? Basics and necessities for Multiple Channel Power supply

[captainJ 0]

I have a general idea what I may need, but I would like second opinion and recommendations.

 

I have been quoted for two different power boxes because I changed the number of cameras that were going to be installed.

 

My question is:

 

why A/C or D/C

how many amps, or is there a such thing as too much

there will be IR cams so i'm sure there will be amperage fluctuation; in that case, do I go by max power demand per cam

 

anything else that you think we need to know for basic needs of a multi channel power panel.

[VST_Man 1]

- total up the amps needed from the spec sheets for all attached equipment. That will give you the total amps required. You can use a power supply for camera's and another for IR. PTZ are usually on thier own power due to the amount of amps required.

 

- higher amp power supllies are better and bigger is better, not bad.

 

- AC over DC........none really. Just consider the distances of cables and apply either one. Just make sure your camera's purchased are capable to use the power you select.

 

- consider a PTC power supply. fuses reset automatically, but you are limited to connecting anything over the rated amperage. Power supplies with fuses allow bumping up of amps to cover unique requirements.

[cachecreekcctv 0]

This is sort of the same reason I started building my own power supply panels when I need both voltages. I will have a Siemens 24v 140va transformer, and a Sola 12vdc 9A power supply in the same panel. Although I fuse everything, using DIN mount rail fuse holders with "trip l.e.d." features, I keep the voltages separated in the panel. Terminate everything onto DIN mount terminal blocks.

[rory 0]

Also note that if using 12VDC and Infrared, you will typically need to double the amp requirements when the IR comes on, so if using IR I would recommend sticking to 24VAC, at least with the more powerful units (eg. Extreme).

 

Altronix makes very good PSUs, I would stick to them if you can.

There is a very noticable difference between OEM PSUs and Altronix PSUs.

[jeromephone 6]

Go a little larger than you think you need.

[cachecreekcctv 0]

Agreed!! Always better off going with a higher amperage PSU than what you think you will ultimately use. Spend the extra $ , and you won't be sorry you did. Here in the USA , make sure your power supply is "UL LISTED".

[captainJ 0]

 

- consider a PTC power supply. fuses reset automatically, but you are limited to connecting anything over the rated amperage. Power supplies with fuses allow bumping up of amps to cover unique requirements.

 

Is that per channel or the whole box?

 

thanks for the input guys, it made everything very clear.

[VST_Man 1]

consider a 16 channel ps........

 

PTC.....each channel is rated at 1amp. box is 8Amps, allowing 500mAps per channel. You cannot exceed the 1Amp limit per channel sine the PTC fuse is "embedded".

 

fused.....each channel comes as a 1Amp fused channel. box is still 8Amps total. But, I can remove the 1Amp fuse and insert a 3Amp fuse to increase the Amps on that channel. BUT, your overall combined Amps cannot exceed 8 because the box is rated to 8 Amps. Fuses allows "bumping up" of Amps and is handy when mixing things up.

 

Normal installs I use PTC.......special aps I go with fused to allow me that extra if required.

 

And, I'll sometimes use a 8 amp box with 4 camera's because I power a PTZ, a externasl USB/Network drive, ect. from the CCTV ps. Then I plug my UPS/APC into the ps and I can provide back-up power to more than one device without all the smaller ps laying around.

[rory 0]

Something like this if you are using 12VDC ..

http://www.altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&model_num=ALTV615DC1016

 

Or for 24VAC:

http://www.altronix.com/index.php?pid=2&model_num=ALTV2416300ULM

 

total Amps required will depend on your equipment.

[replanet 0]

I have an altronix ALTV1224C. I'm really happy with it but have a question regarding its battery ability. Since its both a 12dv and 24ac if the power is disconected will it only power the 12dc? I intalled a UPS instead of a battery because I was not sure of that ability.

[cachecreekcctv 0]

I normally use a UPS ahead of any power supply for CCTV. Then plug your Altronix unit into the UPS. Go to Tigerdirect.com and check for their UPS systems. When you generate 24vac, you are doing so from a transformer which is wound for that purpose. 120vac(or whatever input) to 24vac, or sometimes 28vac on a different "tap". When you generate DC voltage, you do so from a DC power supply, which takes AC in, rectifies it, then transforms it to 12 volts( or whatever voltage you need). You then have "positive" voltage, and "negative" voltage. Constant voltage, no "hertz" as in AC. UPS generates 120vac (or close) from batteries, doing the exact opposite.

