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[john.darling631]

Will a Ethernet Signal Booster help a camera DVR connect to router?

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Tags: Hardware

Let me start out by saying I’m not an IT guy. I do know a few things but I just can’t figure this issue out. I have done some research and I think my solution is a signal booster for my ethernet cable but I’m not sure. Before I buy one and just start tossing components at the issue I wanted to see if I could get some advise.

I have a night owl DVR camera system in a barn hardwired to my router in my house with a 300ft ethernet CAT5e cable and it is not getting an internet signal. The green and yellow lights don’t light up on the DVR. I tested the cable and all 8 lights are blinking in the proper sequence. I thought maybe the DVR was bad so I brought in in the house and connected it to the router with a 30ft CAT5e able and it worked just fine.

My question is if I put a ethernet line signal booster out in the barn next to the DVR will that help?

BTW, I have been on tech support with both night owl and my AT&T provider and they were no help at all.

Additional info, I had a system working with a night owl DVR and it worked pretty good. About a ear ago the DVR went bad because I didn’t have it in a dust proof container. About a month ago I had to replace my router in my house as it was over 10 years old and started acting up. So after I replaced the router I wanted to get the camera system working again so I bought a new DVR and now I’m having these issues.

Thanks in advance.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by john.darling631.

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I’m going with no. Here’s why.

In reply to Will a Ethernet Signal Booster help a camera DVR connect to router?

The spec for say 100 megabit Ethernet is 100 Meters or just over 328 feet.
I’ve had longer runs so if you have an issue it’s not the distance at issue here.

What I would do if I were to make a call on this system would make a 300 foot Ethernet cable that I tested before the call then show the client it working at 300 feet.

Ethernet cable testers of the cheap kind can give a bad cable a pass.

Reply To: Will a Ethernet Signal Booster help a camera DVR connect to router?

In reply to I’m going with no. Here’s why.

Yes my tester came with a kit and probably cost $30 for the entire kit.

So what you are saying is run a new 300ft line then try with a good line?

I can’t decipher what you asked.

In reply to Reply To: Will a Ethernet Signal Booster help a camera DVR connect to router?

“So what you are saying is run a new 300ft line then try with a good line?”

That aside, I’ve seen entire buildings miswired as the electrician insisted that Ethernet pairs be 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. Said wiring passes cheap cable testers but will fail at speed.

You already proved it was working with a good shorter cable and 100 Meters is more than 300 feet so it’s not a distance problem. It’s a problem with that cable. Now it could be a port problem but in decades I only encountered a bad port 2 times. It’s rare, too rare to consider it first and not after a test with a good 100 meter cable.

Thanks for the input

In reply to I can’t decipher what you asked.

I don’t think I have enough CAT5e line left to make another line for testing so I think today I’m going to take my laptop out and see if it will communicate with the router.

If not I will run a new line.

Would I gain anything if I switched to a CAT6 line?

Thanks again.

No indication that CAT6

In reply to Thanks for the input

Check the spec on Ethernet. 100 meters is good and I’ve exceeded that many times. No reason to think there is anything more going on here than a cable issue such as incorrect pair or such.

What is the purpose of having a booster and why connect it to the router?

In reply to Will a Ethernet Signal Booster help a camera DVR connect to router?

I’m going through a networking course and I’m trying to understand why a Ethernet Signal booster would be need to help a camera DVR to help connect to a router. Can I get some insight on this?

One reason.

In reply to What is the purpose of having a booster and why connect it to the router?

The spec for everyday Ethernet (twisted pair, etc.) is 100 Meters. That’s well beyond the 300 feet the OP is attempting so there’s no reason for such a device.

The problem is more likely to be incorrect pairs or a bad cable. You don’t want to know how many cables I’ve run into with the pairing of 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. I’ve had seasoned electricians debate this over and over. Unsure why I encountered this so often.

Reply To: Will a Ethernet Signal Booster help a camera DVR connect to router?

In reply to Will a Ethernet Signal Booster help a camera DVR connect to router?

In order for the DVR to communicate with an internet connection so that the DVR interface can be viewed online or from a smartphone, the DVR must be connected to a router. Typically, the DVR must be hard-wired using a LAN internet cable, but Netgear produces an adapter that can allow your DVR to communicate wirelessly with your router.

The adapter you’ll need to make your DVR wireless is the NETGEAR- Universal Wi-Fi Wireless-N Dual Band USB Adapter (Netgear Part Number WNCE3001)

What sets this device apart from other wireless network adapters is that it does not require any drivers to be downloaded to the device that you are connecting it to. Other WiFi adapters will not work because your DVR is not capable of downloading the necessary drivers that other WiFi adapters need.

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