Looking for info on wiring a cat 5 wire for a video camera.
I have a Night Hawk Passive Video Balun but I'm unsure on the wire color order for the wire plugs, I've found a couple different diagrams.
Thank you for any help
Help wiring cat5 to Video Balun
Help wiring cat5 to Video Balun
Last edited by jscott83 on Mar 16th, 2020, 5:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Video Balun
Are you trying to wire up a 'regular' analog video camera or a high-definition one? I googled Nighthawk but couldn't find anything.
Most passive video baluns use two wires and send analog video over hundreds of feet of cable.
Some of the newer baluns for high-def cameras might use more than two wires, i dunno. I don't do it that way.
With the limited visibility you will experience even in really clear water, caused by the water absorbing all the red part of the spectrum, and all the particulate matter floating in front of the camera, and light pollution/ backscatter from your led lights reflecting back into the camera lens from all that fine floating crud, you won't really get any better video from a high-def camera than you would from a cheap analog one. I use alot of these...
https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-1000TV ... rehouse=CN
And for the main camera looking forward w/ pan-tilt-zoom, i use a Panasonic SDR T55 camcorder. I bought it used off eBay for $40. It sold for $300 new. Looking recently i see SDR T50's available, they have the same 78-power optical zoom. That allows me to zoom in as close as i like. It puts out a regular composite video signal.
To get the video to the surface i use a cheap 8-camera security-system DVR onboard my ROV. This allows me to have 8 camera feeds multiplexed through the DVR, connected to the same wired ethernet switch my Raspberry Pi is, then to a (used, eBay) DSL router, that communicates with the surface DSL router/computer over a two-wire tether. 8 camera feeds plus full control over my ROV via just two wires. 14 awg speaker wire.
If you want to take 12MP photos that you can review later, just mount a Firefly Q6 camera coaxially with the camcorder. It's tiny and about $58.
All of these components are powered by onboard batteries. My ROV is the size of a large ice chest. As i posted in another thread just this morning, i find that small ROV's get moved around/ jerked by the tether and you end up with poor video. The bigger/ heavier it is the more stable it is. I have a truck, but even so, someone with a Toyota Corolla could pull a small cheap Harbor Freight trailer.
Most passive video baluns use two wires and send analog video over hundreds of feet of cable.
Some of the newer baluns for high-def cameras might use more than two wires, i dunno. I don't do it that way.
With the limited visibility you will experience even in really clear water, caused by the water absorbing all the red part of the spectrum, and all the particulate matter floating in front of the camera, and light pollution/ backscatter from your led lights reflecting back into the camera lens from all that fine floating crud, you won't really get any better video from a high-def camera than you would from a cheap analog one. I use alot of these...
https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-1000TV ... rehouse=CN
And for the main camera looking forward w/ pan-tilt-zoom, i use a Panasonic SDR T55 camcorder. I bought it used off eBay for $40. It sold for $300 new. Looking recently i see SDR T50's available, they have the same 78-power optical zoom. That allows me to zoom in as close as i like. It puts out a regular composite video signal.
To get the video to the surface i use a cheap 8-camera security-system DVR onboard my ROV. This allows me to have 8 camera feeds multiplexed through the DVR, connected to the same wired ethernet switch my Raspberry Pi is, then to a (used, eBay) DSL router, that communicates with the surface DSL router/computer over a two-wire tether. 8 camera feeds plus full control over my ROV via just two wires. 14 awg speaker wire.
If you want to take 12MP photos that you can review later, just mount a Firefly Q6 camera coaxially with the camcorder. It's tiny and about $58.
All of these components are powered by onboard batteries. My ROV is the size of a large ice chest. As i posted in another thread just this morning, i find that small ROV's get moved around/ jerked by the tether and you end up with poor video. The bigger/ heavier it is the more stable it is. I have a truck, but even so, someone with a Toyota Corolla could pull a small cheap Harbor Freight trailer.
Re: Video Balun
Ok still trying to get the camera to power over the cat5 wire. The store bought short cable I have will carry video but no power. The long one I put ends on will carry no picture or power. I'm sure it's how I have the wires in the connectors.
Help please and thank you
Help please and thank you
Re: Help wiring cat5 to Video Balun
I dunno if you are building an ROV or a drop camera, but it's been said before, trying to power stuff by running power down the tether is fairly complicated. The thin wire in Cat5 will drop your voltage over a long run. It's just simpler to put a sealed-lead-acid battery or a LiPo in the WTC (water tight container).
As for video baluns, you have three wires coming out of a tiny board camera, or maybe separate power and video cables (which contain red +, black -, black - video, and yellow + video). With the three wires, red goes to 12V battery +, black is both battery negative and video negative, and yellow is video core. The video balun has two connections. Run yellow to one, black to the other. Connect the video balun to any of the twisted pairs in the Cat5 cable. Connect the other, topside video balun to the wires with the same color. Then run video into your LCD composite video port (Yellow RCA jack). Power the topside LCD with another 12V battery.
https://www.cctv42.co.uk/media/cache/cb ... 9ce64.jpeg
Here's a different balun that has more connections. See how they've twisted 1-2-3, and 4-5-6 of the 8 wires together? They are transmitting power over the bunched-together wires, using three for + power, and three for - power. The last two are used for video. This should power a tiny board camera, but forget running thrusters or LED's for illumination, you just can't transmit enough power down the tether. https://www.banggood.com/Caddx-Ratel-11 ... rehouse=CN
As for video baluns, you have three wires coming out of a tiny board camera, or maybe separate power and video cables (which contain red +, black -, black - video, and yellow + video). With the three wires, red goes to 12V battery +, black is both battery negative and video negative, and yellow is video core. The video balun has two connections. Run yellow to one, black to the other. Connect the video balun to any of the twisted pairs in the Cat5 cable. Connect the other, topside video balun to the wires with the same color. Then run video into your LCD composite video port (Yellow RCA jack). Power the topside LCD with another 12V battery.
https://www.cctv42.co.uk/media/cache/cb ... 9ce64.jpeg
Here's a different balun that has more connections. See how they've twisted 1-2-3, and 4-5-6 of the 8 wires together? They are transmitting power over the bunched-together wires, using three for + power, and three for - power. The last two are used for video. This should power a tiny board camera, but forget running thrusters or LED's for illumination, you just can't transmit enough power down the tether. https://www.banggood.com/Caddx-Ratel-11 ... rehouse=CN
Re: Help wiring cat5 to Video Balun
Have no plans to power anything but the camera over the cat5.
This is the video balun I have. I did order the style you pictured to try it.
This is the video balun I have. I did order the style you pictured to try it.
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