CCTV cables and connectors

[kb01]

Earlier in the week, I purchased a starter CCTV kit off of Amazon (Deal of the Day) -- Right off the bat, I suspect I'll want to replace a couple of the cameras and possibly cables. The cables that came with it are very cheap, unshielded RCA.

It looks like I can buy coax with BNC connectors off of Amazon. But in terms of supplying power, are the connectors a standard size, between manufacturers?

Does anyone have any experience in using RCA cable in this application? If possible, I'd like to use the cables provided in the kit but I really don't want to run wire through the crawl space and attic (possible in conduit) and then find out there's too much interference. I have way more faith in coax for 100' runs.

 

[dparm]

RG6 with quad-shielding should be fine for 100'. I've seen MUCH longer runs of it in apartment and office buildings.

 

[kb01]

That's definitely what I'm leaning towards. I really don't see going over 100 ft but may have to, depending on how the cable is routed.

Most of the cameras I've looked at appear to run off of 12 VDC. Are the power connectors a standard size? If I change cameras in the future, will I need to splice and pigtail new connectors, or are they a standard size?

 

[Donald]

IMHO - you are better off using network cameras where you can attach a camera to the nearest Ethernet switch or if difficult, use wireless.

What looks cheap to start with may not be cheap in the end.

Always compare a stored image to a store image, a live image is not useful. Its how good the compression is that matters.

 

[e40]

Originally Posted By: kb01
That's definitely what I'm leaning towards. I really don't see going over 100 ft but may have to, depending on how the cable is routed.

Most of the cameras I've looked at appear to run off of 12 VDC. Are the power connectors a standard size? If I change cameras in the future, will I need to splice and pigtail new connectors, or are they a standard size?


If those cameras can only be powered 12vdc, you might be limited in terms of your power feed cable length. I suppose it depends if there are built in heaters.

The cameras I use draw 5W for the camera, and 10W for the heater. I budget for a maximum of 5% voltage drop so that's a limit of 30 feet if 12v over 18AWG, 47 feet if using 16AWG.

For this reason I use 24VDC power supplies so then that gives me 60 feet on 18AWG, and close to 100 feet on 16AWG.

So if your cameras have a nice wide range of input voltage that would help.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Donald
IMHO - you are better off using network cameras where you can attach a camera to the nearest Ethernet switch or if difficult, use wireless.

What looks cheap to start with may not be cheap in the end.

Always compare a stored image to a store image, a live image is not useful. Its how good the compression is that matters.



Agreed, except that Ethernet has a limit of 100M (and it's typically less than that). There are wifi ones but you'd need a good strong signal.

 

[Nick R]

Why not just go with a professional home security system? Depending on who your local cable provider is they probably have something competetive. I know TWC and Comcast both offer security systems. I'm actually going to be scheduling an installation on our system within the next couple months.