Cat5 cable and splitters, 2 cameras 1 cable
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| 1 | I know there’s a lot of gurus on this topic, I’m not one of them, but for those who may also not be a guru I thought I’d post some interesting stuff I learned about Cat5 cable over the weekend. Cat5 cable has 4 pair (8 wires) but 99% of all computers or IP cameras, printers or whatever else on a network only ever use 4 wires (2 pair), so for pretty much 99% of all Cat5 cable in the world, only half the wires are ever used, wow that is a HUGE waste of copper, but never mind. (excludes gigabit networks) I found this out on the weekend because I wanted to put 2 x EZVIZ cameras down the bottom of my 150m driveway. Our IT guy said I need a separate cable per camera and really doubted a camera would work at 150m anyway. But I got 2 x Cat5 splitters ($40), which give access to the unused pairs and now I am running 2 cameras off the one cable. So the long story short, 2 x EZVIZ C3N 1080p cameras both on HD, 150m of Cat5 (24AWG) cable and both cameras work just fine, no cross talk, no latency, no lagging etc. Sharing in case it helps someone else who might want to do something similar, cheers. Edited by keytag at 9:16 pm, Tue 9 Feb keytag - 2021-02-09 21:15:00 |
| 2 | there are limitations with doing it that way, and running an extra cable in case the original one fails is always a good idea, but if its an existing cable and it's difficult to run another then it's a good option... king1 - 2021-02-09 21:28:00 |
| 3 | Originally I just used 6 x 25m lengths of standard internal Cat5 24AWG cable as that’s what was laying around, they already had plugs on the end so I just used back-to-back joiners, rough as ???? It is working fine, so I’ll replace it with a single 23AWG gel filled foil wrapped outside cable, I could run 2 lengths but yeah/nah I like the idea of a single cable and I’ve got splitters anyway. The gel cable comes in a 305m roll and I'll put 2 other cameras in the other direction as well. Makes my mind boggle just how much copper there has been used for Cat5 cable that is not used, must be a gazillion kilos all around the world. Edited by keytag at 9:45 pm, Tue 9 Feb keytag - 2021-02-09 21:42:00 |
| 4 | Just had an interesting idea... When the 305m roll of 23AWG turns up and before I cut it I'll use splitters and put both the cameras on one end and see what comes out the other end...... keytag - 2021-02-09 22:16:00 |
| 5 | Cat5 specified for 100Mbps and that is true is only uses 2 pairs - other 2 pairs were to do stuff that you are doing right now. Now from cat5e on wards that is rated at 1 Gbps and to achieve this you use all 4 pairs. I'm not sure what the proportion of networks uses gigabit but most places locally I know of uses that. Most domestic routers are Gigabit. What surprises me is you not getting any issues at 150m as network cables are rated at a certain speed to a specific distance - cat5 is rated 100MBps around 90-100m - though to be fair you are only running 1080p so you are not maxing out a 100Mbps pipe. For reference i'm running 4K camera and the supplied network cabling is only 2 pairs so 100Mbps (of course i'm using nicer stuff cause i can). acura - 2021-02-09 22:50:00 |
| 6 | A techo mate says He also says Gobbildy-Gook to me.. .but it works ! Edited by keytag at 11:09 pm, Tue 9 Feb keytag - 2021-02-09 23:08:00 |
| 7 | Ya h265 rocks - I'm running just over 8Mbps for 4K h265. acura - 2021-02-10 14:00:00 |
| 8 | Most people with CAT5 want gigabit. 100Mb is pathetically slow, too slow for many LAN applications. Splitters are like crutchs, the reason you don't see them in use much is because they are only much use if your legs are broken. bitsnpieces2020 - 2021-02-11 07:33:00 |
