ᐅ Outdoor Camera: How to Plan Its Installation Effectively?

Hello everyone,

We are about to start the exterior plastering, and I am considering preparing for 1-2 outdoor cameras at the same time.

My plan is to drill a hole through the masonry (36.5cm (14.4 inches) Ytong) on two sides of the house from the attic in order to route a cable outside, which the plasterers can then easily cover with plaster. I want to connect the cameras to these cables.

I haven’t looked much into the technology of these outdoor cameras yet; this idea just came to me today while walking on the scaffolding. The question I have now is:

• What kind of cable should I route outside? Should I run a simple power cable and connect the cameras via Wi-Fi? Power is easily available in the attic. Or should I use a LAN cable to supply the cameras with PoE? Installing a LAN socket in the attic would require significant additional effort.

Thanks for any advice!

Thomas

LAN cable for PoE. Avoid using Wi-Fi for cameras whenever possible.
You don’t need a network outlet. Just attach a keystone module.
Cameras should not be installed too high. Otherwise, you will only see heads and no faces.

rick2018 schrieb:

Ethernet cable for PoE. Avoid using Wi-Fi for cameras whenever possible.
You don’t need an Ethernet socket. Just install a keystone module.
Cameras should not be mounted too high; otherwise, you’ll only see heads, not faces.

Exactly. If you want to be absolutely sure that you can install nearly any camera later on, have a small flush-mount back box installed as well. Some cameras have very little space in their base to accommodate the Cat cable with keystone coming out of the wall. There are surface-mount boxes available, but they are almost always quite unattractive.

Also, if you want to have nighttime visibility, make sure the camera is not facing directly along a wall: mount it in a way that it covers the desired area without walls visible in the frame. Otherwise, the camera’s infrared LEDs will cause strong reflections from the walls (yes, even plastered walls), which makes the image nearly useless because the camera’s exposure will be drastically reduced due to these reflections.

Install a junction box or simply a small surface-mounted enclosure. Inside, place the in-wall cable, a keystone adapter on it, and from there, use a patch cable to connect to the camera. Running the in-wall cable directly to the device is always problematic, and if the cable on the last few meters is damaged or too short, you will have a big issue.

The enclosure is also ideal for the desired preparation. This way, you won’t have to leave an orange cable or coil hanging around for a long time.

I would suggest installing an empty conduit first instead of a cable. This way, you remain much more flexible regarding what you might ultimately need. Additionally, replacing the cable (in case someone accidentally cuts it) is much easier and quicker.

Well, in 99.99% of cases, you need a CAT cable and possibly NYM wiring at the desired locations. You might as well install them right away.