# installing security cameras on buildings



## MisterCMK (Jul 5, 2009)

Is this a free-standing pole that cameras will be mounted on? You are going to want a little more than 1.5" rigid. You can get poles made for this purpose I believe.


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

MisterCMK said:


> Is this a free-standing pole that cameras will be mounted on? You are going to want a little more than 1.5" rigid. You can get poles made for this purpose I believe.


What heigth pole?


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## MisterCMK (Jul 5, 2009)

How high does the customer want the camera? What are they trying to cover? Is it going to be a PTZ camera or a fixed camera?


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## MAK (Sep 1, 2008)

Tom Neighbarger said:


> well i'm not actually installing the camera, a customer wants me to set a few poles for the cameras to mount on. whats the best material for the job. i was thinking rigid 1.5", it is pricie though at $48 dollars a stick. any ideas anyone?


I have found that if the pole that the camera is mounted on is really narrow it will tend to sway a lot more rendering the video feed useless, particularly if the field of view is a tight long range shot. You may have to take some Dramamine just to sit through a playback of the video.

Edit to add: I think 1.5" rigid may be too narrow for a pole, may depend on the length.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

I just use standard lighting pole standards with a tenon mount adaptor on top. You might actually need to pull a building permit to erect a pole. I do.


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## danickstr (Mar 21, 2010)

a proper pole is about 500 bucks, and needs a footing of sorts. Some of these cameras run 1300 bucks for parking lot surveillance, so a 500 buck pole is not going to rattle a pro install, unless this is some homemade thingamajig. Search for a parking lot or sport court light pole, they usually come square or round, 15 to 35 feet is typical, 35 footers run about a grand. I would use cat6 to reduce voltage drop if it is an IP camera.


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## MisterCMK (Jul 5, 2009)

$1,300 is cheap for an autodome. If it is an IP camera you are only going to have a 300' run. Cat6 is not going to reduce voltage drop. 

When dealing with outdoor cameras like in a parking lot it is a good idea to consider fiber so you don't have to deal with ground loops or goofy picture issues.


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## danickstr (Mar 21, 2010)

of course cat6 will reduce voltage drop over cat5. Sort of like 14 ga reduces voltage drop more than 18 ga. Simple impedance. I am guessing that what you mean is that it won't reduce it enough for a really long run. In which case I would say, how long is the run? Many cat5 networks are rated at hundreds of feet. 300 or so, to be specific. I could do a voltage drop difference for 18 ga vs. 14 ga, but that would be work.

but fiber is a good idea, for big budgets.


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## MAK (Sep 1, 2008)

MisterCMK said:


> When dealing with outdoor cameras like in a parking lot it is a good idea to consider fiber so you don't have to deal with ground loops or goofy picture issues.


Also lightning strikes. Fiber is nice so you don't have to deal with lightning protection.


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## MAK (Sep 1, 2008)

danickstr said:


> of course cat6 will reduce voltage drop over cat5. Sort of like 14 ga reduces voltage drop more than 18 ga. Simple impedance. I am guessing that what you mean is that it won't reduce it enough for a really long run. In which case I would say, how long is the run? Many cat5 networks are rated at hundreds of feet. 300 or so, to be specific. I could do a voltage drop difference for 18 ga vs. 14 ga, but that would be work.
> 
> but fiber is a good idea, for big budgets.


I am fairly certain that if you are powering a camera via POE whether you use CAT6 or CAT5e your voltage drop would be the last thing you will need to be concerned about. Now if you are going way over 100 meters then you could experience some pretty unreliable performance. Either way if I were running the cable long enough to worry about voltage drop I would run an 18-2 or 16-2 stranded with it before I would opt for CAT6 over CAT5e.


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## MisterCMK (Jul 5, 2009)

danickstr said:


> of course cat6 will reduce voltage drop over cat5. Sort of like 14 ga reduces voltage drop more than 18 ga. Simple impedance. I am guessing that what you mean is that it won't reduce it enough for a really long run. In which case I would say, how long is the run? Many cat5 networks are rated at hundreds of feet. 300 or so, to be specific. I could do a voltage drop difference for 18 ga vs. 14 ga, but that would be work.
> 
> but fiber is a good idea, for big budgets.



Do you know what the differences between Cat5 and Cat6 are? 

Fiber does not necessarily equate to a large budget. Depending on the situation fiber can end up being less expensive than copper.


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## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

MisterCMK said:


> Do you know what the differences between Cat5 and Cat6 are?
> 
> Fiber does not necessarily equate to a large budget. Depending on the situation fiber can end up being less expensive than copper.


The diff between C5 and 6 is the number of twists per foot. C6 has more, to reduce crosstalk, C6 usually has a seperator in it, C6A has a full X seperator, and is expensive, and somewhat of a pain to terminate.

As far as fiber - Fiber is cheap, its the 2 pieces of hardware on the ends that cost the big money. You can get copper to fiber converters for not all that much, but that of course rules out PoE.

~Matt


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## Nephi (Mar 20, 2010)

wow.........Cat 6 is bigger........thats the answer we are looking for


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## danickstr (Mar 21, 2010)

cat 6 is 23 ga and cat 5 is 24 ga Not sure about how many twisty's. But bigger wire is all I was referring to in my post.


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