Outdoor Camera Cabling Questions

We do a lot of outdoor cameras in multi-family communities in the SE. We typically dont see temps under 30 except for a few days a year.

We only use exterior cable when the wiring is actually exposed, like on a Ubiquiti radio. All cameras are mounted to siding, eave etc and there is no wiring exposed. If conduit, we use an outdoor rated box to mount the camera to, so we use indoor cat5e there.

We always use normal connectors, but we do try to use the weatherproof covers that Dahua provides.

The only failures I have seen, is when the box itself was not sealed properly. For example we use 12x12 PVC junction boxes to house switches and these boxes have no knockouts so we have to drill our holes. We have had techs drill holes in the top of the box for conduit, which made sense as the conduit was going up the wall to the soffit/eave to the attic. We stopped this and only enter boxes from the bottom now, even if that means 2 90's to go back up.

We have run direct burial in conduit. We start at 3/4 even if one wire, and we go bigger on conduit than required just to keep the pulling easy.

Bugs? Not too big of an issue for us. 

We put a drop of silicone dielectric grease on the RJ45 connector for all outdoor cameras. Seems to help to prevent corrosion.  

Here in Sydney,

1 - I use standard Cat6 in conduit for outdoor runs.  I can't comment on Home Depot stuff but personally, I'd steer away from generic hardware store stuff and grab it from an electrical wholesaler instead.

2 - 8P8C connectors as standard.  Although my sites don't go below 0, they do go north of 40 degrees C (100+ in America) on a regular basis.  I've found that if they're housed properly, you don't have too many dramas.

3 - Housing-wise, the Hiks come with specific junction boxes which are weatherproof.  Last resort is seal the bastard up with silicon.

4 - Only the stuff that comes with the cameras.  I have one employee who likes to double down and wrap the weatherproof connectors in electrical tape as well.

5 - Surface spray.  Good outdoor stuff should last a long time.  Then bill the customer for service calls for camera maintenance.

 The applications 1-5 reference QA standards. In order to ascertain expectations, specifications need to be written and expressed on a 1:1 ratio per deployment. It seems like the regret of adhering to lesser home depot provided shelf items have resulted in indifferent performance and expectations by those product.

A solid design should look at all end to end solutions reduced to a simple common denominator specification that shines the light on product, QC and deployment.

Differences in applications become variables in the customers play book of common product/services. Do not deviate on baseline prices with the customers so you can retain your slack within the schedule of values/services/BOM.

I suggest you consult a Hybrid Guru Sales Engineer in which seem to be plenty here in IPVM.

From an end user perspective:

1.  For on-building external locations, we specify Cat6 UTP cable, in conduit if exposed.  In the rare instances where we run a significant length of Category cable away from or on the exterior of a building, it is typically Cat6 STP in rigid or semi-rigid conduit.  One of our integrator partners prefers Mohawk brand.  Another prefers Commscope brand.  Both seem to work just fine.  For most exterior data cabling runs, we use outside-plant single-mode fiber in conduit, however.  More expensive, but fewer worries about lightning, etc.

2.  For 8P8C connectors, we do not specify anything special.  Shielded connectors are required when shielded cable is specified. 

3.  All connectors are required to be inside some type of weatherproof outdoor rated enclosure.

4.  We have not had such a requirement in the past, and have had a few issues on one of our newer buildings.  After reading some of the above comments, I may start specifying a dielectric grease.

5.  Insects have not been a problem for us . . . but rodents, on the other hand, are a different story.  Three instances in the past year where rodents got into light poles and used the cable insulation in their nest building.  In one of these instances, the electrical access cover plate had been removed from the pole and left open  . . . well, in all honesty, someone several years ago removed the cover and taped a piece of cardboard over the hole and said cardboard deteriorated and/or the rodent used it for bedding, too.  Solution:  Replace the covers with proper parts, either original replacement or fabricated.

6.  Lightning surge protection is required on any exterior-mounted device that is connected back to a building via copper wiring.  We have used a number of different products, such as the L-Com ELPD-CAT6 Ethernet lightning protector.