Security Camera help

[Pedro Popadopolous]

Hi All,

So can anyone help me :-(

I have a simple setup (I thought) 4 core cable running to camera (red, black, White and yellow) with a braided coper sheath.

I terminated both ends as such.......

Power red to positive black to negative (gnd)

Video Yellow to centre pin braid to gnd

I did that both ends. I have narrowed the problem down to the video side of the cable but what on earth can I be doing wrong? its straight through, have checked and there are no breaks :-(

ALSO

I have a few camera's with RJ11 connectors. I want to snip them and put on a phono plug and a power plug....

Again I have 4 core cable (no braid this time.....) Red, Black, Blue and yellow

Anyone any ideas what I should do here?

Thanks

Paul

[Lobster]

Erm - WHAT problem?!

David

[Sparks]

It does help if you tell us the problem!

I assume you are not getting a video signal from your camera. If you connect the camera to the monitor directly, do you get a picture?

Is the 4 core cable alarm cable? If so, how long is the run?

From my experience when installing cameras at my house (9 of them so far!) unless you use proper co-ax for the video feed, the quality of the picture is piss poor.

I used RG59 cable for all my cameras - the cameras in and outside the garages, at the top of the garden, some 70m of cable away, all have excellent images.

If your runs are short, then the "4 core" may be acceptable (but coax would be better!)

Have you checked that the camera is powered up OK and that the yellow cable is ok (Swap the red and yellow both ends, then make sure the camera is sill powered up - if it is, then the yellow is fine, if not, then your yellow wire is broken somewhere!

If the cables are all OK, and the camera defiantly works, is there a way you can connect the monitor up to the camera with a short lead (but leaving the camera powered via the long one)? - Sometimes you get too much voltage drop over a long cable, then the camera fails to work.

Give us some more info on your setup, including power supply voltage and amperage, model of camera, length of cable run, type of monitor, multiplexer, switcher etc...

Sparks...

[Pedro Popadopolous]

Hi

Sorry your right I get no image.....

So I have ruled power out by taking power right to the camera and not across the length and it still doesn't work. The length is about 20 feet, the cable I use is the same cable I ran a smaller camera off (same length) just before swapping to this, I did do some rerouting though so the cable was taken down, relaid and terminated.

I have shorted one end of the video side and went to the other and got a shorted reading on my Multimeter so I am convinced the cable is fine.....

Is there any issue in the way I have wired it? I used the outer braid as the gnd for the video signal and the black core for the gnd for the power. Its

9v regulated supply. I have no idea of ampage sorry.

The video and power do not share a commom ground because of above....

I am connecting the camera to an IP Server box (Small black box with 4 video inputs that sits on your lan. I took another camera and connected it into the port of the IP Server and the port worked.

Its a head scratcher all right

Thanks

[Sparks]

Are you using the old power supply from the old camera, or did the new one have a different one (the new camera sounds as if it has a BNC connector from you description, this normally means it is a professional type camera not a domestic one - (The professional ones usually require 12v DC or 24V AC)

Your wiring sounds fine to me, my cameras are powered with alarm type cable from multiple PSU's, with the video signals on separate cables back to the multiplexer, so the power ground (0v) and the video ground are separate on my install too.

Can you connect the video to a monitor or TV's AV socket to see if that works?

Sparks...

[Dave Stanton]

You need proper COAXIAL cable for the video, usually 75 ohm impendance, you cant use single core cable.

Dave

[Pedro Popadopolous]

Hi,

I can connect the camera via shorter cable into a monitor and it works fine with supplied PSU :-(

I really have managed to whittle it down to the video cable and there are no shorts (Except when I introduce one to test)

:-(

[Sparks]

Have you tried the same test with the longer cable, using a monitor? (The monitor may be less fussy of the signal strength than the IP Server)

Sparks...

[Pedro Popadopolous]

Not since I relaid it :-(

It worked before and my tests show no breakage in cables :-( Ho Hum

[Sparks]

Is it not possible to connect a monitor up to the cable now it is installed?

You really should put in some spoper co-ax cable! A friend of mine got some cameras that had the same kind of wire you discribe, the image was quite blurred (even after playing wht the focus!) I said he really should install Co-Ax to the camera, and as he worked for NTL anyway, he had some "spare" laying about anyway! Somehow I ended up doing most of it, but tha't another story! After the new cable was installed, the picture was *vastly* improved, he thought the camera was just crap.

If you have some spare coax laying about, try connecting a 20ft length to the camera, and the other end to the IP Server to see if that solves the problem (My money is on it will!)

You want to use RG59, RG6 or CT100 cable, not "low-loss" areial cable - I have used RG59 throughout with proper crimped BNC connectors.

Sparks...