AHL: Field Lessons For Low Voltage Techs

We run through a rapid set of real-world low voltage questions, from multimeter cable length estimates to what your certifier’s “Level 3E” label really means. We also dig into the jobsite choices that quietly drive callbacks, disputes, downtime, and overheated equipment.

• estimating copper cable length with loop resistance and a multimeter, plus what impacts accuracy 
• understanding Level 3 vs Level 3E cable certifiers and why backwards compatible is not forwards compatible 
• defining the uncertainty zone and why we never accept star pass or star fail results 
• troubleshooting marginal certification results through terminations, pair untwist, damage, bend radius, and tester setup 
• explaining fiber connector undercut and how it can affect insertion loss and reflectance 
• setting practical vertical clearance for stacked cable tray tiers to help today’s install and future adds 
• weighing the risks of electrical transformers in telecom rooms, including heat, space, and separation guidance 
• preventing OSP cable damage with pulling tension limits, breakaway swivels, grips, bend radius, and inspections 
• breaking down mediation vs arbitration and why documentation and change orders matter 
• translating asynchronous vs synchronous transmission into plain English examples 
• setting fusion splice loss expectations, what to troubleshoot, and why customer specs win 
• simplifying redundancy terms N, N+1, N+2, 2N, and 2N+1 with an easy UPS example 
• choosing security camera FOV based on distance, resolution, identification goals, and sun position over the year 
• managing heat in small enclosed cabinets with PoE switches, UPSs, open space, and fan kits 

Make sure you send your questions for next week’s show.

Transcript

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Schedule Changes And Community Updates

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Wednesday night. Hey, don't forget. Starting in October. Starting in October, we're switching live streams on Monday, podcast on Wednesdays. That happens literally just a, what's it, a week and a half or something like that now? Two weeks maybe? In October. We are switching them. Switching them. Also, we always start your show with what are you drinking? So make sure you tell us in the chat box, what are you drinking tonight? Tonight, Chuck is drinking Ginger Zevia with ice and water. Ice and water. So tell us in the chat box, what are you drinking? Also, the acronym challenge, the two things I do every single night. The acronym challenge for tonight is SDO. S D O. What does SDO stand for? I'll give you a few seconds to uh to figure out what that means. I'll let you figure that out. I'll give you a hint. Bixie's an SDO. Anzi is an SDO. The ISO is an SDO. Here we go. Ready? In three, two, one. Standards Development Organization. That's a company or an entity that makes that makes standards. And Bixie is one of those, and so is Anzi. Also make sure you pay attention. I think Bixie's still trying to hire two training delivery specialists. I haven't been told that they've hired them yet. So if you've if you've always inspired to be a trainer, to to inspire the next generation to make an impact, to leave this industry better than the way they found it, make sure that you reach out to Bixie. One of those positions is a local position in the Tampa area. So if you happen to live in Tampa, St. Pete's, Clearwater, Lakeland, within driving distance of Tampa, make sure that you apply. Upcoming shows, we just finished a three-part series with Mike Panaki testing category rate cabling. Three-part series. Hello, Ireland. Hey, what's going on, Mr. Wise Components? Make sure you uh make sure you that you bring me back a four-leaf clover. Yeah. There you go. Um, so it just released a four-part, a three-part series with Mike Panaki. This last session we talked about how to extend extended distance cabling. We talked about how to test um alien crosstalk cabling on the cable. Great series. I love doing it. Mike's a great speaker. Very easy to interview, very easy to edit. But I got some other great episodes coming up too, right? I got a fault-managed power system episode coming up. I've got one on uh security systems, one on winter safety, and also one on anti-static flooring. Anti-static flooring. I just got to record the the front half of that. I got recording me actually installing anti-static flooring in the in the new podcast studio. So oh, some news! Some news! The Let's Talk Cabling Podcast now has three classes recognized for Bixie CECs. Three of them. Fire stopping, binding and grounding, and codes versus standards versus best practices. So watch out for the announcements when they're going to be available. A great way to get your CECs and also help support the Let's Talk Cabling Podcast. Don't forget October 23rd to 25th, Textgiving, the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I will be there on Saturday, October 24th. So if you happen to be in the area, why not stop by and make sure that you handle? Now, you know I do this after hours live every week, but I don't get the chance to answer every single question that's gone here. So that's why we have our monthly Ask Chuck Live. And what you do is you join the Let's Talk Cabling crew, you bring your questions, and we go through them together. It's on the live Zoom call, only shared amongst the people who are the members of the Let's Talk Cabling community. So here you kind of, I got the questions already spent in advance. It's kind of hard to do questions as I'm flying because I'm usually trying to already behind and trying to keep it get done within my 30 minutes. So the question is Chuck's got 14 questions tonight. Do you think, put it in the chat box, do you think that Chuck can finish them in 30 minutes? Well, actually, 25 minutes, because I just spent five minutes doing the intro.

