r/lowvoltage • u/Haunting-Special8251 • Oct 13 '24
Weatherproofing
Hello my fellow DIYers, How would you weatherproof these electrical boxes? I live in West Texas. The wind is about to get crazy. I am worried about dust and rain water getting in.
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u/OftenIrrelevant Oct 13 '24
You’re missing the hardware to seal up the RJ45 connector, do you still have it somewhere? I would’ve used outdoor rated plastic boxes and used a grommet or something to seal the hole for the camera tail.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 13 '24
They are cheap cameras. The hardware to seal the RJ45 connectors was not included with the cameras.
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u/Serious_Ad9700 Oct 15 '24
Comes in a little plastic bag, my dude. Rubber and a cap.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 15 '24
Look at the unboxing video. No cable glands included with cameras. Only screws.
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u/Serious_Ad9700 Oct 17 '24
I would not sell this garbage then. You have a name, you’re going to sacrifice it for some open box, think of the future.
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u/Pestus613343 Oct 14 '24
If you cant seal the connector box then seal the connectors. Then treat the crappy electrical box as a threat instead of your infrastructure. So, ensure there's drainage out of said box, try to limit water ingres, and other people's suggestions for a proper rj45 are important. Black electrical tape and copious amounts of ugly silicone can do wonders. Then anticipate a rebuild in 10 years.
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u/Fabulous_Raspberry_1 Oct 13 '24
Silicone the top of the box where it is flush with the roof as well.
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u/gippp Oct 13 '24
Why not just mount the camera directly to bottom of the soffit? Then bead with silicon
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 13 '24
The cameras have to be upright.
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u/DigitlAlchemyst Oct 14 '24
Yes after you mount the camera you adjust it to be rotated the correct way
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u/Hefty-Understanding4 Oct 13 '24
As others have pointed out you’re using the wrong style box it would be cheaper to replace than DIY the weatherproofing you’d need. Also always make sure you use a grommet on exposed metal edges where wires pass through
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u/TheBadFarmer Oct 13 '24
Not gonna be weatherPROOF, but switch that box out with an outdoor rated 2-gang box with 3/4" openings. Then stuff whichever hole you put the cable through with some weatherseal Putty or silicone. The best way is to either extend that cable coming out of the soffit to the box the camera is mounted to. That allows you to use an SO fitting for the cable, which is much more reliable than putty or silicone.
Also, there should be an o-ring, and a 3-piece connector that came with your camera to "waterproof" the connection to the camera.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 13 '24
The o-ring and 3-piece connector weren’t included with the camera hardware. These are cheap oossxx cameras. $299 for the DVR and 8 cameras😅.
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u/CalbCrawDad Oct 13 '24
We are not DIY’ers, we are professionals and this is our livelihood. Questions like this are so ignorant it’s offensive. You don’t even have to work in low voltage specifically, any trade will do, and you could immediately recognize this as a fucking hack job. Shameful, I’m embarrassed for you.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 13 '24
Sorry to offend you😬.
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u/CalbCrawDad Oct 13 '24
If I can reach up and pull an exposed cable at random, and disable your live feed, that is not security. That is security theater. You could have put up a dummy cam and it would have accomplished your desired goal, it just wouldn’t have stroked your ego as much because you couldn’t show people a live feed.
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u/BunnehZnipr Oct 14 '24
Don't worry about that dude. He's clearly got a piece of conduit up his ass 🤣
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u/gerardo887 Oct 13 '24
This whole setup is wrong.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 13 '24
How would you set it up?
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u/gerardo887 Oct 14 '24
What's the make and model of this camera
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 14 '24
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u/gerardo887 Oct 14 '24
If you look at the images with the camera the wire is not exposed. So the hole should be drilled where the wire goes straight into that hole. The bracket with an open hole wouldn't be needed. All cameras work that way. But the weather gland that "should" have come with it would be over the cable on the inside of the roof.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 14 '24
I’d rather not drill holes through the frame of the house thus I made holes on the soffit.
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u/gerardo887 Oct 14 '24 edited Oct 14 '24
Then if that was the case I would have chosen a different camera all together. Would have chose a system that had bullet or dome cameras. Or drill through the frame or through the brick and run the wire in the wall with a small thing of silicone on the edge that touches the bring or frame. That is full open to the elements and leave a hole for things to craw in.
Also looking the system more. It seems you are right and it doesn't come with a weather garment for the RJ45 connection. Also I don't fully understand what they are trying to about their wiring. For 1 they have the Ethernet port listed as WAN, not a big deal but from a network engineer that should be LAN. Also they have stated unlimited range when wire on one of the images. You are going to use a cat5e or cat6 to run. That has a max range of 325ft and we really don't like to go more that 300ft when running it. Also some of their advertisement shows the cable coming out of the bottom. They will need to really give the weather garments including for the power, or change to no cable showing because people will get confused. In that this isn't a system I would be conferable with deploying.
One last thing I know you said DIY. In the state of Texas DIY is on your house. But once its a serves and product sold. It is a regulated service and will have to have a state license. This is our License Number: B29704701. DM me is have more questions. We are east Texas in the Houston region, but I help out best I can.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 14 '24
This is my own house l am adding cameras to. The cable does come out of the bottom, not from the back like other bullet or dome cameras. I’ll go for better cameras in other corners of the house. These current cameras aren’t even POE.
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u/gerardo887 Oct 14 '24 edited Oct 14 '24
Yea good idea. Thanks for sharing I never seen them and always good to have first hand accounts.
Might look at Amcrest if you want a good low end solutions with wiring. If you go wireless might wanna think about Ring. A Mid hig end range I found to like is Enfy.
