Surveillance Camera Power Supplies. Are all power supplies created equal?
Surveillance Camera Power Supplies are not created equal! Before ordering a surveillance camera power supply there are several things to consider:
1. Length of coax or cat5 runs to camera.
2. Will you be using LED cameras.
3. General ampage of your cameras.
These are 3 very important factors to consider when ordering a Surveillance Camera Power Supply. If you have long runs of wire you will need a high powered power supply. If you are using LED cameras then you will be consuming more power and will again need a higher ampage power supply. And always look at the ampage of your cameras, most non-LED cameras will be in the 250-500ma range, while LED cameras can range up to 1.5 Amps or higher.
What can happen if I don’t pick the correct ? You can “fry” your camera with too little power (the surveillance camera will work harder than it needs trying to draw power). You can also “fry” your power supply and in some cases, just “blow” fuse after fuse if you don’t have the correct sized Power Supply.
Ryan Temple is the Director of Operations for PCSurveillance.net. PCSurveillance has been serving integrators and manufacturing customized Surveillance Systems throughout the US since 2002. You can read more of Ryan’s articles at http://blog.pcsurveillance.net/ Ryan can be reached at ryan@pcsurveillance.net