Estimate Cable Length With Resistance

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Here's question number one, and this comes from Marcus on YouTube. He says, Chuck, I know very few low voltage people carry multimeters, but I've mainly used mine for checking voltage and continuity. I recently heard that you can actually estimate the length of a copper cable using loop resistance. How does that actually work? And is it accurate enough to use in the field during testing? And the answer is yes. You absolutely can estimate the length of a cable, coax cable, any kind of copper-based cable, category cable, using nothing but a multimeter. But I will emphasize the word estimate the length. Every copper conductor has a known resistance per unit of length. The longer the conductor, the higher with the resistance, right? And you also know that conductors come in different sizes. So all you got to really do is look up that cable that you're using that you're using, look up the manufacturer, find out what is the match or the manufacturer's resistance specification. I'll give it to you. And then what you can do is you can just take your two conductors, twist them together so they short out, go to the other end, and put turn on your multimeter, and then measure it. Okay? That's going to give you a resistance length, but remember it went all the way out, came all the way back. So you're gonna have to divide that in half to find out what the actual resistance is. And then using that resistance per footage number that you got from the customer from the cable manufacturer specs, that can give you the length. Again, estimated length. But if you know that the cable is supposed to be at 150 feet and you put a thing on you and you short it out, and you hit it with the multimeter and you're not getting continuity, then you know the cable's broke somewhere. So multi-meter, it's one of the things that the fire alarm guys and the security guys are very well versed in using is a multimeter. But when it comes to low voltage people, we kind of rely on our continuity testers or our certifiers, right? But like I said though, there are other factors. Remember, remember, temperature affects the resistance. So if the if the cable runs up into an attic, runs through a warehouse, even though you're using that factory number that they gave you off of the spec sheet, it might be a little bit different. And there's also, in case you didn't know this, there's also a difference between stranded versus solid conductor when it comes to resistance. So make sure that you follow those numbers.

What Level 3E Testers Mean

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Question number two. This comes from Tyler, came to me on Lincoln. Chuck, I've seen cable certifier is described as level three, level three E. What does level three E actually mean? Is that just a new tester? Or does it determine what category of cable I'm allowed to certify? And that is a great, great question. Make sure you put your questions in the thing too. I'll capture them for next week. Um, that's a great question because there's level two, level three, level three, there's a 2G tester, and it's really nothing but a marketing term, actually. Right? And it refers to the performance level of the actual field tester. So think of it as this think of it this way. As a category cable increases in bandwidth, the test equipment has to become more accurate, more capable, and measuring high frequencies. So just for an example, so a level 3 tester is a category 6 tester. It can test anything up to cat 6. I mean that includes cat 5e and cat 6 because it's good, it sweeps frequencies all the way up to 250 megahertz. The level 3e, which is the one that you asked about, goes all the way up to 500 megahertz. So we can test cat5e, cat 6, and cat 6a. And testers are backwards compatible. They're not forwards compatible. Okay, again, explain this. I said earlier that I didn't, cat 5e is 100 megahertz, cat 6 is 250 megahertz. So that level 3 tester only switched from frequencies 0 to 250. The cat 6A goes all the way up to 500. All the way to 500. So if it only wanted to go to 250, it absolutely can test to. So they are backwards compatible, not forwards compatible. A multimeter is a useful tool to have.218% increase for resistance per foot over 68 degrees. Excellent, excellent. I appreciate it, Mr. Christopher Hobbes. Uh, somebody was just asking Christopher, is there a Bixie ATF in Texas? And I told them to go look at the website, look up an ATF, because I couldn't think of any off the top of my head. But so somebody somebody in the group just answered that. So if you happen to know that answer, certainly would appreciate that. So if you're trying to certify that category 6.8 pick, that category 6.8 channel or category 6.8 link, don't assume that that older test is going to be able to do it. Because again, they are rated in levels. Rated in levels. Question

Why Star Pass Is Not Acceptable

SPEAKER_00 10:25

number three. This comes from Devon. Says, Chuck, I ran a certification test, and sometimes I see a star pass or a star fail instead of a straight pass or fail. I heard it has something to do with the test's uncertainty zone. What is an uncertainty zone and how or should I accept a star pass test result? Okay, so the uncertainty zone is the range within the parameters of the standards. It's 1.6 dB, so I think it's like uh 0.8 above and 0.8 below. So if it's if the measurement hits within that uncertainty range, the tester doesn't know if it's either a pass or a fail. So you're going to get that star. As a professional, never accept a star pass test result or star fail test result. Go in, go to the extended functions on the tester, look at it, and figure out what it is. Even if the customer says, you know, we're comfortable with with uh with a star pass. You as an installer in the field, absolutely should not be. Absolutely not be. So marginal test results, some things you really need to go look at. The first thing I would look at is go look at the terminations, right? And specifically, I would look at pair on twists. Um, in fact, if I got a star pass, I probably would re-terminate both sides and then retest it again. A lot of times that's going to clear the issue, but sometimes it won't. You might have cable damage, right? And you might have uh an excessive bed radius. And also, don't forget, too, because a lot of people I see this happen quite often. Make sure your tester is set up correctly. If you're testing category 6A cable, make sure it's set up for Cat 6A. Okay, because if you have it set for something else, the test is going to give you some weird things, some weird results.