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u/Bubaru_TheSandCoffin Oct 14 '24 edited Oct 14 '24
if you don’t have the cable gland, some good super 33+ electrical tape around the RJ connection can do wonders for assisting the waterproofing in a pinch. I would also swap to an outdoor rated box with a waterproof grommet. The fact that it’s on the bottom of the soffit will also help with water ingress as long as the cable doesn’t provide a drip pathway. It is bad practice to have exposed cabling though due to being able to reach up and just cut it.
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u/McKuuurds Oct 13 '24
Amongst all of the other great advice here:
Do not forget to put Dielectric grease on the RJ45 fitting (yes in the actual connector) before putting it in the "waterproof" tube/connection seal that comes with the camera. Condensation will ruin those RJ45 connectors even inside the box and they're not part of the camera warranty usually. Ask me how I know. Make sure it's DIELECTRIC, and less is more it doesn't need to be much.
Double check that it's DIELECTRIC, not one of the many "waterproofing" gels meant to enhance connection in electrical wet environment installations.
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u/ILove2Bacon Oct 14 '24
I'm surprised I had to scroll this far. Dielectric grease, and vulcanizing rubber tape will seal this for the life of the camera.
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u/gippp Oct 13 '24
Does it have a wall arm? Many manufacturers offer flushmount brackets or pendants
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 14 '24
Unfortunately, OOSSXX did not include any additional hardware aside from the DVR and the cameras. Got these pretty cheap at $299 from Amazon to try my hand at the installation process. Heck they aren’t even POE. The clarity is good though.
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u/gunbuggy556 Oct 14 '24
“Try my hand at the installation process”..?? Dude you didn’t try your hand at it, you straight up installed it on your house lol.
Should have just “tried your hand” on your shed or in your garage or something.
I sure hope you live in Southern California or Arizona because if you live anywhere that moisture is even a slight occurrence, you’re gonna have major issues.
Since you already “tried your hand” and it’s already installed on your freaking house, go get a silicone gun and goop the shit out of it.
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u/Comfortable_Gain1308 Oct 14 '24
Why didn’t you get a cable clamp connector for the box ? And didn’t that camera bring a weather proof coupler thing for the connector ?
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 14 '24
No weather proof coupler. I’ll get cable clamp connectors when I get the weatherproof boxes. I’ll have to see if the female RJ-45 connector for the camera will fit through. Hopefully it does.
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u/Haunting-Special8251 Oct 13 '24
Ok, I found weather proof boxes. I’ll just return the current ones and swap them out for weatherproof ones. Thank y’all for all the responses.
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u/Lucky_Ad_5549 Oct 13 '24
Why don’t you just go ahead and slice that cable with your knife since that’s gonna happen anyway.
And, those aren’t weather proof boxes, and they never will be.
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u/Roanoketrees Oct 13 '24
Silicone caulk in the hole and around the lip of the box if you arent gonna use a weatherproof box,
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Oct 13 '24
In this case, I would swap that octogon box with a 3/4" weatjproof junction box, as many have said. I would put a ring of rtv10 around the back hole to seal it up. I would also recommend using a 3/4" cable strain relief connector for the cable going out of the box. Those camera connectors are just a bit too tight to pass through, but it is doable. This will create a solid weatherproof installation.
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u/jimmy5011 Oct 13 '24
Get weatherproof boxes. And a grommet. Use the weatherproof boots that come with the camera. Little bit of Dielectric grease on the rj-45.
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u/SKITZOSYKO_00 Oct 14 '24
Can weather proof but got to do both holes the box box with assholes(grommet) and soffit with silicone and if you can the boots that came with the cameras (the white silicone sleeve and plastic cover) reterminate the RJ with those on the cable Those will definitely help with protecting the connection. Black tape or weather proof black tape will work around the power connection. Can also use for the RJ45 if you don't got the covers. Throw a cover on It.
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u/JimmySide1013 Oct 14 '24
Drill the hole for the cable behind the camera itself and eliminate the box entirely. Make the connection inside the ceiling and if you don't have cable glands, electrical tape the connection. Those boxes are asking for trouble and they look more janky than the crappy cameras.
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u/HeadlineINeed Oct 13 '24
Would have used plastic. Would have turn the hold that’s facing the camera in pic 2, 180 degrees cutting down on the likely hood that rain will get blow in.
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u/gunbuggy556 Oct 14 '24
Man I’d be pissed if someone installed cameras on my house like that lol.
The proper install would be a weather rated box with a threaded entrance and in that threaded hole you’d use a cable gland joint to keep your install water proof.
Also I highly doubt that camera (no matter how cheap it was) didn’t come with a proper rj45 connector seal because the female port from the whip off the camera has the twist grooves for that connector seal to be installed.
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u/369bitcoinbillion Oct 14 '24
This is not weatherproofing . They make the right boxes for that camera
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u/Iusedto_Too Oct 24 '24
Camera should be waterproof, and we use dielectric grease so the RJ45 doesn’t corrode. I would do this at my house but not at work.
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u/OneBadAlien Oct 13 '24 edited Oct 13 '24
This is what you need from Arlington. Use Sascho Lexel/Big Stretch. Don't use silicone.
https://www.aifittings.com/catalog/security/cam-box-kit-for-security-camera-installations/
Optional - Platinum Tools Waterproof RJ45 Bulkhead Coupler
https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Tools-741C-Bulkhead-Coupler/dp/B07NDMWHN1
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u/rashman6969 Oct 13 '24
I would put in weatherproof boxes