CAT5 under house eve - do I need an underground rated? In Sun?

[drvnbysound]

Something else to consider is just moving over another rafter, as you said, away from the corner to get your wire to the soffit... then you can pull you wire above the soffit toward the corner to the location of your choosing for optimum camera position.

 

[Linwood]

The next ice age is likely 24,000 years.   
 
But yeah, winter is almost tolerable here.  IN the shade.
 
But I'm bored NOW!    :angry2:

 

[Linwood]

Something else to consider is just moving over another rafter, as you said, away from the corner to get your wire to the soffit... then you can pull you wire above the soffit toward the corner to the location of your choosing for optimum camera position.

 
Yeah, but the angle is getting worse and worse for what I want to cover.
 
And I'd hate to cut another hole and still couldn't get up there -- for all I know there's some kind of lateral board that runs all the way across for some reason I just can't see. 
 
Tomorrow morning will experiment further.  The sun is out there now. 

 

[drvnbysound]

What is your soffit material made of? Is it vinyl or plywood?

 

[Linwood]

Neither (I'm going to explain as I am not 100% sure of the definition of "soffit" and where it starts and stops).
 
The trusses that make up the roof extend down over the wall cap and hang over 2' or so.  At their end is a board, my guess about 1x6, and plywood above.  The 1x6 is covered entirely with aluminum in an L shape that hooks under to cover it beneath.  

There's a formed aluminum sheet with ventilation cut into it that then extends from the wall out and is nailed underneath the "L" where it wraps under the 1x6.  This sheet, on the wall side, fits into a flashing sandwich of sorts, with concrete bands (about 3/4" deep) coming out from the wall.  The concrete wall extends above this and up about another 8" or maybe a foot, and of course is what the truss rests on.
 
I have not tried to take apart the soffit material.  It is pretty firmly in both the little flashing grove (may even have some concrete holding it from when the decorative band was added), as well as nailed into the aluminum "L".    There is nothing above this aluminum sheet.
 
I suspect I can just take the nails out of the "L", peel it back (hoping it is not glued), free the aluminum panel up and pull them out and get a better view.  But it's not obvious (from looking up in the 1" hole so far) that it will solve my problem.    Maybe.  Might be worth a shot.  I'll look more closely tomorrow.  

 

[drvnbysound]

Here's a sample image of one that utilizes more of a plywood soffit: http://www.supersoffit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/superior-soffit-installation-instructions-01.jpg
 
Here's one with vinyl soffits: http://www.tampaexteriors.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/soffit-and-fascia.jpg
 
Most of the homes here built in the past 10-15 years or so have vinyl soffits. Most everything older than that has plywood soffits.
 
I have vinyl soffits, which are pretty easily removed... providing plenty of access to run wiring

 
The vinyl doesn't provide any mounting support, so I always install plywood to the soffit framing:

 
These pictures were taken when I had my original DVR system (analog). I've since swapped to IP cameras... but here is a shot of the previous camera installed:

 

[Linwood]

OK, I'll try to get some photos tomorrow, you're embarassing me.  My soffit looks just like that, but definitely powder coated aluminun, and I think the panels are wider. 
 
Just at dusk I got the first camera up on a wall, need to tackle that corner again tomorrow.  Also got the switch in and wired into the regular network so I have connectivity in the right place.  Progress is.

 

[drvnbysound]

The issue with any aluminum, including what most of them use to cover the fascia boards (no different than any other thin aluminum) is that is it's VERY easily bent... and not so easy to bend back without leaving evidence!

 

[ddennerline]

One possibility is that your glow rod is hitting an insulation wall. Some houses put blocking wall at the end of rafter to prevent blown in insulation from spilling into the sofit. One thing I have done in past is to flash a strong light at hole in sofit to light up a path. If house is insulated correctly, there should be some air space between sofit bay and attic. You will have to have someone in attic to mark the location.
 
I feel for you. I got rid of all my blown-in insulation as it made the attic inhospitable and repairs nearly impossible. I replaced with Roxsul.

 

[tmbrown97]

So without taking too long to respond here...  
 
I hate attics - I've done enough where you couldn't even kneel - you literally had to slide your belly across them and make sure not to tilt your head up lest you be hit by nails in the roofing.  2 people with lights helps - or you can also invest the $100 in an inspection camera and a long drill bit - maybe there's a path through in there somewhere.
 
If you decide to go exterior wiring, the prices you listed were cheap... that said if I were doing it, I'd go with the cheaper Ubiquiti Toughcable.  It's outdoor rated, shielded, and NOT gel filled.  It's easier to work with than some other brands like Belden IMO and it's cheap.  You have to get shielded connectors to be of much use and have a drain path but most of my installs have that.  From there you can run it outdoors pretty similar to coax with the same methods of securing it to the wall.  I've used 10's of thousands of feet of the stuff and it seems to be pretty indestructible.

 

[pete_c]

Here too my soffit is aluminum and the home was built around 2003. 
 
I did actually utilize the outside light from the hole I drilled by shutting off the attic lights.
 
Early on in the attic stuff I had built a chase for cabling from the basement to the attic, added a cat walk and put much lightning up there. 
 
