Outdoor security camera removal. Any hot wires?

fieldgrade

fieldgrade

waiting...
2A Bourbon Hound 2024
2A Bourbon Hound OG
Charter Life Member
Benefactor
Supporting Member
Multi-Factor Enabled
Joined
Dec 16, 2016
Messages
29,195
Location
Wake/Harnett
Rating - 100%
14   0   0
I had an office tenant move out and leave behind a fairly sophisticated, commercially installed security system. I thought my new tenant wanted it, but they installed something simple instead and now the office condo association says I have to take down the half dozen cameras that are mounted outside on the brick veneer because they didn't approve of them in the first place. Fine by me. They are fairly easily accessible a few rungs up my ladder.

My question is, how are they typically wired? Should I expect low voltage wiring that I can just cut off and shove in the hole and patch the hole? They look sorta like these. I guess I should have taken pics while I was there. I'd like to take them down early one morning before folks get in at that building and would prefer to not have to access their space yet if I can avoid it.

th

th
 
Last edited:
It is very likely that they're low voltage powered but it's not guaranteed. Outside they need a heater and a fan usually and this could go either way. It's quite common today to have POE ones. If you can, get the model number off of one and then see what the specs in it say. You can also take one down and put a voltmeter on the wires to check.
 
Last edited:
noway2 said:
It is very likely that they're low voltage powered but it's not guaranteed. Outside they need a heater and a fan usually and this could go either way. It's quite common today to have POE ones. If you can, get the model number off of one and then see what the specs in it say. You can also take one down and out put a voltmeter on the wires to check.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Tell me what POE is.

I also just realized I have the business card of the tech from the security company. I bet he can tell me, or I might just pay him to come take them down and save me the trouble.
 
POE is power over Ethernet. Some network switches can provide DC power over the wires for a short distance. If it's too far you can use an injector that plugs into a 120v outlet nearby with the network cable running through itvand then provides power to the device.

Yes, I would give the rep a call. Easy way to find out.

The cameras themselves may be worth some money.
 
I just emailed the tech.

I don't want to shock the crap out of myself like I did with the oven last month, since a laddder is involved, and possibly rain, the morning I planned to do this in a couple of days. :confused::eek:


And @Tailhunter is probably close by somewhere cheering me on.
 
Last edited:
Bailey Boat said:
"Office Condo Association"??? WTF?? Just what I need, another damned Yankee telling me what I can and can't do with MY property.
Click to expand...
I "inherited" the management of some oldish office condos for the family. Multiple different condo owner associations at different properties. That means I am beholden in some manner or form to the owner's associations, the property management firms they hire to manage exteriors and common areas, the tenants, then lastly our family.

Kill me now.
 
Last edited:
I've never seen any that had high voltage to them, and I've seen dozens of these installations.
I don't do this for a living, and the only reason I know some things about the wiring is that if the security/structured wiring company does a crappy job, I fail the inspection as it falls under the electrical permit even though I have nothing to do with these guys.

Sounds like noway knows more about them in detail. Maybe since our winters here aren't bad we don't need the heated versions that require high volt.

I can tell ya this though when unsure;
Don't be grounded,
Cut one wire at a time,
Don't use your favorite wire cutters.
:D
 
fieldgrade said:
I just emailed the tech.

I don't want to shock the crap out of myself like I did with the oven last month, since a laddder is involved, and possibly rain, the morning I planned to do this in a couple of days. :confused::eek:


And @Tailhunter is probably close by somewhere cheering me on.
Click to expand...
I have complete confidence in you.






:p
 
Coax or twisted pair (Cat 5) for signal and a 2-pair for power. If there is a heater then there is another cable. Shouldn't be too tough. There should be a head end somewhere that everything ran into. Monitor, DVR etc. I know a guy that does all that professionally if you want to spend money, but it should be easy. If you need a hand and it is close let me know.
 
IMG_0016.JPG Here's what I got. Snapped these pics earlier. There're these two, then two more like the one on the right. They are mounted about 9-10 feet in the air. If they are POE, wouldn't that still be just an ethernet cable to unplug?
 
Last edited:
The wires all run to a central point indoors, disconnect the wires at that point and they'll be no power to the cameras. Of course you could dismount the cameras and put a tester on the contacts to be sure.
 
