Have a camera I am planning on mounting outside that has POE and female jack with enough of a pigtail to get inside the attic. Haven't applied any male ends to cat5/6 cable and have done jacks with a jumper cable in the wiring closet and other places. Wire will go through the attic. Should I put a jack and use a short patch cable in the attic or is putting a male end on a simple and good solution?
Terminating wire for camera?
- Thread starter JimS
- Start date
Having done 1000s of these ends professionally I recommend getting somebody else to do the ends.
If you insist do a few practice runs before the one that counts. Some people do it very well and others don't. After a few hundred crimps, I could do about 97 out of every 100 correctly but a partner could do almost every one correctly. Some have the knack and some just don't.
Make sure you use round crimp connectors for round wire. The flat crimp connectors may work and then snip off your conductors later, when you don't expect it.
If you insist do a few practice runs before the one that counts. Some people do it very well and others don't. After a few hundred crimps, I could do about 97 out of every 100 correctly but a partner could do almost every one correctly. Some have the knack and some just don't.
Make sure you use round crimp connectors for round wire. The flat crimp connectors may work and then snip off your conductors later, when you don't expect it.
pete_c
Guru
For my under eave cameras I just pulled the terminated male end out, connected it and pushed it back in to the attic. I had one camera mounted on the deck post used for lighting over the grill. I put the pigtail / network cable in a Christmas lighting style clam shell which worked OK protecting it from the weather.
upstatemike
Senior Member
I have never had trouble terminating cat5 or cat6 cables with plugs but I don't like to do it. Much more comfortable with a jack plus 6 inch cat6 pigtail. I use the flat wire 6 inch pre-made cables as they are more flexible to fold into a box or whatever. Use this method for cameras, distributed audio keypads, wireless access points, etc. Works well for me.
The connection will be out of the weather so no issues there although the camera came with a nifty cover and seal for the mating connector that 1/4 turn locks onto the housing of the connector on the camera.. Looks like it would work very well.
For my case I could use a very short jumper or a long pre-terminated cable - both options look reasonable. I put an octagon box in the soffit during construction. I could tuck the camera a little farther under the eave in another spot but running the wire will take a lot more effort so think I will skip that. Was just checking if the 18" pigtail on the camera can be coiled up in the box and that looks like no problem. A jack and a short patch cable is also not too bad of squeeze I think. If it's too tight I can use a longer cable through the conduit as its only about 15 ft to an open area in the attic where I have lots of room.
It's about a 15 ft run with a 90 bend on the end at the box, 1/2" PVC conduit. After repeated attempts with a vacuum I couldn't get enough suction to pull the mouse through. Have done it lots of times before but larger conduit and bigger vac. Next step was to lug the shop vac to the attic. Then I realized that with the small conduit I might be able to push a stiff but flexible something through. Hmmm, what's handy? Well, I have this CAT5 cable I am trying to install... Turns out I was able to push it though with no problem after fiddling with the vacuum and string for an hour. Doh...
On the Cat5 vs. Cat6 connectors I know they are different - slightly different wire size. I did use some CAT6 in CAT5 punch down terminals in the house because that what I had handy and haven't had trouble with it. But going forward I got CAT6 jacks to go with the CAT6 wire in the shop and using some remaining CAT5 in the house with the CAT5 jacks.
For my case I could use a very short jumper or a long pre-terminated cable - both options look reasonable. I put an octagon box in the soffit during construction. I could tuck the camera a little farther under the eave in another spot but running the wire will take a lot more effort so think I will skip that. Was just checking if the 18" pigtail on the camera can be coiled up in the box and that looks like no problem. A jack and a short patch cable is also not too bad of squeeze I think. If it's too tight I can use a longer cable through the conduit as its only about 15 ft to an open area in the attic where I have lots of room.
It's about a 15 ft run with a 90 bend on the end at the box, 1/2" PVC conduit. After repeated attempts with a vacuum I couldn't get enough suction to pull the mouse through. Have done it lots of times before but larger conduit and bigger vac. Next step was to lug the shop vac to the attic. Then I realized that with the small conduit I might be able to push a stiff but flexible something through. Hmmm, what's handy? Well, I have this CAT5 cable I am trying to install... Turns out I was able to push it though with no problem after fiddling with the vacuum and string for an hour. Doh...
On the Cat5 vs. Cat6 connectors I know they are different - slightly different wire size. I did use some CAT6 in CAT5 punch down terminals in the house because that what I had handy and haven't had trouble with it. But going forward I got CAT6 jacks to go with the CAT6 wire in the shop and using some remaining CAT5 in the house with the CAT5 jacks.
pete_c
Guru
Here couldn't get to close to the soffit from the attic so I inserted a fiberglass cable puller from the outside in to the attic, went back in to the attic and connected the catXX cable to the end of the fiberglass rod and pulled the cable out that way. I did not have a box in place. I connected the camera base to the wood base that was holding in place the aluminum eave and drilled a hole in the aluminum eave for the cable; then sealed the hole.
I did not like working on the top of a 24 foot ladder much. After a bit though got used to it. That and the camera was mounted near my office window such that I could get to it from the 2nd floor office via the double hung window (not leaning on the window).
You can also use 14 gauge or 12 gauge electrical solid core cable and feed some through the conduit and grab it in the attic maybe?
I did not like working on the top of a 24 foot ladder much. After a bit though got used to it. That and the camera was mounted near my office window such that I could get to it from the 2nd floor office via the double hung window (not leaning on the window).
You can also use 14 gauge or 12 gauge electrical solid core cable and feed some through the conduit and grab it in the attic maybe?
Figured out why I had trouble with suction - One of the conduit joints slipped apart enough to leak but fastened enough to still be aligned. Must have missed gluing it. Got everything back together and it's working. The mount has a small amount of slop in it even when tightened down. Hopefully it won't move around in the wind and be detected as motion. If I have trouble I may be able to put something inside to tighten things up.
I put an octagon box in the soffit when the place was built. The bottom is flush with the soffit. Screwed to a 2 x 4 above. 1/2" conduit out the top of the box, then a 90 bend and goes into the center of the attic where it is more accessible. Must not have glued the threaded adapter into the box as that's where it pulled apart. But the conduit is fastened down enough it only is slightly out of alignment. Might have been able to get it glued back together with some work if the wire wasn't already in it but had the wire in when I noticed it was loose so just left it. Not required for low voltage and only to guide the wire which it did just fine.
I mounted the camera on blank cover plate for the octagon box. It has a knockout in the center just the right size for the cable. Drilled three holes for the camera mount, and screwed it to the box cover plate. The mounting to the box is tight. The slop is in the camera mount itself where the angle of the camera can be adjusted. I repainted the box cover while it was off since the paint to match the soffit was a bit old.
I mounted the camera on blank cover plate for the octagon box. It has a knockout in the center just the right size for the cable. Drilled three holes for the camera mount, and screwed it to the box cover plate. The mounting to the box is tight. The slop is in the camera mount itself where the angle of the camera can be adjusted. I repainted the box cover while it was off since the paint to match the soffit was a bit old.
upstatemike
Senior Member
I just don't like to ever connect building wiring directly to equipment. I always use a patch panel, cross connect field, jack and pigtail, or whatever so equipment can be changed or serviced without putting wear and tear on permanent infrastucture cable terminations. I can put plugs on the end of Cat5/6 wire runs with no problem, I just don't think it is good practice.
