I have a client that is demanding “Class A” CCTV wiring in his RFP. I know about Class A wiring in fire alarms, but I’m not familiar with this in CCTV systems. Is this something new?
"Class A" Video Surveillance Wiring
Demand that he pre-installs Class A Holes in the walls for the cabling...
Put up two cameras in each spot and run each camera back to a different IDF lol
For those wanting an explanation of "Class A" vs "B" in fire:
"In class A wiring, 2 wires start from alarm control panel terminal, run through fire sensors / detectors and the same 2 wires run back into the alarm control panel and get connected as 2 more wires thus there would be 4 wires at the panel totally. This would help the control panel monitor all the sensors / detectors even if a loop wire breaks in the middle.
In Class B wiring, the control panel is just connected to 2 wires. These 2 wires run through fire sensors / detectors and terminate at end of line resistor. Thus if any wire breaks in between the sensors that are connected to control panel end of wire would only be monitored. The broken wire side of sensors won't be monitored"
John, there is a little more to installing Class A fire detection and notification loops than just the feed and return to allow alarm or notification in the event of a single break in the wiring. That is only the technology part and actually there are varients of the loop features such as the operation in the event of a single or multiple ground fault. Depending on the requirements the cables would be in conduit and separated through different paths back.
I have never heard of this before. Are you sure it is not just someone putting something in the RFP that they don't know anything about? How about you out a splitter right at the camera and run two cables back to two different recording servers.
I would ask the client what they mean by this. I'm thinking this may be something they added to try and get a more professional installer, or maybe a poor copy & paste from their fire system RFP, lol
Ask questions and get answers to your physical security questions from IPVM team members and fellow subscribers.