Question 1

Bit confused, it sounds like you don't need the POE injector if you connect to POE switch or did I read this wrong? The picture shows a split cable on the camera fixture and yet some say you can power the camera with out the injector just connect to switch with POE capability? Does it need a separate POE injector next to the camera or is the POE switch via the Ethernet cable all you need to power camera?

Accepted Answer

This camera supports both POE or powering via a power adapter using the split cable that you referenced.

A POE injector allows you to power the camera via the same network cable being used to connect the camera to the network.

My question was tied to the fact that there are different POE options provided by different switches.  For example there is active POE, and passive POE, and then you have different POE voltages that are supported.  This camera is designed to operate in the 12V range where some switches such as mine operate only in the 24V-48V range which would burn out the camera.

The safest option is to use the injector designed for the camera, if you don't have technical knowledge and specs associated to the equipment.  My question came up, because no where in the documentation for this camera does it specifically spell out the voltage range that this camera can handle.  I do know the injector is 12V, so I assumed it could not handle a digital switch providing 24V.

Of course you can also power this camera using a corded 12 volt power adapter similar to what one can do with other security cameras; however that means you are running two cables to the camera.

Hopefully this helps clarify.

Question 2

What kind of cable is used?

Accepted Answer

I used a standard cat5e cable, approximately 55 ft. I have the camera powered from the cat5e cable connected to a TP-LINK TL-SF1008P PoE router. With PoE (Power over Ethernet), I only needed to run one cat5e cable to this camera, no other wiring is needed.

The camera can also be powered from 12vdc jack, if you use a standard router.

Question 3

Can anyone tell me about remote access viewing on this camera? I have several Piper cameras which are great, but need power cord and I prefer to run ethernet with POE. Also, Piper doesn't have an outdoor camera yet, so I am looking for reasonably priced POE camera with night vision, that I can view remotely with my IoS device. Will this camera fit the bill?

Accepted Answer

Yes, these are 802.3af complian and don't need a power cord. (I'm using them with a standard PoE switch now.)

yes, mine are mounted outdoor and work fine. Make sure to mount them where you can clean them. The glass does get dirty and around here we have 'spider season' when the camera require having the webs removed.

I'm running 4 of them with ZoneMinder -- but the cameras are also fully independent and can be viewed with most browsers.

As for Apple apps, I can't answer as I use Android devices -- and these cameras have an Android app for remote viewing on a phone/tablet from TrendNet and others.

It's a good camera. I've been very happy with them.

Question 4

Is there a particular software for recording that works well with these?
I assume there is something that comes with them, but specifically I'd like to record video to a local Win7 or Server2008/2012 VM.  Ideally, I'd like to set an expiration/overwrite policy of 30 days.  If an included software won't do this, I am open to suggestions of 3rd party providers.

*I don't plan to use more than 6 cameras.
*I work as a network engineer (switch/routing and some VM administration), but don't regularly work on the application side.

Accepted Answer

The best way to use these cameras is to have them write directly to NAS. A 30 day policy can be configured in the camera. The included software is then used to view the live camera feed, even while it is recording to NAS. The software also records, but we disabele/limit it because the recordings are already on the NAS. This configuration does not require the software or your server/VM to be up, logged in with the software runnung, in order to record. The software does not record in the background as a system service; only as a foreground app on a logged in user profile. Having the cameras record directly to NAS avoids this issue.

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