JimB said:
The wires all run to a central point indoors, disconnect the wires at that point and they'll be no power to the cameras. Of course you could dismount the cameras and put a tester on the contacts to be sure.
Click to expand...
There's a new security system in the unit and I don't have the code yet and am trying to avoid having to get it to access the unit, and have to futz with both new and old systems if I can.

Hoping to hear from the tech.
 
fieldgrade said:
There's a new security system in the unit and I don't have the code yet and am trying to avoid having to get it to access the unit, and have to futz with both new and old systems if I can.

Hoping to hear from the tech.
Click to expand...
Makes sense.

BTW, if it's live at 120v I don't think you can just terminate it in the wall by code. You'll need to disconnect it back at the box and that'll be easiest if you have access to the outside wires to test them.
 
If just a ethernet cable goIng to them they would be poe. If coax it would be a older camera setup.
 
Its only been installed in the past 3-4 years.
 
I had a couple of the cameras like the one on the left. The contacts corroded on it. Mine ran low voltage through a separate power cable. It had two cables going to it a twist coax and then a power cable. The cameras will sell as long as they work.
 
Now that I think about the tangle of wires left inside by the former tenant, I'm pretty sure it's all ethernet. No coax.
 
Can you post the day before you take these down. I'd love to be the one to get the video. "Ya know just in case "
 
Hell, if the "office condo association" wants them down, let them take them down. Personally I'd leave them up, even if they aren't working, thieves looking to case the place might see them and go someplace else.
 
Dood, if you don't want 'em... I'll take 'em...n give ya somethin. Did they leave a DVR too? If it was a few years ago, I'd come take 'em all down and reprogram the security system for ya. I made my livin for 43 years in electronic security. I can't be gone from home now or i'd have been there already :( I'd do it up fine for ya, for nuthin...well maybe a Bud Lite n a hotdog
 
Last edited:
phideux said:
Hell, if the "office condo association" wants them down, let them take them down. Personally I'd leave them up, even if they aren't working, thieves looking to case the place might see them and go someplace else.
Click to expand...
We only "own" what's inside the four walls of each unit, which defines a "condo". The "association" owns the rest. My tenant didn't seek our approval (and thus the approval of the association) when the tenant had the cameras installed, and the association grudgingly allowed the cameras to remain till they moved out with an explicit agreement to remove them upon move-out of this tenant.

The association has said they will remove the cameras if I don't, and bill me, if I prefer. My preference is to not be at the mercy of whichever hack they hire to do it.

This is just the nature of the beast with condos and condo associations. The chair of the board of the association also happens to own an office in this particular building so he is intimately familiar with the situation. The cameras are only on this building, and on "my" side, and allowing one tenant or condo owner to do things that are not in lock step with the rest of the development sets a precedence that is problematic down the road for the management of the entire facility.

I appreciate the sentiment of telling them to shove it. I just want to discuss removing the cameras in this thread. :)
 
Last edited:
MuzzerFuzzer said:
Dood, if you don't want 'em... I'll take 'em...n give ya somethin. Did they leave a DVR too? If it was a few years ago, I'd come take 'em all down and reprogram the security system for ya. I made my livin for 43 years in electronic security. I can't be gone from home now or i'd have been there already :( I'd do it up fine for ya, for nuthin...well maybe a Bud Lite n a hotdog
Click to expand...
Muzz, I indeed appreciate it sir. Everything but the panels inside, the wiring, and the cameras is gone.
 
Last edited:
Okie Doke... Just thinkin...I'm havin this cleanup thing. What am I gunna do with that stuff anyway? It would go on the beginning of a new pile of "project ideas"...lol
 
So I got on the ladder this morning and took those cameras down. They just had ethernet connections. I looked up while taking the first one down to see a wasp eyeballing me from two feet away on his/her/its nest. Fortunately it was too early for him/her/it to get with the program before I did, and squash it.

And did I mention, I hate working in big old azalea bushes.
 
Last edited:
Jp8819 said:
Look on bright side It could be a holly bushes
Click to expand...
Holly bushes just annoy me. Brittle old azalea limbs break and stab me.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom