Just wanted to power up a POE outdoor camera at the far corner of the house, the simplest way.

[derekc]

Just wanted to power up a POE outdoor camera at the far corner of the house, the simplest way.
I have tried Powerline and WIFI (2.4ghz or 5ghz) from inside the house.
I have a 110V AC outlet at where I want my camera installed. It is indoor.
The most elegant way is a 3"x4" device of some kind, plugged into the 110V outlet, and an ethernet cable runs from that device to the POE camera.
That 3"x4" can be a powerline adapter, or a wifi device acting as a client bridge (rare find!!!).
And it has to be POE powering the camera, NOT being powered by a POE switch.

How is this not a simple setup? I have been watching and waiting for years. So far, there is not such device.
It is hard enough to find a nano or travel or mini router that can act as client bridge, let alone being able to plug into a 110V wall outet. Most of them are powered by 5V USB which means more wiring and a USB adapter. None of them can power a POE camera. So far I use TP-Link TP-WR700N which is not POE so I have to use a 12V ac adapter to power the camera.
For the powerline adapter (a pair to work), the only one that I found has POE (to power my POE camera, not to be powered by a POE switch) is TPL-331EP2K. It is using older 200 AV standard and it only works when both adapters are on the SAME circuit and very close together. I could not get them to talk at where I want them installed. The fact that I have enphase envoy gateway (for my solar system) using also powerline techmology does not help as it might be interfering other powerline on the circuits(?)

Let's not confuse POE and POE injection. I don't need POE injection. I am trying to eliminate the 12V adapter here.

A lot of people want to install cameras around their house. How do you do it without running long ethernet cable to your router/switch, power cord extension, or use up all your 110V wall outlets with multiple adapters?

 

[Trip]

First off, stay away from powerline altogether; it's too flaky to be relied upon for something as critical as a security cam (or really anything else for that matter).

The optimal choice here would be some form of direct cable run to your router/switch, preferably with PoE, for power and data over one cable. If you don't have any in-wall ethernet, do you have any in-wall coaxial cable, with drops that are somewhat close to your router and camera? If so, you could use an unmanaged PoE switch wired into your router and a pair of PoE over coax adapters to carry power and data to the camera. If you're unable to run any interior cable, how about an outdoor burial rated/armored patch cable (example), exiting the house just outside of the router location, going along the base of the house, then up to where the camera is?

If wiring absolutely isn't an option, then wireless would be your fallback, either via point to point bridge with PoE pass-through, or via a client bridge with PoE pass-through. Seems like a Mikrotik mAP would be a perfect solution presuming wireless signal is strong enough near the camera location to carry a fast enough link for your camera's video stream quality. It will also take 802.3af/at PoE in and pass it through direct to the camera... exactly what you're looking for, right?

So there are a few options I would appear, unless I'm missing something?

 

[derekc]

Access Point is not Client Bridge but let me read up what this mAP is...
It would be nice if I can load DD-WRT on a small router that has POE (to power the camera.)
I am trying to avoid wiring. The camera will be on the wall outdoor 2nd floor which the closest ethernet drop would be on the 1st floor and wiring going thru floor is a challenge (to me). It is not fun and too much destruction to the house.

 

[thiggins]

PoE requires a cable. Whatever powers PoE requires a cable. Unless you can rig up something to provide wireless power, you're going to need a cable.

 

[derekc]

Of course POE requires a cable. I know what POE is.
Imagine you have a device (camera or cisco phone) that can be powered up by POE and you want to use it anywhere in the house (or office) that your wifi (AC or N) can reach. Wouldn't it be an elegant solution if you have a tiny 3"x4" client bridge (not Access point, not router but a router that can act as client bridge) that can power the device via the POE ethernet cable. Plug that client bridge to the wall and run the ethernet cable at the length you want to the device. Simple.

 

[derekc]

 

[StealthLion]

Wifi IP camera?

 

[derekc]

I already have a few non-WIFI POE cameras..... and from what I have learned, WIFI on cameras never work well - unstable signal, short range, buggy. Hard to find cameras that can do zoom and focus, ONVIF, 4mp or more, etc... then WIFI.
I have settled with comtrend powerline. The "upstream" one is Comtrend PG-9172. The "downstream" is Comtrend PG-9172PoE. It was hard to find a wall outlet for the upstream (that still allows ethernet connection to my router) while allowing the downstream to see the signal... but it is done for now.

 

[coxhaus]

What camera are you using? I have an outside plug right by my main breaker box.

 

[derekc]

Too many.