Re: Outdoor camera connections.

[Jim <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

On Thursday, March 21, 2013 7:09:28 PM UTC-4, E DAWSON wrote:
 Hi, I am thinking perhaps outside the "box" here, or should I say inside. =
You say that the connection leads are about a foot long, and based upon thi=
s you want to use a box on the outside of this very nice building to hide y=
our baluns and connectors. If it was me, I would get some 2'-3' power exten=
ders for the 12v or 24v lead from the camera; that should get you thru the =
wall into someplace more suitable for your final connectors. For the video =
lead, do the same thing by making or buying a video extender cable. Again, =
that gets you thru the wall. Of course, I am assuming that this takes you i=
nto some kind of ceiling or something. If not, you could still put a box in=
side a building...usually looks better than outside the front of a building=
. Now all you will need to do is to drill a hole about 3/4" to 1" thru the =
wall and pass the wires thru. The flange on a bullet camera should easily c=
over the hole that you drilled. Also, you should be able to find a spot tha=
t is smooth enough for the flange. Now all you will see on the outside is t=
he camera...much prettier. A video connector is just a hair under 5/8". I c=
an get the cables thru on a 3/4" hole by first taping the video connector t=
o the thin wire of the power lead. Basically, you are staggering your actua=
l connectors so that they are offset to each other, the power and video con=
nectors are never lined up together. Pretend that you have a shorter power =
lead from the camera than the video lead and I think you will get the pictu=
re. I usually find a "T" in the grout joint between bricks to drill thru mu=
ch softer cement than bricks. That is the place that the biggest hole can b=
e drilled much more easily. Bring some aspirin for your shoulder if you dri=
ll thru the brick without a hammer drill. I attempted to do that a while ag=
o. The hole had to be in a specific spot because of this particular buildin=
g. I gave up after 20 minutes of fruitless drilling 16' up in a ladder. Hom=
e Depoed it the next morning with the "Holenator", makes brick feel like Sw=
iss cheese instead. Hope this helps you.

Your suggestion "sounds" good but I have a problem with the fact that there=
 will be connectors ..... in the hole in the cement. Your suggestion would =
be great if the leads from the camera were two feet long so that the connec=
tons would be on the inside of the building. Also, I have no idea at this t=
ime as to how thick the wall really is. The building is concrete block on t=
he inside and textured brick on the outside. I'm guessing the the wall is p=
robably 8 to 10 inches thick .... but it could be more. I'll have to determ=
ine how thick it is before I make a decision how I'm going to do this. If t=
he outside textured brick is not too thick, I'm picturing making a "larger"=
 hole in the "hollow" part of the cement brick on the inside of the buildin=
g then drilling the wire hole the rest of the way through to the outside. T=
he connectors would be accessable, and able to be protected and the hole co=
uld be covered with a backless 6 x 6 electrical box and cover. Up high on t=
he inside of the building it would hardly be noticed. The ceilings are 20 f=
eet.=20

 The other problem I see is that the mounting flange of the camera is only =
about three and a half inches in diameter, so mounting it the way you sugge=
sted, directly to the brick would require being extremely lucky in finding =
four flat corners of the bricks that are all flat enough to mount the camer=
a. Then drilling at the very edges of the brick is very likely to crack the=
 corners of at least one and maybe all the bricks. If that happens then I'm=
 screwed. I still think I need some kind of a mounting surface/material for=
 the cameras.=20

What do you think!