Fiber Undercut And Connector Loss

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Question number four, Jason Miller from YouTube. Chuck, I'm learning about fiber termination. We keep hearing the term undercut. When people talk about connector end face geometry, what does undercut, what does that cause it, and why does it matter if the fiber is sitting slightly below the ferrule? So you already know what undercut means. It means the the fiber doesn't come all the way up to the end face of the of the fiber optic connector. It was a common thing, you know, a long time ago when we were dealing with, you know, um with two-part epoxy connectors, hot melts, and some other stuff like that, because when you were you were stripping and you were cleaving the fiber, you were taking your Ruby scribe and you were scribing it, and you had to polish it. Undercut just means that the fiber is a little below the the end phase. Again, usually as a today's environment, we're fusion splicing, we are mechanical splicing, um, and the the best thing is it's from a factory and they already look at all this. So it's usually not a big of an issue. So what that can cause is because it's not coming up all the way, is you can have increased insertion loss, you might even get some reflectance, or maybe even some uh some return loss coming back off of that, and you might have greater sensitivity to the environmental changes. So, you know, it happens. I remember when when this the mechanical connectors first came out, people were worried about hot and cold cycling, and uh and it was causing people to really worry about today's environment, not an issue. But if you really want to, if you really want to, you know see what's going on, get your uh get your N Fiber N phase scope machine and look at it. Okay, and make sure you look at it and see if it uh Nolan's in the house, Mr. Fortress Telecom. How are you doing, my friend? Question number five.

Cable Tray Tier Spacing Guidelines

SPEAKER_00 13:54

This comes from Anthony on LinkedIn. He says, Chuck, I'm installing cable trays in tiers, one directly above the other. How much vertical clearance should I have between the trays? And uh what should I be designing for? So when you have multiple tiers of cable trays, they're great for separating cables, handling extra cabling, and evidently my dog is barking at somebody out in the street. Heaven forbid somebody goes down her street. Her street, right? Um the recommendation is 12 inches or 300 millimeters, 12 inches, um, but no less than six inches. So I would try to default closer to the 12 inches because remember, it's gonna make it easier for you to install the cable, it's gonna make it easier for you to dress the cables, and it's gonna also make sure that the person coming behind, remember it's a technician. You should always think about the technician coming behind you. It's gonna make their job easier to add cables, right? Make sure that they add those cables. All right, moving on to question number

Transformers Inside Telecom Rooms

SPEAKER_00 14:58

six. This comes from Brian. I walked into a telecom room recently and had an electrical transformer installed in the same room as where I wanted to put the racks and cabling. Is that allowed? Technically, it is allowed. Would I do it? No. No. Because number one, electrical, you'll know when you walk into a telecom room with an electrical transformer, because number one, it's gonna get hot real quick. And you're gonna hear this buzzing sound.

unknown 15:27

Mmm.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yeah, that's an electrical transformer. I would try to go find another room first, right? Uh, you know, that's the best thing to do. Separation is the you know, more separation you can get, the better it's going to be. But you are allowed to put it in the same room as long as you try to stay at least 48 inches away from that transform. Again, preference, go to another spot, right? Um, and you can also use the transformer as a table, too. That is hilarious. That's absolutely hilarious. Now, so what are the concerns? Okay, I talked about heat. Yes, it's gonna make you uncomfortable. Yes, it's gonna make your sweat in your shirt, but guess what? Equipment doesn't like heat. Cabling doesn't like heat. Um, it might put might limit you for uh access for working around where you're trying to get your cabling in. Watch out for future expansion because it's taking up like spot. The rooms that we put in our racks, our cable in already are already too small. And now you got a big transformer inside of it, right? Remember, keep the telecom room, keep the telecom room dedicated to the purpose that it's for. If it doesn't, if it's not there to support the system, it really should not be in the telecom room. So, you know, the NEC is again, it's only for safety, it doesn't really talk about for performance, but you know, check with your local authority having jurisdiction, the the electrical inspector, you know, the building owner, the the agent for the insurance company, and they will actually give you some information on that

