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Question by overcoatscanesandtophats: UTP cat-5 passive balun for CCTV camera system…?
I’ve been researching CCTV systems – standalone DVRs and cctv cameras – and I’ve come across something I don’t completely understand. I’m looking at using “passive baluns” to connect each camera to the dvr. Now the descriptions in every listing I read says something along the lines of “passive device – no external power required”. Does that mean simply that the BALUN itself doesn’t need a power supply, or does that mean that when using baluns the CAMERA doesn’t need an external power source?
It’d be awesome if the latter case were true, as my company is looking at a 16 camera system, and we’ll be running somewhere around 4000ft of cable. It’d be nice if we could just run a cat-5 cable from each camera instead of a video cable to the dvr AND a power cable to a reserved power supply box.
Any suggestions?
p.s. – example of the baluns I’m looking at: http://www.2mcctv.com/product_info-VITEKVTTR1M.html
Thanks!
Best answer:
Answer by Securicorp CCTV
The Passive Balun means you can transmit a video signal using cat5 cable.
The advantage is that you can transmit video over a longer cable run, usually up to 300m using passive balun. Normal coaxial cables have a limit of around 90m. The twisted cable pairs in cat5 is also good at rejecting electro interferrence.
‘No power required’ or ‘Passive’ means that you do not need a powered amplifier or any power source to extend the VIDEO SIGNAL ONLY…..up to 300m.
‘Active Balun’ is a powered balun which means it will amplify the video signal up to 1200m or so.
If you use the cat5 cable to run power to the cameras, the balun will not make any difference to the distance you can feed power. After 60m of cable, the voltage on most cables start to drop.
If you want a long cable run to power your camera, use a 14v power supply for 12v cameras or 28v psu for 24v cameras. In this case any voltage drop over the distance of the cable will be slightly compensated by the higher originating voltage.
Here’s a few tips
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1) Use a balun that has a power connector with it so you only need one device o make video & power conection on camera side e.g see the balun with the dc connector here http://www.cop-security-online.co.uk/acatalog/Shop__front_Passive_system_36.html
2) A trick I did on an installation with long distance cameras is use a 24vAC power supply then I used a 24vAC to 12vDC convertor guaranteeing I could get 12v on the camera end up to 250m away
Hope this helps.
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