I have a set of four Zmodo PoE cameras that have stopped working, due to a dead hub that is no longer available. The cameras use the same micro-usb connector that my Wyze cams do. Since the existing wires are already there and a PITA to run, I was wondering if it is possible to use the wires, connected to a universal PoE 4-port hub, to power the cameras? I just want it for power, not to try to run the video feed. Is this possible, and if so, what affordable hub would you recommend?
As long as it puts out 5 volt DC using standard USB pinouts, it should be fine. In fact people in here have used PoE to USB converters to overcome distance limitations of USB power.
Most of the cams require 1000mA (5 watt), the Pan cam requires 2000mA (10 watt). Both well within the limits of standard PoE, but confirm your setup is supplying that via the USB adapters.
I believe @carverofchoice has mentioned a couple adapters in other threads, you can search for PoE and his name to find those.
But to clarify, what exactly is dead, was it the ethernet switch providing POE, or some sort of USB converter to change the PoE over to USB? You’ll still need something to inject the POE over ethernet wiring and something to then convert it to USB power.
Typically you’ll be looking at something like this
POE Injector or POE enabled ethernet swithch → CATx ethernet cable → PoE to USB converter (single or multi port depending on the capability of your PoE injector) → USB devices like the cams.
If you don’t have a dedicated ethernet run for each cam and want multiple USB power ports, then you’ll probably need POE+ or POE++ to feed that, since regular POE is limited to 15 watts. Might be enough to do 2 or 3 standard 5 watt cameras with a single regular POE feed.
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Not sure if I’m using the correct terminology, but my existing setup has the four cameras connected to a satellite hub, which provides the power to the cameras and combines the feeds to a single Cat5 line to the NVR. That satellite hub is the component that has died, apparently from a bad internal power regulator, and is no longer available from Zmodo for replacement. I figured I’d just forego the use of the NVR for those cameras and use their lines to power replacement Wyze cams off a universal PoE 4-port hub.
I’ve found a few on Amazon that list their total wattage, but none list the individual voltage or wattage of each line. Not sure if that is regulated internally by the hub. Don’t wan’t to risk burning up my cameras. What should I look for instead?
What was supplying the POE power in your old setup, the NVR? Or was the “hub” with the USB ports plugged into wall power?
If the hub itself was plugged into wall power, it sounds like it was probably just providing standard USB power to the outputs and had an ethernet port to go back to the NVR. PoE would not be involved at all in that case.
If you don’t need ethernet connectivity (which is useless with the wyze cams) and you have a power source where the USB connectors all meet, then pretty much any USB charging block with enough ports will work, as long as the total wattage is enough for the number of cams you have. Every modern one of those should supply at least 1 amp to each USB output, probably capable of 2 or 3 amps. So as long as the total is good, it will work. In that case, you would not use the ethernet cable at all anymore.
If the hub has no AC power (and you can’t put one there) then you specifically need a POE to USB converter, and you will need something to supply the POE power if the NVR won’t be doing it anymore (you probably don’t want to keep the NVR running just to supply power). In that case a simple POE injector will do it, plug the ethernet into the “output” of the injector, and the “input” will not need anything connected.
So is the below what you had before, and if so, which devices plug into AC power? Obviously the NVR does but curious if the hub does too.
NVR → single ethernet cable → “Hub” → multiple USB to cameras
Or I guess to put it more simply, if you have an AC power source where all the USB cables meet, ignore pretty much all of the above and just put a multi-port USB wall adapter/charger there, and make sure it has enough wattage to support the number of cams you have. The ethernet cable and NVR will no longer be used.
If there is a switch in the path above, need to know if it is a PoE switch or not too.
Hang on, is this the sort of thing you have, with ethernet on one end and USB on the other? If so, it will NOT work with Wyze cams, sPOE with this type of cable is a somewhat proprietary thing and it will fry them.
If this is what you’re dealing with, the answer is completely different (and unfortunately there is no easy solution). You’d basically have to cut off the USB end of each cable, re-terminate it with RJ45, then purchase a POE to USB converter for each cam. Then get a POE switch to supply the power over the ethernet lines.
If the cables are less than say 20 feet or so then you could hack something together to make the ethernet cables into standard USB ones but I’m guessing you’re talking about more than 20 feet.
Will the hub just not power up at all? May be worth looking inside to see what the power supply is, it is probably some standard part they got from a supplier, and see if you can replace it. Or if it uses a “wall wart” type external power supply, even easier to find replacements for those.
I did a quick search on eBay and couldn’t find the hub.
Repairing the hub is a possibility.
I’ve seen this guy’s work. He can resurrect most anything.
Not sure what the cost will be or uf it is worth it.
Yeah flying a bit blind without knowing what this “hub” is. But if it has a removable cover like that NVR picture, most likely there is a pretty standard power supply inside with just a couple screws and connectors. Or better yet, an external power supply that can be easily replaced with just a bit of searching around.
If the “hub” is actually just an extension that converts PoE to USB then things are easier, but seeing that company’s products, it seems unlikely. The cams use ethernet signaling, the USB connector is just for size and convenience and is actually running ethernet best I can tell. I’m guessing maybe the hub just takes one ethernet line from the NVR and splits it off into multiple of those ethernet to USB cables, which are actually running ethernet.
Though in that case, I wonder if a standard PoE switch could replace that hub. The hub may very well just be a PoE switch which is also powered by PoE.
Guess “repeater” is the proper term. Here’s the setup.
The repeater is the unit that went bad. All the power is internal. I wouldn’t be able to utilize the NVR with the Wyze cameras, so all I’m concerned about is supplying power to the Wyze cameras with the repeater replacement.
