Why no power to camera?

scarletjim

I bought a 'power over ethernet' security camera kit, where the recording box supplies power to the cameras via an ethernet cable, as a cost effective low-cabling solution. Set up like that, it works fine. However I want one of those cameras on my garage, far from the recording box (NVR), so I thought I'd try my Powerline adaptor to give the LAN connection, and use a POE injector to provide the power. But when I plug it all in, the POE injector LED just stays orange, indicating that it has power itself, but is not sending it to the camera. Why would this be?

So the set up is:

- Router > Powerlink Adaptor 1
- Powerlink adaptor 2 providing WiFi and LAN to other devices (works fine, as it works for various devides)
- LAN cable from Powerlink Adaptor 2 to POE Injector
- Mains power to POE Injector
- Finally, LAN cable from POE injector to POE camera

The various components are as follows:

Camera kit:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ANNKE-720P-Video-Security-System/dp/B00NZWJ448
Powerlink adaptor:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Configuration-Smartphone/dp/B00DHB2T44/ref=sr_1_sc_3?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1458291274&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=tp+powerlink+wifi
POE Injector:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-PoE150S-Injector-Adapter-Compliant/dp/B001PS9E5I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458291315&sr=8-1&keywords=tp+link+poe+injector

It is this last bit of kit that is causing me the problems - any bright ideas?

Many thanks in advance (as I know this is fairly technical).

System

Your powerline adapters are not capable of carrying POE.

You need powerline adapters that can do POE such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/Solwise-HomePlug-Ethernet-Adapter-802-3af/dp/B00B27HSH8/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1458291873&sr=1-3&keywords=powerline+poe

scarletjim

But surely my Powerline adaptors aren't being asked to carry POE? Unless I'm misunderstanding, my Powerline adaptors are not involved in the power supply - I'm just using them to supply data into the POE injector. It is then taking its power from the mains, and should be feeding both to the camera. Am I misunderstanding somehow?

phoenix_w

Wrong POE mode (switch on camera, injector or both for Mode A & B engaged (in)correctly, or your injector doesn't support the POE mode required by camera) or you're using a cheap 100mbps only ethernet cable with only 4 wires instead of all 8 connected (look at the rj45 - should be obvious if this is the case).

Disclaimer: Never touched POE gear ever.

System

scarletjim wrote: »

But surely my Powerline adaptors aren't being asked to carry POE? Unless I'm misunderstanding, my Powerline adaptors are not involved in the power supply - I'm just using them to supply data into the POE injector. It is then taking its power from the mains, and should be feeding both to the camera. Am I misunderstanding somehow?

Yep, missed the fact that POE was injected after the powerline adapters. I assumed before

fezster

It could be the cameras have a higher power requirement than those injectors can supply (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet). Or it could be the cameras use non-standard PoE.

I tried to find details on the cameras in that kit, but wasnt able to find anything useful. Maybe contact the seller and find out which (if any) PoE injectors are compatible?

scarletjim

It's definitely not the cable, as that cable provides POE from the recording box to the camera, and there are no switches on camera or injector for 'modes'. I guess that points towards the cameras using non-POE as the most likely cause. (I doubt it's the power requirement being too high, as many people on Amazon have used these injectors for other cameras, and I can't imagine the power requirement being much different for them). Thanks all (I will report back when I get a response in case anyone is interested).

scarletjim

To be fair, the company replied to my email within an hour. Not good news though (well, not even news that I understand!):

"As this is a POE camera, if you connect it to another POE NVR or POE switch it may not match, since the voltage and order of 8 lines in cable may be different".

I don't understand this- the voltage should be fine, as the POE injector says that it gives the appropriate level, one of which is 12V, which is what the camera takes. And as for the cable, well I'm still using the cable that came with the camera, I'm not using a different one. Does this make sense to anyone else?

System

So it sounds more like they are saying that their kit does not actually meet the 802.3af standard for POE. The injector claims it does.

In other words their kit is wrong not the rest.

I suppose their only getout is that the kit is actually 802.3at which is known as POE plus because it is capable of higher power. However this is not yet a ratified standard.

fezster

As I said in my post. This is not uncommon, especially in "cheaper" kit.