troy6363

The best labor-saving thing you can get is a little skinny guy

LOL!!!

can anyone give any tips or best advice on fishing wires through eaves and into the attic of a house. How do you pick the best location where you should drill. What happens if you drill into the eave, fish the wire, and cant locate your fish wire in the attic?

investigate the attic thoroughly prior to quoting labour. You might wish you had when you come across a house where there are split attics from added extensions to the building and the owners dont even mention it, or block that goes right to the roof stopping any attempt at snaking from the eave, as well as home owners belongings and what not that might be in the attic blocking the way. Ha, that was the last residential attic I was in (few weeks ago), now Im outsourcing that part of the job

 

If its full of fiberglass insulation might also be a good idea to wear a mask. Dont forget the nails also, when I spent a few years installing alarms I got 2 nails to the head jumping up through an attic hole. And knee pads help as well.

 

Ofcourse the most common tool is a snake.

Thanks Rory

Can anyone recommend any labor saving devices or cool tools that will save me time and make the job of installing cctv easier?

Im new at installing cctv systems. I want to start installing cctv systems for residential customers. When Im in the attic, should I use a respirator to breathe or just a mask. How do I stay cool in the hot temps of an attic? I've seen cool vests that construction workers wear that can keep you cool and head gear also that you freeze and will keep you cool.

Ok thanks. That cleared up alot of my confusion

Soundy, what do you recommend I go with?

How should I drill upward. I saw a pic of a guy who bought a 6ft flexible extension drill bit to drill up past any firestops and into the attic. Is this the way its normally done?

Cat5 will allow you to run power and video on a single cable - one pair for video, two or three pairs for power.

 

The caveat is, if you're using cheap 12VDC cameras with baluns, you risk having ground-loop issues. If they're AC or dual-voltage cameras, or have built-in voltage regulators, then this shouldn't be a problem.

 

Cost-wise it depends mostly on the price you can get your cable and baluns for - around here, Cat5e and RG59 both retail at almost exactly the same price, but with coax, you also need something for power: many people use 18/2, but we typically use station wire (22/4). The longer the runs, generally, the more the cost benefit leans toward UTP/baluns, since the cost of the baluns will be the same whether your run is 10 feet or 1000 feet, whereas the cost of the power wire will go up with the length of the run.

Thankyou for the fast reply. Yes I am using rather cheap cameras that use 12VDC. Im kinda lost in your post. What is ground-loop issues? Does RG59 carry the power wire also? I will need to research what 18/2 is because Im a newbie. My runs will be no more than 300ft for each cam if that.

Has anyone ever used this in wall viewer? Is it really necessary if I am drilling upward in the room where the dvr will be located. I am afraid of running into fire stops. Is it best to drill up from the room where dvr is located or is it best to drill down from the attic?

Hello all. I am a newbie and will be installing my first surveillance system in my home. I plan to use 4 wired day night cams and a 4 channel dvr. I have been online searching and found out I can use cat5 cable as an alternative to rg59. Which is more preferred in a home installation and more cost effective (including the extra baluns i have to purchase). Also how do I get power to the cameras if I use cat5?