Voltage Drop

[andy2306]

Hi.

I have installed a new door entry system keypad and camera. The problem is that I am experiencing a voltage drop over the distance of the cable that is making the camera not power on correctly, ringer and voice work fine.

My current wiring is using 4 cores of what i presume is 0.5mm2 6 core alarm wire. (this was in place for my old camera)


Questions are....

1. This may be daft (or may not be) can i double up the wires i.e use the 2 unused cores to power the camera on the keypad? I presume the camera power comes from via the red and blue wires? so If i use the spare orange/white and blue/white and join them to orange and blue at the monitor and then into the same couplings at the back of the camera/keypad, will this reduce voltage drop?

2. If 1 isnt advisable. Then it appears that I may need thicker cable. Id say at a guess the cable run is approx 25M. Id rather be over than under in terms of cable thickness, what cable thickness would be advisable? The output at the monitor is 14.7V

Thanks In advance

Andy

 

[plugwash]

My current wiring is using 4 cores of what i presume is 0.5mm2 6 core alarm wire. (this was in place for my old camera)

0.5mm2 is a lot bigger than most alarm cable i've seen. How did you determine the size (or did you just make a wild-ass guess?)

1. This may be daft (or may not be) can i double up the wires i.e use the 2 unused cores to power the camera on the keypad? I presume the camera power comes from via the red and blue wires? so If i use the spare orange/white and blue/white and join them to orange and blue at the monitor and then into the same couplings at the back of the camera/keypad, will this reduce voltage drop?

Yes doubling up will reduce the volt drop.

2. If 1 isnt advisable. Then it appears that I may need thicker cable. Id say at a guess the cable run is approx 25M. Id rather be over than under in terms of cable thickness, what cable thickness would be advisable? The output at the monitor is 14.7V

What voltage are you currently seeing when you measure at the camera?

 

[andy2306]

My current wiring is using 4 cores of what i presume is 0.5mm2 6 core alarm wire. (this was in place for my old camera)

0.5mm2 is a lot bigger than most alarm cable i've seen. How did you determine the size (or did you just make a wild-ass guess?)

1. This may be daft (or may not be) can i double up the wires i.e use the 2 unused cores to power the camera on the keypad? I presume the camera power comes from via the red and blue wires? so If i use the spare orange/white and blue/white and join them to orange and blue at the monitor and then into the same couplings at the back of the camera/keypad, will this reduce voltage drop?

Yes doubling up will reduce the volt drop.

2. If 1 isnt advisable. Then it appears that I may need thicker cable. Id say at a guess the cable run is approx 25M. Id rather be over than under in terms of cable thickness, what cable thickness would be advisable? The output at the monitor is 14.7V

What voltage are you currently seeing when you measure at the camera?

Just made a wild ass guess with a ruler and measured the case/sleve. Its just standard 6core alarm cable.

Would cat5e cable be more suitable? i could use 2 cores for each?

 

[sparkymarka]

Point 1 is it voltage drop ? Have you tested at psu with nothing connected and at camera end connected ? What do you get ? Point 2 Will this system work ok on alarm cable ? What make and model is it ?