At 1500 feet, fiber is the highest performance option (needs to be outdoor rated cable and possibly even metal shield) but you can also run twisted pair copper (if you can find a spool of that size, or reliably-despite-moisture connect shorter cables together), and use a xDSL extender. The big selling point of not using fiber, especially at higher risk when ran overground, is how you can easily repair it yourself.
Below is a distance vs speed chart of an older VDSL2-based Ethernet extender that I used, Abilinx 1001 which uses a single wire pair, a few companies sell similar units. You'd be under 600meters so would get about 40mbit each way, but on those models you could set the ratio to asymmetrical which would change the speeds I suspect, to help the mostly-one-way traffic from the cameras. You can install a Mikrotik switch at the far end (e.g. powerbox pro, which works at 48V too and as PoE switch/injector for the cameras) and use that to run btest to see what the cable performance is. This is a relabeled version of the Abilinx units for sale: https://www.amazon.ca/Tupavco-TEX-100-Ethernet-Extender-Broadband/dp/B01BOD8C9W That example is not cheap, I bought my Abilinx units used for 1000 yen (about $9 CAD, or $7 USD) in a used electronics shop in Akihabara, I suspect that looking around you can find used units at a cheaper price than above. For power usage, and assuming that we need a minimum of 40V (most 48V PoE devices turn off below that). Let's say a DSL extender like the above, a small PoE-injecting switch, and 4 security cameras take 5W each. Add 2W for a 48V-to-12V converter for the DSL extender. Such as https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008127170094.html . That is 6x 5W + 2W = 32W. Let's round that up to 40W to have margin. So you need 1A at that 40V. According to the calculator https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html , at the maximum voltage that you can put on the line for most PoE devices (56V), to achieve a minimum of 40V at the end at 1A for 1600 feet, you need 16 gauge cable. In that case, you could buy a 2-pair 16 gauge cable and use one pair for DSL data and the other pair for power (or 3 or 4 pair 18 guage cable and combine pairs for the power) Sample: 16 guage 4 conductor (I don't know if it's twisted into pairs, the DSL extender may work less effectively if its pair is not twisted) 1000ft outdoor direct bury-rated speaker cable for $300 USD here https://www.ebay.com/itm/235983231531 You could also run a higher voltage to use smaller cable size, e.g. 120VDC, and use a voltage regulator down to 48V at the end. But I strongly recommend against that due to safety risk and likely legal questions about running over the "safe" LV 60VDC limit. I think that a pair of DSL extenders, 56V 2A power supply, outdoor cabinet, MikroTik powerbox pro, 48V-to-whateverV(that the far side DSL extenter needs), that would be your best setup in this situation. The only remaining difficulty is finding the right gauge cable cost-effectively. On Sat, May 16, 2026, 5:59 p.m. Jan-GAMs <[email protected]> wrote: > I've got a well house I could get the power from. For the data I was > thinking maybe I could run fiber, but then I'd have to figure out what kind > and how to adapt it to ethernet and I'd also need a switch to connect the > cameras to. I've not had much opportunity to work with fiber, I know it's > doable, just don't know the details. > On 5/16/26 11:47, [email protected] wrote: > > I used to run electronics over 10-15 miles via 19 gauge wire. It had 300 > volts and was used to power pair gain equipment (7 subscriber carrier sub > modules and repeaters) for POTS circuits. Worked very well. T1 repeaters > use +/- 130 volts so 260 volts across the line, again on small wires. They > pushed 60mA constant current. So powering should not be a problem. How > are you going to convey the data? Personally, I would just put 120 vac on > some romex in the ditch. Cameras don't take much current. > > Best Regards, > Chuck McCown > > McCown Technology Corporation > 8401 N Commerce Dr > <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8401%0D%0A++++++++++++N+Commerce+Dr+%0D%0A+++++++++++Lake%0D%0A++++++++++++Point,+Utah+84074?entry=gmail&source=g> > > <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8401%0D%0A++++++++++++N+Commerce+Dr+%0D%0A+++++++++++Lake%0D%0A++++++++++++Point,+Utah+84074?entry=gmail&source=g>Lake > Point, Utah 84074 > <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8401%0D%0A++++++++++++N+Commerce+Dr+%0D%0A+++++++++++Lake%0D%0A++++++++++++Point,+Utah+84074?entry=gmail&source=g> > 801-250-9503 Office > 435-830-4306 Cell > www.mccowntech.com > www.microtrench.pro > www.terabitnetworks.com > > ------------------------------ > *From:* AF <[email protected]> <[email protected]> on behalf > of Jan-GAMs <[email protected]> <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Friday, May 15, 2026 7:53 PM > *To:* Chuck McCown via AF <[email protected]> <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [AFMUG] 1500ft through heavy forest > > I want to power multiple cameras to watch for trespassers on a country > road 1500ft away. It's heavy forest and no good spots for solar > panels. The most convenient tree is 20ft down a ravine and then > vertical climb of about 30ft. Radios won't work due to the forest > otherwise I'd choose that. Batteries won't work cause I'd need to > change the batteries often and access to change them is near impossible. > > Any ideas? > > > > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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