PTZ Camera Guide

We have created this guide to help our customers when setting up their PTZ Camera. All our PTZ Cameras can be set up using this basic guide.

Generally speaking, PTZ Domes requires four things;
1- They require a power supply and a cable to supply this power to the dome. Often,
external domes are 24V A.C but some PTZ domes are 12V.
2- They require a cable to get the video signal back to the monitor or recording device.
3- They require a cable to transmit the “RS485 control signal” from the keypad or DVR to
tell the dome to pan, tilt and zoom etc.
4- They require something to control them, either a keypad or a DVR.

 

Powering the domes-
All the domes will need power. You can either power each dome with its own PSU
locally to it or have the PSU’s remotely situated perhaps near the keyboard or DVR.
A popular way to power the domes is using our 3 In One PTZ Combo Cable as this cable can carry the power and data to the dome and the video signal back to the monitor or DVR.

 

The power connection
The RED & BLACK cable coming out of the dome connected to the RED terminal block are for power. Connect a suitable power supply to this pair of cores. The BNC connector is the “VIDEO-OUT” from the camera and goes to the monitor or “VIDEO-IN” of a DVR camera input.
The Orange and Yellow pair of cores that go in to the BLACK terminal block are the data cables. These are the cores that carry the RS485 control signal to the dome from either the keyboard or the DVR. The next section of the instructions gives more detail
on how to connect the RS485 data.

RS485 connection -

Connecting the Keypad or DVR to the Dome.
The dome is controlled by an RS485 data signal that is given by either a
KEYPAD or a suitable DVR. This data signal tells the dome to pan, tilt, zoom
etc. Its important that you read the early section of these instructions to
understand the fundamental principle of RS485 cabling techniques so that you
get it right. RS485 has two cores, A and B or sometimes known as RS485 + (A) and RS485 – (B) if you get these
two the wrong away around then you will not be able to control the dome. Sometimes installers get the
connections right on one dome but not on the other and find only one dome works. They then swap the
wires around at the keyboard only to find out one dome has now burst in to life and the other one
now failed!! But they don’t put 2 + 2 together and realize their mistake that they have wired
one dome different to the other. Take great care getting these the right way around and make
sure you wire each dome IDENTICALY so that if you have to swap the A & B lines over at
the keyboard you know all domes are wired the same!!

The PTZ120 range adopts the following RS485 convention:

ORANGE = RS485 + or A
YELLOW = RS485 – or B

You should initially be wiring the dome to the keyboard or DVR
on your workshop bench or at least your kitchen table to prove you know how to get
everything to work. Once you have done this, it is just a job of extending the cables and
physically installing the domes on site. You must obviously take note of the RS485 wring
techniques mentioned at the beginning of these instructions and get the 120ohm resistors
correct in the “End of line” domes. Generally speaking you will always be extending the
RS485 signal from either the keypad or the dome using a CAT5 or similar cable.

View our range ofPTZ CCTV Cameras here.