Wired, outdoor PC cameras?

[Carlos E.R.]

One switch capable of PoE, which could be inside or outside. It needs a power input, though. Inside you could use it as well for other things.

You would need a powered hub.

...

[micky]

I forgot about powered hubs/ I see one that provides 5v/3A for up to 4 devices. I want 3 so that would be 1 amp for each. Obviously plenty since it's more than an normal usb port supplies.

[micky]

A switch! I'd forgotten that word. In fact, I'd forgotten they existed. I will go read about them.

Able to pass POE through it. I get it.

!!

[Carlos E.R.]

No, able to provide POE.

Enters a plain ethernet connection at one port, exits 3 or more POE outputs. Or any number.

(and there is no distinction between ethernet coming in or out, they are bidirectional. All the ports are equal, you just configure some to be POE. Normally)

[micky]

It's a good thing I included this line!

It's a good thing you contradicted me.

That's wierd. But okay.

[micky]

They will be outside the house. I'd have to run a wire to have power there. I'm still losing the connection with my wifi pprinter. 3 times now in 4 months. Not very happy with wifi.

[Carlos E.R.]

A switch is just a box with ports, say eight:

+----------------------------------------------------------+ | * * * * * * * * | | [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] | | | +----------------------------------------------------------+

Typically, there will be a LED or two per port.

All of them are born equal. Any of them can be connected to your router or modem, any of them can be connected to your computer or cameras.

If it is "manageable", then you can connect to it from your computer (it has an IP address) and you can "manage" it. Probably you can change any port to be of type POE. Or you can configure one port to be "special" and mirror all the communications of all ports or a single port, so that you can listen to them in a computer and spy on them, er... analyze them for problems.

Not all switches are manageable. Some need Windows for the management. Some are not manageable at all. Price vary.

[Paul]

OK, you're inside the house.

How big a hole do you have to run wiring ?

I would not be particularly interested in drilling holes through window frames :-) It would be neat though, to have a window frame with a couple USB ports on it :-) Think of the resale value.

Paul

[micky]

That sounds good. I hate unruly switches.

Amazon, for example, seemed to have more POE switches than non-POE, and some are manageable. Now I know what that means. I've been reading other stuff from the reviews and the web.

It's too cold out to do this before spring, so I've got time to get it right. It's 10PM now and -14^C in my part of Baltimore. Unusually cold for this early, and even colder in the center of the country.

[micky]

I don't have any yet.

Humming birds could fly up and recharge, and quad-copters, and space ships.

But I've given up on mounting them at the top of the 2nd floor. Now it will be where the second floor overhangs the first floor. It sticks out about 20 inches in the front. I can mount two of the cameras under the overhang and one around corner on the side of the house, and run the wires** up through the overhang and through the bedroom/office floor. They will come out under a bed or between the bed and the desk. I did this before in the other room for the FIOS optical cable and it works well.

**The ethernet cable and the power wire for the switch.

[Carlos E.R.]

WiFi will always have disconnects. Shorter, longer, more, fewer... but they will always be there.

[Andy Burns]

It's rather unlikely that a home user would set out to buy "a switch", and end-up with one that happens to be manageable and support PoE ... wallets normally make that decision unless the user is aware of, and definitely wants both features.

[Carlos E.R.]

So I mention them ;-)

[Char Jackson]

If you decide on IP (Ethernet) cameras that need POE, where do you plan to locate the Ethernet switch that will power the cameras and aggregate their video feeds? Not outside, I hope.

So this part becomes "**The ethernet cables"

[micky]

In a waterproof box, outside, under the overhang, like

don't know how big the box should be until after I get the switch. (Too often Amazon just says how big the package is, not the item.)

Oops. Well maybe not. What should I do?

If I have the switch (or the hub in the case of USB cameras) inside, then I have to run 3 cables through the wall (or the floor) and I don't think I want that. When it's outside, I need one ethernet cable and one thin power cable for the switch. In eiher case the length from inside to the outside is now about 18 feet.

Okay. Right.

[Carlos E.R.]

Outside has two problems I can think of. The obvious one is theft. Rain water I'm sure you have covered. But there are temperatures, too high or too low. The cameras sold for outside surely contemplate this, but not switches.

Placing the switch inside is just 3 cables instead of two. I seem to recall the term "thin ethernet" — ah, no, that's coax. Was.

[micky]

Yes, it will be out of the rain in a waterproof box, under an overhang 8 feet high.

The switch I greatly preferred** has specs: Operating Temperature: 0–40 C (32–104 F) Storage Temperature: -40–70 C (-40–158 F) Operating Humidity: 10–90% RH non-condensing Storage Humidity: 5–90% RH non-condensing

Over the year, maybe 90-95% of the time it's 32 degrees F or higher here. Can I assume if the permitted storage temp is -40, that when it warms up it will work again?

Can I expect that it will actually work a few degrees below 32?

The devices's lower limit is 32 and even in January and February the average low is just a little lower, 30 and 31.9 but I"m a little higher elevation and it's a little colder than downtown. Still that leaves days all year long and nights 10 months of the year when it's within operating temperature.

**It was the only*** one using a wall wart, out of the selection that Amazon sells. ***TL-SF1005P V2. There is one other with more ports than I need, also by TP-link. And a more expensive one by some other company. All the others used the heavy 3-conductor power cable like are used in the back of a desktop computer. For appearance in the bedroom/office and for running through a hole to the outside, a thin flexible wall-wart wire seems better.

Interestingly, with some of them, there are lots of pictures but no picture of the back (so I could be sure what sort of power cord was used). Even on the manufacturer's webpage, one I looked at it had a picture from the front, a little to the left, a little to the right, even more to the right, but none of the back! All of their pictures looked pretty much alike.

[Carlos E.R.]

You can not assume it is safe to power up electronics beyond the working temp range, anything can happen. It is not "it just doesn't work but it is safe if I power it up out of range, and it will start working when temp is in range".

Like, some current could be higher than supposed, this could have an unforeseen effect on another part of the circuit, and the device could permanently self destroy.

Then, maybe nothing happens, but you simply do not know.

You can not assume it has been designed with safeties that work and secure the circuits when temps are out of range. Rather, nothing has been calculated beyond the design range, and anything could happen. It might even work perfectly outside of range. Or catch fire. Anything goes.

...

[Paul]

The operating temperature of 0C to 40C, is a "computer operating range". That's not reflective of chip operating temperature or SMPS operating temperature.

I would expect you could squeeze -5C out of it. Just based on the minimum chip simulation temperature margin. Of more concern, would be condensation or frost buildup inside the switch box. Using a Kill-O-Watt meter, you can plug the power adapter for the switch into the Kill-O-Watt and get a watts reading, which gives you some idea whether the switch box has a significant self-heating effect. You would test, with the proposed three camera loads connected, for an accurate simulation before install.

GbE switch boxes, generally have power saving per channel. If the LED goes off, then the channel could be sleeping, and not contributing to box-heating. The very first GbE switches (8 ch) for consumers, ran hot enough that some people Dremeled a hole in the plastic chassis top, and fitted a 40mmsq heatsink on top of the main IC. Modern switches probably aren't quite that bad now :-) The Dremeling started, after initial reports of premature failures of the product -- fitting cooling was an attempt to extend product life.

My little four port switch, does not have perceptible heating on it right now. There's no need to Dremel that thing.

Paul

[wasbit]

When you have mounted your box, to get the cables in, you then have to drill holes & add sealing glands (UK terminology). The holes will have to be large enough to allow whatever is on the end of the cable to pass through or you will have to cut & rejoin the cables. IMHO not a good idea.