Risks & technical insight when buying a power supply

[akimiya 0]

I'm about to try out some IP cameras for my future system and since the power supply was not included with them I'm now at a loss.

I am a complete noob when it comes to the electrical part, so I'm hoping to find some insight how it works. When needed I can provide Model type and/or pictures.

 

There isn't much information regarding power supply for the camera beside the specific line: “DC 12V/500mA”

 

So my main question would be, what power supply really works – especially what (V or mA) may be higher or lower so it would still work AND I'm also interested what values would damage my camera? For example in a local store I was told that a 12V/1500mA power supplies would work as well, is that correct?

What effects would what values have on the circuit? Is it alright to buy some cheep ones from amazon which simply state these values? There will be about a hand full of cameras installed in the near future, so would it be wise to get some sort of central power supply? Can anybody recommend me anything?

 

I hope that I've come to the right section here and maybe someone could give me some basic technical insight and an answer to my main question. Please excuse if I got something wrong, it's my first time here.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Horizon 0]

Hi akimiya.

Yes, 1500ma (1.5 amps) would be fine. you could easily run two cameras from the one power supply (but going to three might make the supply run hot). You don't want to provide less than 500mA. And the voltage must be 12 volts.

If you buy POE (Power Over Ethernet) cameras, then you can power them from a POE Ethernet switch. This makes things a lot simpler, as you don't have to run a power cable as well as the Ethernet cable. Assuming that you're not using wireless, of course.

[Boogieman 1]

As Horizon points out, if your cams are poe use that...Generally, there is a good change that your ipcameras didnt come with power supplies because they are poe cameras. What cameras did you buy?

[akimiya 0]

Thanks a lot for the answers it seems to make more sense now.

 

The ones I have for test now and which I will most likely be using are the Partizan IPD-1SP [1] (will need about 2) and the Partizan IPO-VF2MP POE [2] (which has the POE which you are talking about and I plan to install 3-4 of them).

So now I am not sure if the first one has POE but the 2nd seems to have it for sure. I want to test and calibrate both cameras I have now before I buy more. They BOTH still have a cable end for power supply [3]. The red/black are from the IPO and the beige colored are from the IPD. Am I correctly thinking that is a 5.5mm/2.1mm power plug?

 

I've looked up PoE a bit and if I understood it right I need a special kind of switch to get this to work (any specific cables? otherwise I'd use normal CAT6 LAN).

 

I am also trying to get a basic understanding about the functioning and when what part would get damaged, because as someone form the computer science field I get confronted with this kind of topic sometimes. So the way I understood it is that it does not hurt to have more amps but the volt has to be exact. If I have less amps the power supply will run hot and break but does that damage the device? What part gets damaged when I have more/less volt?

 

[1] http://www.partizan-cctv.com/product/ip-cctv/camera-for-rooms/item/611-partizan-ipd-1sp.html

[2] http://www.partizan-cctv.com/product/ip-cctv/camera-for-the-street/item/634-partizan-ipo-vf2mp-poe.html

[3] https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzCLgehBMvDLYUQwcjZWS25mekk&authuser=0

[akimiya 0]

Any finalizing answer and/or confirmation if I understood it right?