Incompatible Cat-5e with Balun?

I have installed several balun/Cat5e setups in the past using a wide range of cameras and conditions with no trouble. My only problem is I never paid attention to the brand of cat5 I was using.

I just purchased 2 boxes of TWDOK cat5e blue network cable and pulled 2 camera lines not more than 120'. No bends, kinks or splicing. (though I have coupled cat5 with cat5e jacks and patch cables before with no problem)

I also pulled another line with these 2 using a left over box of another brand of cat5e about 60'.

Identical cameras and baluns, the 2 lines from the TWDOK showed no image. Voltage tested at 12.27 from my 10a 12v ps. but the cameras would not power up (built in LEDs and test monitor). When powering the cameras locally, no video at other end. Tested baluns with patch cables OK. Toned out cat5 connections and tested with cat5 cable tester, all OK.

Even tried crimp ends, bare wire ends and 2 different types of baluns and cat5 jacks, and no go from these 2 runs. The box says its cat5e, the cable is printed with cat5e but I wonder if its some cheasy knock off stuff.

Anyone else run into anything like this?

Baluns don't REQUIRE twisted pair - I've run video baluns over station wire (four un-twisted 22ga conductors), I've run them over Cat3, even over 18/2 speaker wire.

That's just FYI... I can't think of any possible causes or solutions right off the top of my head. Sounds like you've done pretty much all the necessary troubleshooting steps. The only question I might have is whether you tested the voltage AT the camera with it powered up, to make sure it's not dropping too much, but you've tried powering the cameras locally as well, so...

Only other thing that comes to mind is that it IS a bad batch of cable with overly high resistance - not enough that the cable tester fails, but enough that the voltage and signal are dropping below usable levels. What sort of Cat5 tester do you have? Will it give you things like capacitance and resistance/impedance readings, or is it just a continuity tester? I would assume either way, it's showing all the pairs are wired correctly? That's the only other thing I can think of, if the pairs are mis-matched...

thanks for replying

My tester is just a standard one that lights up correct pairing with 4 green LEDs that shows my pinouts in the correct order. I wired everything B so its the same across the board. Even today I went to a previous install that has far worse conditions (lots of turns, bends, light fixtures, conduit, distance) and the signals are fine. It seems this cable is sucking the signal. Since this was a short easy run (thank goodness) I even ran ANOTHER cable from the same box thinking I had damaged the originals in the first pull but no dice....same thing.

Voltage when the camera was powered on was about 4.5 now that I think about it....but yea, even when I powered it locally, still no video. Oh well, I'll hunt down the previous brands I used and go from there.

Thanks again.

thanks for replying

 

My tester is just a standard one that lights up correct pairing with 4 green LEDs that shows my pinouts in the correct order. I wired everything B so its the same across the board. Even today I went to a previous install that has far worse conditions (lots of turns, bends, light fixtures, conduit, distance) and the signals are fine. It seems this cable is sucking the signal. Since this was a short easy run (thank goodness) I even ran ANOTHER cable from the same box thinking I had damaged the originals in the first pull but no dice....same thing.

 

Voltage when the camera was powered on was about 4.5 now that I think about it....but yea, even when I powered it locally, still no video. Oh well, I'll hunt down the previous brands I used and go from there.

 

Thanks again.

short one pair of cat5 at camera end

and measure resistance at DVR end

tell us how long run is

post results here please

The wire is 60' long give or take 3 feet. There are 4 moderate bends and its wire tied down but not overly tight. (None of this really matters since I had the same results from a free standing wire).

At Camera end: Shorting Orange/OrangeWhite with Brown/BrownWhite = 48.1 ohms at DVR end.

At Camera end: Shorting Orange with OrangeWhite = 98.5 ohms at DVR end.

0.03 ohms on the multimeter itself.

The wire is 60' long give or take 3 feet. There are 4 moderate bends and its wire tied down but not overly tight. (None of this really matters since I had the same results from a free standing wire).

 

At Camera end: Shorting Orange/OrangeWhite with Brown/BrownWhite = 48.1 ohms at DVR end.

 

At Camera end: Shorting Orange with OrangeWhite = 98.5 ohms at DVR end.

 

0.03 ohms on the multimeter itself.

Way to high

check your cable

Yeah, DC resistance of that wire should be AT MOST a couple ohms over a hundred feed... that's your problem, something is introducing a LOT of resistance in that wire (probably poor manufacturing), which is causing excess voltage AND signal drop.

Use CAT6, same price, better performance.

Use CAT6, same price, better performance.

Possibly, but most manufacturers of twisted pair converters have designed them for Cat5 / 5e. You will probably not want to use SHIELDED Cat 5 or 6, though. The added capacitance causes problems with video over twisted pair.

Like Soundy, I've run video through all kinds of funky wire (fairly) successfully.

It does look like the OP just got some really crummy cable, though.

There's stuff coming in from offshore that is actually copper plated aluminum, and lighter gauge, and all kinds of other problems.

Use CAT6, same price, better performance.

I wanna know where you shop that Cat6 is the same price as Cat5e, because everywhere around here, Cat6 carries a pretty hefty premium. Example: one retailer has 1000' boxes of FT4 Cat5e at $96 while 1000' of FT4 Cat6 is $230.

Use CAT6, same price, better performance.

 

I wanna know where you shop that Cat6 is the same price as Cat5e, because everywhere around here, Cat6 carries a pretty hefty premium. Example: one retailer has 1000' boxes of FT4 Cat5e at $96 while 1000' of FT4 Cat6 is $230.

Plus all connectors and patch panels are more money.

Use CAT6, same price, better performance.

 

I wanna know where you shop that Cat6 is the same price as Cat5e, because everywhere around here, Cat6 carries a pretty hefty premium. Example: one retailer has 1000' boxes of FT4 Cat5e at $96 while 1000' of FT4 Cat6 is $230.

 

Plus all connectors and patch panels are more money.

Here marktplaats.nl Seems i was lucky whit the price, price seems to be here 30% higher whit cat 6.

Possibly, but most manufacturers of twisted pair converters have designed them for Cat5 / 5e. You will probably not want to use SHIELDED Cat 5 or 6, though. The added capacitance causes problems with video over twisted pair.

I have notice a diverseness whit cat 6, see the twist, blue orange!

But the picture seems perfect, even the the eBay baluns.

Other picture, perfect shot on the twist.