For the attic floor used these purchased a few cases at a good deal.  The flooring though is a bit tough on the knees.  I have also left a few sheets of 4X4 plywood up there.  I also redid the access stairs using an aluminum telescopic ladder which has a small footprint and is a bit sturdier than the wooden type of folding stair cases.
 

 
Over the years the camera has been changed a few times initially starting with an analog camera then changing over SD IP then HD IP.
 
Started here with an RG cable and power cable, then went to using the combo with baluns then to POE with same cable.
 
Here went to a short bullet style 3 / 5 MP cam with LED illumination and a 28mm lens with a Grandstream OS.  Just noticed that the LED illumination is not working as I am wondering if it relates to the firmware beta upgrade or the illumination just quit working.  That said the illumination worked too well illuminating nearby trees actually reflecting way too much back.  Some bird also did its stuff on the lens and I have not cleaned it.  It is a PITA to climb up there on a ladder to get to the camera and I could probably just hose it down.

 

[Linwood]

OK, a few photos. 
 
The first is the first successful install.  This stands about 16' or so, and is really a bit too high, but about 6" below that the interior wall is sealed off to the attic and it is a difficult enough place to get to I did not want to try to dill and fish it to get the camera lower.   A trim ring has yet to go on because I'm still incrementally patching the stucco from the two holes I drilled beside it trying to miss the studs coming in from outside; finally drilled from the attic out.
 
 

 
This is an outside view of my problem corner.  The small hole is just above the ladder.  The ceiling in the room next to it is actually higher than the beige and red band at the top of the wall.
 

 
I managed to get a cell phone pic by flashing its flash and the camera in the same 1" hole.    This is looking up at about a 40 degree angle.  The concrete in the shadow is the wall cap.  The green styrofoam is a (required) tunnel that allows some airflow to the eve through the packed in insulation.   If I run a flexible rod up the plywood beside the truss/rafter that you see on the right, it hits what I am guessing is the ridge board for the corner a bit less than 5'.   When I looked from the attic I could not see it (I would be looking from sort of near the bottom left corner behind this view from about 15' away.
 
what I do not know is how much height is packed insulation before it reaches the level you can see in the attic, and whether I cannot see this rod because it is hidden in insulation still at the point it is stopped, or whether it might be actually up above the insulation hidden by a truss and I just can't see it.  
 
But I can't see it.  And every attempt at different angles so far gets me nowhere.
 
I may or may not be able to see light if shown through the hole, but at the moment my helper is rehabing an injured heel and doesn't want to get on a ladder.   But one clue is I cannot see daylight along that edge, so it is pretty blocked by the insulation.
 

 
 
These are what the aluminum panels look like, this is some spare material I had lying around: 
 

They are in narrow widths (by eye about 16" or so and lock into each others edges.  While hardly structural they could certainly hold a camera when fastened on each end (as they are). 
 
I'm about to go see if I can get one apart and get a bit better access.  As mentioned above, aluminum bends easily but doesn't un-bend gracefully, so I have some worry about getting that "L" shaped piece away to free the panel up.
 
Final thought - I found I am about out of a box of interior cable that I thought was almost full, so I need more cable anyway.  Thanks, Work2Play, for the pointer to the Ubiquiti Toughcable, I'll look at that, maybe I can pick up another 1000'.  I don't want something too thick, as I've already put a 1" conduit in with plans to run all the camera cables through it to the switch.  I tested and can easily get 12-14 of the regular grey cable, but anything too much thicker.... 

 

[drvnbysound]

Can you seen the green styrofoam vent from inside the attic?

 

[pete_c]

Here I ended up crawling on my belly (a real PITA) to the soffit area and pulling away insulation in one area until I could see the soffit.   I couldn't reach the area very well so I used a small metal rake gardening tool which worked for me.  There was a lot of insulation (way more than a foot that I can recall).
 
I have also used long drill bits (5') here to get to some places. 
 
I went then to making best guess measurements to where I was going to drill and I was able to hit the sweet spot with one hole.

 

[Linwood]

Can you seen the green styrofoam vent from inside the attic?

 
No.  At least my memory is no.  I'm about to head back up there.
 
If I could it would seem easy to use it like conduit (though it is so soft it is easy to push stuff into/through it), but my recollection is that (really not up to code) the insulation in that area is packed above where it ends and/or where it is is covered from view by other trusses.
 
I just tried getting the aluminum off.  I took the nails out of an 8' section and tried to bend it out.  I can free the ends of the aluminum, but it is in tracks on each side.  It needs to slide out horizontally away from the house, and to get that much room I have to take the gutters off, which I'm not prepared to do.  I could probably use the hole to grab and bend it in the middle and pull away from the groves on the side, but I am sure that would damage it beyond reuse (and more to the point, since I have more of it, I do not think I can put it back IN like that without damage).
 
There's probably some build-known-only secret twist and pull and push that would do this, but in a few minutes of tugging I could not find one.
 
So now off to the attic with a hook.  I pushed a piece of wire with a loop in the end as far up as I could from the outside, going to claw around and see if I can hook it (if I can even reach it -- I tried from the ground, with a pool cleaning pole (the longest thing I have) and it isn't quite there, but hopefully I can get a better angle from above).