Transformer / PSU / Power supply for IP CCTV cameras

D

David Hunter

n3wb
Oct 27, 2018
15
3
Glasgow Scotland
Hi all,

Just came back from holidays and found my power had gone off in 1 section of the house. Checked circuit breaker power back on, everything ok but my garden camera didnt start. Crawled into the attic space and found the 240V 2amp small plug type transformer had exploded, the PSB had scorch marks all over it and I think it was a capacitor exploding that took the back off the plug! Very close to a fire I would imagine.

The transformers I have are all made in china but do have kite mark, british standards etc. etc. all stamped on them but I am now concerned this could happen again.

Has anyone in the UK got a good supplier of CCTV 3 pin transformers that I know 100% I can trust they are not something that will go bang?

Thanks for any help in this.

David
 
If it made it to 75 degrees F yesterday outside in your area, it was likely close to 100 degrees F or more in your attic.

Most electronics, unless made for an industrial environment and/or military specs cannot survive at those hi temps, especially the batteries and caps found in consumer-grade devices.

Personally, I would not subject such devices to attic duty; if the cam can run off of 802.3af POE then run a CAT-5e cable with a CMR jacket to it and use a POE injector or POE switch placed NOT in the attic.

If it won't run POE, then use a passive splitter and injector kit on each end as appropriate and run the 5VDC or 12VDC the cam needs over that CAT-5e cable and plug that poor old wall wart down in the house where you'd feel comfortable watching TV.

cam-mount-5_sm.jpg
 
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I’d like to add on to TonyR’s excellent feedback of the following. Almost every where in the free world has safety & building standards that indicate what the rules, laws, codes are.

In large part this is to insure a basic level of building practices, minimum standards to ensure a predictable outcome based on the environment.

Anytime electrical wiring is run depending upon where in the building envelope. The wire either must be allowed to be installed free air (not enclosed) and secured or enclosed in some kind of sheathing / conduit. Almost all light fixtures must be enclosed within a fixture box especially any incandescent loads.

Anytime wiring is spliced the wiring must be enclosed in a junction box and fully accessible from within the building (living space) envelope!

Having stated all of the above if you intend to install another PSU in the attic. It be hooves you to place the same in a properly fire rated enclosure. That can be as simple as a standard JB box of sufficient size and depth or any of the millions of IP rated boxes to hold the same.

The vast majority of PSU’s have a plastic body. Even those can see tremendous gains by placing the same on a metal plate to help spread and dissipate the heat.

At the end of the day all of the suggestions by TonyR are the only solutions I would use or recommend. Every year in North America there are hundreds of attic house fires. The root cause for some are unapproved electronics / electrical in a unconditioned space!

Please consider taking some extra steps to avoid future problems as it pertains to the use and deployment of the PSU!

Cheers!
 
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Hi Teken,

Thanks for the info they are the completely sealed type plug in transformers looking like this that you plug into any electrical socket and I would guess similar in type to the standard charger for phones etc. although they are running 24/7. I have been looking into some way of shielding them like you say or placing them on a sheet of metal etc. Another worry is enclosing them too much may actually retain heat but checked the other 3 and they are all completely cold to touch.

I think I will do a bit of enclosure research thats for sure but it has now also got me thinking about the power supplies that I have for DAB radios, PVR, laptops etc. etc.

Thanks for the info

David
 
Yes could be an option will need to give all of this a good consideration. Again a switch like that will have a power supply etc.
I think the moral of the story may be to make 100% sure that the power supplies are of good quality. The more I look at this supply I can see poor'ish quality soldering etc etc and now call into question the quality standard markings etc. Anyway it's in the bin now.
 
David Hunter said:
Yes could be an option will need to give all of this a good consideration. Again a switch like that will have a power supply etc.
I think the moral of the story may be to make 100% sure that the power supplies are of good quality. The more I look at this supply I can see poor'ish quality soldering etc etc and now call into question the quality standard markings etc. Anyway it's in the bin now.
Click to expand...

Agree which is why purchasing a name brand PSU from a reputable company is important when health & safety is of the greatest concern. It’s not lost on me or anyone else the vast majority of people select X vs Y based on price.

This is made worse when the market offers millions of selections well below any other name brand PSU!

Hence why it’s much easier to select a consumer POE switch from a major (Name Brand) vendor like D-Link, Netgear, TrendNet.

Even moving up to prosumer / enterprise hardware such as Aruba, Ubiquiti, Brocade, Cisco, Dell, HP, et all.

Very few are made of money so we all try hard to balance the value vs performance. But given all of the name brands offer proven hardware at all price points there’s really no reason the same can’t be purchased and deployed.

Especially when these are critical devices running important things as security cameras.

Cheers from Canada
 
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