naz 0 Posted September 22, 2014 (edited) Hi I recently started a CCTV installation which consists of 10 700tvl cameras and I ran into a problem which i am hoping someone can detect where i went wrong so i can sort this issue out. Apologies for the long explanation, i would really appreciate your knowledge in this matter. WHAT I DID. I used twisted cat5e cables along with Balun connectors to do the cable run. The distance from the furthest cameras to the DVR is approximately 40m. The rest of the cameras are well under 20m. The cameras i use are standard analogue camera which are under 1amp. I used a 18ch 20A Power supply box to provide power. I used the cat 5e cable for video and power. One of the twisted pairs were used for video and the other 6 strands divided into 3 for power. At the DVR end i connected the Balun made sure the polarity is correct at both ends (solid colours for positive and stripes for negative). However for one camera i used a cheap cat 5e cable as i ran out of the twisted copper one's. (I regret using this cable now) The cheap Cat 5e cable had those thin silver strands of wire inside they were not copper and the colour for the strands where different and weren't twisted. I still made sure the polarity was correct at both ends. Here is where I encountered the problem. The cable for the power supply was those cables we use for PC it had a EU/US socket i.e the two prongs, so I connected a converter for UK sockets which had a 13a fuse inside. When i plugged in the socket i heard a pop sound i don't know if it came from the long plug extension or the PSU. Bare in mind the PSU power on/off switch inside the PSU was not on at the time when i heard the pop sound. However when I did switch on the PSU, I noticed i have no video. The power supply was on and all channel LED light were lit. I then checked the Balun connectors on the DVR and they were all connected. I checked the cameras with my handheld CCTV monitor and I noticed I wasn't getting any video feed at all just a blue blank screen. I tested three cameras and the same problem. Initially i thought maybe my handheld monitor needed charging so I tested it with a spare camera. Soon as i connected the spare camera to the monitor i got the video feed off the spare camera. I haven't checked all 10 cameras yet but i am assuming the worst that all the cameras have busted. My questions are: Where do you think i made the error? Was it because of the cheap cat5e cable i used for one of the camera? What caused the camera's to go "faulty"? How would i go about troubleshooting this problem? I just ordered some new cameras and also 2x 5way splitters with 2x 5amp power supply so i can divide the 10 cameras into 2. Ideally i would of liked to use the PSU box however I am having to do this as the customer really wants the installation to be done by the week and i am not sure if i should use the existing PSU or if the way i connected the cat5e directly into psu box was something i should of done in the first place or instead maybe use dc pigtails. Thanks for reading my post and any help will be greatly appreciated.. Edited September 22, 2014 by Guest Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ssnapier 0 Posted September 22, 2014 Did you check the fuses in your PSU? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naz 0 Posted September 22, 2014 Did you check the fuses in your PSU? I haven't because the LED lights where on for each of the channels under the fuses. So i assumed the fuses where ok. But your right, i will need to check that . However i don't understand why the cameras wouldn't come on when plugged into a external handheld CCTV monitor. i was working that day literally 24hrs and all I was trying to figure out was why the cameras weren't working. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
