Based of recommendations here I bought a bunch of Reolink POE cameras. I can power it via a 12V input or 48V POE. The 12V has a standard bullet connector used with most power supply bricks. The POE is via the Ethernet plug. My question is, can I run any voltage from 12V through to 56V (max for POE) into the bullet connector? And can I run any voltage for the POE, eg use a 24V POE injector. Or it is strictly 12V bullet connector, 48 to 56V Ethernet connector?
Reolink cameras what power supply voltage can I use
MikeKulls on 23/11/2020 - 21:53
Last edited 23/11/2020 - 21:54
Last edited 23/11/2020 - 21:54
Comments
Best to check the camera specifications
Just use whatever voltage you want. The camera manufacturer has no idea what they are doing, and has specified those voltages for no reason.
Wow, few sarcastic comments here, quite unnecessary. I'm not willing to ignore what the manufacture states, which is why I'm asking for clarification. I have checked the specs and it's not 100% clear. They just state 12V/48V. They don't specifically say 12V is the bullet only and 48V for POE only. Yes it is implied and that is the logical conclusion which is why I'm asking for clarification. It's entirely possible they both simply feed into the same circuit and the camera doesn't care whether it gets 48V from the bullet for example. Also they don't state the voltage range for 12V. Is it OK to run off a battery that might get to 14V while charging?
Just an update on this. I have found the cameras work fine running off a battery, so the voltage probably varies from 10V to 14V. I had a camera replaced under warranty but it was still partly working so I tried a higher voltage on the bullet connector. It would take 20V with no issue but definitely died when I wound it up to 30V. That doesn't really answer the question as to what the voltage limit is as I didn't run it for that long, but you definitely can't run the full POE voltage into the bullet without smoking something. Thinking back I can't even remember why I wanted to do this. I think maybe I just wanted to up the voltage to compensate for any losses over long cable runs. But my experience seems to indicate that isn't necessary.
POE uses special circuitry to negotiate its power requirements, and to step down the POE voltage to the level required by the device. The 12V input does not have this circuitry.
You seem to be willing to ignore what the camera manufacturer states as the required voltages. If you decide to connect other voltages to the camera, please take a video of your experiments and post the video here.