Surveillance cameras using RG-6 cable?

[aegrotatio]

I have a big spool of dual RG-6 cable I'm looking to put to good use now that I've wired my house already.

How much power can be driven through these cables at 12 volts? I'd like to power some surveillance cameras using one cable and a breakout box at each side to inject/extract the power from the cable.

Failing this, I also have lots of Cat 5 and Cat 5e ethernet cable. What baluns do people use for surveillance cameras using Cat 5e cable, carrying power and the video signal?

My distances range between 20 and 100 meters. I'd like not to splice anywhere to keep things safe and clean.

Thanks!!

 

[TheForce]

Considering the variation in camera loads and differences in cable design, I'd do a voltage drop test with your camera. Connect your power supply and test voltage drop across the cable you are using with camera connected and on. If you have pan tilt zoom head, test with that running too as the load will increase when doing that.

As a reference, my power supply for my Panasonic pan tilt camera is 0.75A at 12 vdc. I supply the power to the camera locally on its own wire. Not sure what surveillance camera you are planning on but the simplest are the IP cameras that will connect to your router. These won't use RG6 but use cat 5 Ethernet cable. Those that use RG6 will be analog video cameras. Older technology.

 

[jaray]

Any analog CCTV camera by nature runs signals on RG59 or RG6, and power in dual 18 gauge power leads. Have a look for what they call siamese cable which looks just like dual RG6, except 1 cable is rg59 or rg6 and the other is a dual 18gauge power cable. That cable will do just about any camera w/night vision LED's and most PTZ as well. At most, any of them will only pull about 1amp max, more commonly 500mA. There will always be exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking 18gauge is all you need for the power.
Also, most of the passive baluns out there too are only small gauge cable for power...its really all you need.

 

[aegrotatio]

Hmm sounds like I should get a spool of siamese cable.
Is this cable hard to splice for power? I'm really good with the coax, not so much with the power cables especially if they're stranded.

Thanks again!!

 

[aegrotatio]

I ended up using the siamese cable that came with the system. I had no real idea that 60 feet would be enough, but it sure is. I wrapped monkey poop tape around the fittings and I'm happy with it so far. The picture is acceptable considering the extreme thinness of the cable. It doesn't seem like it's shielded at all.