[captainJ 0]

I purchased (1) 8 Channel Altronix P/S/charger: AL400ULPD8

If it works well for my application, i'll be purchasing a second one.

 

I spent $170 US dollars for (1) 8CH P/S, but found that the battery was not included.

So, basically I spent an extra $70 for a charger with no battery. Does that sound reasonable?

 

Where should I get a battery, for how much, and what kind?

[survtech 0]

Where should I get a battery, for how much, and what kind?

Use a "Gel Cell" type battery. It is a lead-acid battery that uses a gelled acid rather than a liquid. You can get these at many electronics supply houses, including MCM Electronics and Parts Express.

[scorpion 0]

How do you all feel about those 24V ac to 12V dc converters? I have a customer who has a 24 volt system and he has to reactivate a 12 volt camera. I debated using a wall wart at the power box end or using the coverter at the camera end.

 

I truley don't think it matters, but I wanted to see what you all think.

[CollinR 0]

Normal installs I use PTC.......special aps I go with fused to allow me that extra if required.

 

You can wire the loads parallel in the PS and you double the limit of the PTCs as they each see half the load.

 

 

How do you all feel about those 24V ac to 12V dc converters? I have a customer who has a 24 volt system and he has to reactivate a 12 volt camera. I debated using a wall wart at the power box end or using the coverter at the camera end.

 

I truley don't think it matters, but I wanted to see what you all think.

 

Do it, I do all the time. I almost exclusively use 24VAC and have to step down for bullets and such all the time. Usually those trasformers are rated at 1 amp, thats good enough for 3-4 bullets if you wanted or 1 decent IR.

[captainJ 0]

I had to come back and revisit my last question here:

 

So I basically spent $170 for a 3amp AC/4 amp DC 8 CH power/charger box by Altronix.

 

It came with no battery, yet, I still paid $70 more for this one compared to the same product with no charger.

 

Is that about the right price for a power/charger box? Not only did I spend an extra $70 and ended up with no battery, but now I'll be spending EVEN more for a battery!

 

I originally was going to wire the box into existing conduit, but found that with the location I am installing at, I could easily just run a outlet plug instead.

Now after installing the first box, I was looking at it just thinking, "well if I'm just plugging the dang thing in the wall, I should have just bought a standard box with no charger for $70 less and buy a UPS.

 

I need to know if there is any real cost difference between different options for having a charger or UPS and if I am spending too much.

 

?what cost and or performances advantages can I choose from and what are the PROs and CONs?

 

the situation I am in now, I can imagine buying a battery for my existing system will cost me about $50 and that would total with the power box for $220.

I could have bought a power box with no charger for $100 and a UPS for $100c

[kensplace 0]

That model (AL400ULPD8) is DC only, according to the altronix website, 12 or 24v dc.

 

One difference between using a 12v backup (or a 24v backup, or 2x12v backups) in that power supply, over a UPS is the power supply will almost certainly have a *much* longer runtine under the types of loads presented by a few normal cameras than a UPS in that price range would.

 

A ups has to convert the DC to mains, run its own monitoring electronics, and then it would have to be reconverted back to dc later, so a lot of power ends up being wasted. A dedicated box like that wastes very little of the battery power.

 

Mind you, long runtimes on cameras dont mean much if you cant get long runtimes on the recording device (pc or standalone dvr or whatever) which would be down to the size of the ups installed anyways... You could get at least a day if you have a handful of cams that say came to 1 amp in total current for the lot, backup wise on that psu, but to get a days backup for a pc would need one monster size ups (or a normal sized ups, with a load of extra batteries......). If you have a monster ups then you could just power the cams on it, as the small extra current wont make much difference to a huge ups.....

[scorpion 0]

I like using solar panels to recharge batteries. Now if I could just get them to stick around after cat 5 hurricanes so my customers would be happy to see the vacation home remotely.

 

No I have not tried embedding them in concrete but that may be next!

 

Power outages today are nothing compared to 20 years ago. Brownouts are more of a concern. In the old days we used to call the company Florida Flicker and Flash.