DC or AC supply

Feb 22, 2011 4 Replies

I've been given a CCTV camera that has two terminals for the power in. It says DC12V AC24V



Does that mean that it will run with DC or AC? I'd like to run it on



12V DC. If it had a half wave rectifier inside I would expect that to equate to about 15V DC.

It's a Panasonic WV-CL834E and I can't find out anything about it from Google.


That is certainly how I would read that marking on a single input.

Colin Bignell

It has occurred to me to Google for DC12V AC24V and there are lots of other brands that have those dual voltages.

I have another Panasonic camera that has only AC24V on it. I suppose I dare not try to run it on DC12V. Or I could open it up and see if the terminals go straight to diodes.

Sounds like it.

It will almost certainly have a regulated DC rail, so could probably cope with a wide range of voltages. 24v AC might just be a standard for this sort of thing.

It is, apparently. Frequently these are fitted in a housing with a thermostat/heater, which tend to work from a 24V ac supply, so that can be used for both heater and camera.

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