera, he has run 3 driffrent types of cable rg59, rg100, and cat5e, at present he is using the rg59 cable connected to icrealtime dvr to icr1000 camera, running over 720 feet, he has a picture but its blur he is telling me, its fixed 17 feet high looking over a yard, not sure to to make this picture better, any ideas, on this, do i need to change to the cat5e and use the balluns, or what, also he is having problems trying to connect a bnc plug to the rg100 cable.

[Sir Flannel 0]

We tested the budget baluns up against the Nitek and NVT gear and found the difference in quality to be huge using the exact same wiring. Some guys on here have had great success using the lower cost balun, but we certainly didn't see any reason to go that route once we used the Nitek and NVT product. It was a noticable difference, I wish I had the screenshots to post of the video.

 

Scottj

I wish you had the screenshots, too! I'd love to convince the boss once and for all that cheaper isn't better