Faceplate for CCTV connections

[ARW]

4 cameras and maybe 1 audio. All cables in Cat5e.

Any suggestions?

[Bob Minchin]

Best I've found Adam is a 4 way

Looking at it, I can't really see how 5 or more could fit into a double faceplate.

Bob

[Andy Burns]

If you use keystone jacks rather than euro modules, you can fit four cat5e sockets onto a single faceplate ...

[Bob Minchin]

I looked at the ebay ones. Seems like anything over 4 way comes from the USA where the faceplate mounts are bound to be different from UK.

Bob

[Andy Burns]

Yes, the 6-way are a weird oblong size, you could get 8 jacks in a UK double though, maybe 4x cat5 for the cameras and 4x phono for the audio?

[dennis]

• face plate to match

Just fitted one with bt jack, rj45 and two F connectors.

You can only get four modules in a double box.

[ARW]

I have found a 8 way box via Scolmore. So that's 4 ways for the cameras, one for the audio and one for the power supply. Guess it needs a 3 gang back box but there is no rush as this one is not due to be worked on for another 4 weeks.

[dennis]

Looks a bit pricey but the range is pretty big.

[Piers]

Can you multiplex connections onto a single cable (e.g. if some items only needs 2 twisted pairs)?

[dennis]

The last one i looked at used three pairs, one for the video, one for audio in, one for audio out. and power was put on two of the pairs but I don't know which. The fourth pair might be used for control on some systems.

I use IP cameras as they offer far more functionality and resolution, they use two pairs but I wouldn't want to try and put two ethernets down one cable (I have tried in the past and results are a bit iffy).

[Capitol]

FWIW, all my cat45 cables are wired as two internets (4 wires each) (100Mb). Haven't had any problems even on 120ft runs. If I needed gigabit, I'd simply re-pair the required outlets with a combiner. I use video wired cameras, with a recorder and remote IP viewing. The network transmitted resolution is not that good, but adequate for my purposes.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

This grid system from TLC and others - although I'm not impressed with its ruggedness.

And expensive but rugged option would be to use those XLR bodies with the appropriate outlets. Quick to panel mount as they only need round holes.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've installed a few of those. Make sure you use the really deep back boxes (50mm, IIRC), so you can avoid scrunching up the cable too much.

BTW, I got them from CPC.

[Andrew Gabriel]

However, you are limited to 100Mbits max, as gigabit and up use all

4 pairs for a single connection.

[Piers]

And if you're using IP cameras you could always just install a small cheapo ethernet switch alongside the outlet, and then you'll only have to use 1 (half if 100Mbps) a cat5 for all the cameras.

I've got a couple of cameras in the same location connected to an ethernet switch in the loft with a single cable backhauling to my main switch. Sadly however one of the cameras is a webcam attached to a rpi, and the pi crashed and corrupted its SD card months go and won't boot, and it's annoying to have to dig it out to fix.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I'm just about to try putting a Pi camera into a birdbox. One problem is that if it dies for any reason that can't be fixed with a remote power cycle, that will be the end of it until October when the box is no longer occupied.

[John Williamson]

If you use a standard USB webcam, it can be mounted a good distance away from the Pi. If the standard USB maximum length isn't enough, you can get 5 metre long USB extensions that incorporate a signal booster and shaper circuit to give you up to at least 7 metres. I've not tried cascading them for longer runs.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

I think nesting/sitting birds are fairly robust when it comes to disturbance. They have a big investment in time and effort.

>

[Dave Liquorice]

Agreed. Though I wouldn't put the camera/Pi *in* the box but in another box attached to the nest box and looking through a window into the nesting area. That way if it breaks it can be quickly removed, the window blacked out (gaffer tape...), and the camera/Pi sorted out away from the next box, then equally quickly replaced. A few minutes messing about one day to remove and the next to replace is not that likely to permenantly spook the birds once they have laid the full clutch.

[Piers]

At some point I'm going to make the root file system read only and see if that solves my problems. We have enough power outages and it seems to very often corrupt the file system.