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Muxlab vs Nitek Baluns

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Anyone with experience with both? Which do you prefer? Why? Why is Nitek more than 2x the price?

 

Need 16 channel passive hub with power pass through and 16x RJ45s.

 

Nitek: PVR164 and VB31AT

 

vs

 

Muxlab: 500134 and 500024

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I've been using mostly GEM baluns for ages - never noticed a difference, and they're a fraction of the price of the MuxLab & NVT.

 

Forget power pass-through, how about a UTP hub *with power supply* built in? Lately I've been using these, and they work great: http://www.easterncctv.com/accessories/ev16p-vps.htm

 

If there's room behind the camera, I'll use one of these as well: http://www.easterncctv.com/accessories/ev01p-vp.htm (since these are mostly CNB cameras with the screw terminals, I just snip off the barrel plug). If there's not room and I need to fit everything in the CNB back-box, I'll use the GEM mini-baluns: http://gemelec.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=721&category_id=72&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 and just split out the UTP ends.

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There doesn't seem to be any manuals or cut sheets on your Eastern CCTV magic box... I contacted them and they were not too much help.

 

I'm concerned about the quality for one, and two overload protection. Nowhere on the site does it mean fuses or PTCs... Is each channel individually protected?

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There doesn't seem to be any manuals or cut sheets on your Eastern CCTV magic box... I contacted them and they were not too much help.

 

I'm concerned about the quality for one, and two overload protection. Nowhere on the site does it mean fuses or PTCs... Is each channel individually protected?

That, I don't know... I've used the 16-channel units on a couple sites now, though, and they're working great. Would be even happier if they were 24VAC, but hey, for the price...

 

I guess if I wanted to, it wouldn't be hard to modify the thing for 24V and add PTCs (if it doesn't already have them).

 

Try contacting Annie in their western office, 626-961-8810, if you have questions - she's been extremely helpful for me.

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The 500136-US has an integrated 350VA power supply that feeds 24 or 28VAc (or no power) to any port on the hub. Also, remote power is allocated to 3 twisted pairs yielding 50% more distance for remote power over Cat5e/6. The psu integration also means less rack space is needed. It only uses 2U.

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There doesn't seem to be any manuals or cut sheets on your Eastern CCTV magic box... I contacted them and they were not too much help.

 

I'm concerned about the quality for one, and two overload protection. Nowhere on the site does it mean fuses or PTCs... Is each channel individually protected?

I can now answer this question semi-definitively: YES, the channels have individual overload protection.

 

On this latest install, I had one camera that would come on for a little while, then go off. The indicator lights on the VPS (it uses the standard LEDs that are built into the RJ45 jacks) normally all light up green... a few seconds after the camera went out, its jack switched from the green LED on the right, to the yellow one on the left. Unplugging the cable restored the green LED immediately; plugging the camera back in brought it back up for a minute or so before it dropped out and the LED went yellow again.

 

I plugged a Cat5 tester into the line and found that wires 3 and 6 were showing a short. The VPS uses wires 1 and 2 for video; 3, 4, and 5 for -12V, and 6, 7, and 8 for +12V... so I had a short somewhere on the green pair. We snipped the plug off the source end, attached a new one leaving the green pair out... ta da! problem solved.

 

So yes, Virginia, there is self-resetting overload protection on every port. I only say "semi-definitely" because I don't know what form it takes, whether it's a PTC or some kind of overload-sensing circuit - I would be on the latter, seeing as it does indicate the overload situation... plus in my experience, PTCs tend to take a few minutes to reset, which this reset immediately after the short was removed.

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Anyone with experience with both? Which do you prefer? Why? Why is Nitek more than 2x the price?

 

Need 16 channel passive hub with power pass through and 16x RJ45s.

 

Nitek: PVR164 and VB31AT

 

vs

 

Muxlab: 500134 and 500024

 

If you rich rich go with Nitek / NVT

If you got some money then go with Muxlab.

If you piss poor go with something else

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