Here is a link to a Zmodo repeater on eBay. It looks like the one in your diagram.
This is a possibility to get it working again.
Zmodo / SHO 8 Channel sPoE Repeater for Zmodo Funlux SHO sPoE Cameras BS-0001 | eBay
There is a place on eBay that repairs these repeaters.
But they want $150.00
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This listing is for the Repair for your non functional Zmodo SHO FUNLUX BS-0001 sPoE repeater that no longer powers the cameras for the model ZS-2008-B-1TB NVR system. These repeaters are a common cause of failure for the ZMODO / SHO/ FunLux systems such as the: NVR ZP-NM28 ZM-SS800DB8 that are no longer functioning due to a dead internal AC/DC power supply. Send us your repeater and we will install a DC plug socket and new & revised external AC/DC power supply.
This eBay sale is for a spot on the waitlist for the repair of your commissioned repeater only. It doesn’t cover the repair or initial costs, it only covers the RETURN shipping of your item. The repair and initial shipping cost is to be handled by you when you initially send the item to us. Once your secured spot is purchased we will contact you through eBay on where to send your item for repair.
**Price for repair and new parts is $150.00 plus initial shipping
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This appears to bypass the internal power supply and uses a wall wart instead. If you are handy with a soldering iron, you could do this yourself.
I’ve considered opening it up and seeing if I could repair or bypass the power supply. I’m by no means an experienced electrician, but I’ve repaired a couple of Onkyo amps by replacing resistors, so I could probably either fix it or destroy it forever. Either would at least be satisfying. It doesn’t make financial sense to replace the repeater with a $150 unit when I can buy 4 Wyze cams, which have much better resolution and night vision. Just trying to avoid running power to each camera location. A couple are pretty remote.
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That’s what I’m thinking. I don’t need the video feed, since the NVR won’t recognize the Wyze cams. I just need to sent the 5v power to the Wyze cams using the existing PoE leads.
Honestly, it does look to just be a basic PoE switch, but without knowing their design and specifications there is no way to say for sure.
Does the unit have any markings on it to detail what power the ports put out, whether they’re true ethernet, etc? Maybe ask their support if it is in fact just a PoE switch? If it is, then using a new PoE switch will allow both your cameras and NVR to continue working as they always have.
You cannot power Wyze cams (or likely any other brand) from the wires you have now or directly off a PoE switch. If the camera end of the cable is RJ45 standard ethernet pinout, then you could use a PoE switch on one end and a PoE to USB power converter at each cam. That’s probably going to get expensive though.
I think your best course of action right now is to try and determine if their “hub” is in fact just a standard PoE switch, in which case swapping in any other PoE switch should have you back up and running.
EDIT - sorry, to clarify you will need an sPOE switch or injectors (less common). It sends power and data over the same wires, which is required because USB only has 4 pins. All other POE standards use more than 4 pins.
Here’s the unit I’m working with.
After removing it for pictures, I decided to plug it back in and try different ports. What I discovered is that with only the LAN port plugged in, I get a flashing signal indicating it is connected to the router. With one camera plugged in, I also get the signal indicating it’s connected and I can view that camera’s feed. Once I plug anymore in, all ports begin flashing off and on. Power supply inside must be shot.
I went ahead and ordered an sPoE switch to see if it will work with the existing cameras. Whether is does or not, I’m going to swap out one of the cameras with a spare Wyze cam to see if it will work. I’ll post the results.
Definitely do not connect the wyze cams to a POE switch. If the switch works correctly, nothing will happen, they won’t power on. If it is a cheap no name switch, it might send voltage and fry them.
Unfortunately, for your zmodo system, it looks like they use a totally proprietary 19 volt sPOE (the most common were 24 and 48v), so likely whatever switch you ordered won’t work or will damage the zmodo cams too.
Check out this reddit thread on replacing the power supply, some simply wired a 19v laptop charger directly into the unit. Seems a very common issue.
Short of that, there are some hacky POE accessories that let you adjust the voltage (probably just a resistor network built in to them) but who knows how good they are.
I have been using a POE switch to run (2) Pan Cam v3’s for about 3 years. No problems at all.
NETGEAR 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged PoE Switch (GS305P v2)
You’re not running the cams directly off ethernet, they’re USB powered, so you must have PoE to USB adapters on the other end.
OP here can’t do that as the cables are proprietary for this particular system (unless he wants to cut and reterminate them, then get POE to USB adapters).
Wow…splitting hairs a bit are you? LOL
So if I unplug the ethernet cables from the PoE switch what will happen? They will go off. So yes, they are PoE powered. It’s a PoE switch, not a USB hub.
Wyze cameras cannot connect directly to a PoE switch anyway. None of the cams have a ethernet port.
So, you are using a PoE to USB adapter, right? I don’t think @dave27 is splitting hair, he’s just trying to explain to the OP that the run of the mill PoE won’t work for him with his current setup. OTOH, you are just throwing something out from thin air that might steer the OP to a wrong direction.
OP is using a system which comes with custom RJ45 to micro USB cables, a proprietary thing with their current system. Their plan was to plug the RJ45 side into a POE switch and the micro USB into a Wyze cam. So no, I’m not splitting hairs, I’m warning the OP not to do that, and you replied disagreeing with me and telling them that it will be fine. I’m clarifying your statement so they are not confused and potentially cause damage.
And to clarify for you, no, your cams are NOT PoE powered. You’re powering a USB converter/hub with PoE. The USB converter supplies plain 5v USB power to the cams. By the logic you are using, Wyze cams are powered by 120V AC directly when using the included adapter, which obviously isn’t the case. Your PoE segment in this case is essentially just an extension cord powering a USB power brick.