- Sep 6, 2003
- 11,695
- 28
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running some security cameras and have all the equipment. the cameras are 24VAC and i have read that there is no problem running that through cat5/5e and it is done all the time. the transformer for this setup is a 24VAC 10VA unit per 2 camera. i put a kill-a-watt on it and it shows a draw from the wall of 4W and 5VA for the 2 combined cameras, so each one is pulling 2W and 2.5VA (if that is how AC is done - that is my problem, i can't remember how AC stuff is done, just DC). is solid cat5/5e ok w/ this amount of power? it seems like such a small little wire, but i know it is pulling such a small amount of power, but if i catch the house on fire, well, i think the wife will kick me in the nuts.
i looked up the cable and it is 24AWG solid copper - i took it out of the sheath and is cool to the touch and the "run" is like 4' if that.
fwiw, if anybody is pondering on using the cat5/5e/6 for video, the quality is the same on my dvr as it is w/ coax - nice to be able to run 2-4 cameras w/ just 1 wire for the video feed. personally just using some b/w "high resolution" board cameras but have larger box cameras that look just as good too. i think they are over 500 vertical lines and compared to my color cameras that are 380 lines, these are definitely crisper.
tia,
bob
i looked up the cable and it is 24AWG solid copper - i took it out of the sheath and is cool to the touch and the "run" is like 4' if that.
fwiw, if anybody is pondering on using the cat5/5e/6 for video, the quality is the same on my dvr as it is w/ coax - nice to be able to run 2-4 cameras w/ just 1 wire for the video feed. personally just using some b/w "high resolution" board cameras but have larger box cameras that look just as good too. i think they are over 500 vertical lines and compared to my color cameras that are 380 lines, these are definitely crisper.
tia,
bob