Safe OSP Pulling Without Damage

SPEAKER_00 17:04

as well. Carlos, question number seven, Carlos from YouTube. Check I do a lot of underground OSP cable pulls, and sometimes it feels like the crew's philosophy is just pull it harder. Or uh one of my old criticals in Destroy days, it was uh just hit the gas a little bit harder on the truck. Don't use the truck to pull outside plank cable, please. Okay, please don't do that. Um so what are some things that we can do to keep the cable from being damaged, especially on this long conduit runs for outside plant cable. Number one, know what is the manufacturer's maximum pulling tension. Before you start, before you start, because it's going to vary by manufacture, by copper, by fiber, by strand count, by copper count. Just you know, get on everybody's got a smartphone, get on the web page, look at that cable. A lot of companies have support numbers, call them up, ask them, ask them, and never assume that copper, fiber, and coax have the same pulling limits because they're often different. Often different. So make sure that you so what are some tips? Number one, use a uh rated breakaway swivel. You know, they're they're a metal thing that you can actually swivel them, right? You can actually attach them to the end of the cable. And they're rated at different pulling tensions. I have one, actually, it's in my case up in the new podcast studio. It's rated for 600 pounds. So if you pull more than 600 pounds, the pulling head will break. Yeah, you gotta pull the cable back out. Yes, you gotta restage that cable, but at least you're not having to talk to your project manager and have them, hey, we need to buy a new uh a new cable because I broke the old cable. Also use a Kellum's grip. A Kellum's grip is just a wire mesh thing that goes around the cable. You pull on it, kind of comes down or holds the cable nice for you. We used to call it something else in our industry, but uh um, you know, I would still be super, super careful with it. I wouldn't, and I wouldn't use that name that we use that Kellum's grip for, because it could just cause some problems with a bunch of people. Always, always do everything you can to not over pull the cable because it can cause it can cause pair on twist, breaking copper, breaking fiber, and and the last thing you want to do is when you're testing a cable, find out you broke a couple strands of fiber. Because a lot of times the customer's gonna make you come back and replace that cable. And that just wasn't in uh in the bid. It wasn't. Also, when you're coming out of the cable, watch out. Make sure you you don't exceed the minimum bend radius for both during and after the install. Never pull on the jacket, use the strength. Remember, that's a great tip. Great tip. Um matter of fact, I got a picture. Remind me, Nolan, to send it to you. I got a great picture to send you. Always use the required 10% less than the braking strength of the cable to prevent damage with the swivel. Yes, because the swivels are not cheap. They're not cheap, but I still would rather replace a swivel. That's actually a good tip. I would rather replace a swivel than replace the cable itself. So when you start getting ready to pull that cable, make sure that you uh um inspect the pathway, you know, rod it out, put some pool rope into it. Make sure that you can verify the, make sure that you do your calculations. What's the size of the conduit, what's the size of the cable, how many, how many bends does it have. Verify all that stuff. You may have to use pooling lubricant to get the cable through. Remember, just when you use pulling lubricant, just do not, just do not put too much in because it can actually cause the cable to fail at some point. After the pull, when you get done, just do a visual inspection, make sure the jacket didn't get damaged, make sure there's no kinks, make sure the cable didn't crush, no excessive twisting. And again, watch out for signs that you've exceeded the bend radius. Because remember, the goal is not simply getting from point A to point B. The point is to get there without, listen to this, without changing the cable's performance characteristics. Okay. You know, that might I had a guy who says, well, just give it a little bit more tug. And that's probably why that guy's not in the low voltage industry anymore. Yeah, probably

Mediation Versus Arbitration For Contractors

SPEAKER_00 21:29

not. Question number eight comes from Rachel on LinkedIn. Says, Chuck, I'm getting started, I'm getting getting more involved with project management and contracts. I see, I keep seeing mediation and arbitration mentioned in ways to resolve disputes. What's the difference between those two, and why should we, as a low voltage contractor, care? So mediation and arbitration are both forms of what's called a ADR. There's another acting for you. ADR. Right. Proofing is also a great thing to do as well. Yes. That's why I love having Christopher in the room with us. Alternative dispute resolution. Right. And what that does, it's intended to resolve disagreements without having to go to a courtroom and sit in front of a judge. Mediation, the parties work together towards their own agreement. Arbitration, what happens is each side presents itself to an arbiter, and then that arbiter makes the decision, which then becomes a legal decision. A mediator is supposed to be neutral. They're supposed to help both sides to identify the actual issue, to communicate the options, explore alternatives, and maybe even help make sure everybody gets a good settlement. When it comes to this point, if you're already, if you're in mediation, right, or arbitration, it's not a fun part to be in the project. It truly is not. Because something has gone wrong. And in my experience, the all the times that I've ever had to go to mediation, it was because somebody did not understand codes and standards. You know, they they the codes is for one thing, standards for something else, and it just there was a misunderstanding, and they didn't understand that they're different. The good thing about mediation is it typically begins as a non-binding agreement, and the parties reach that settlement, and then we reach that settlement becomes binding. Arbitration, it's closer to what I would say maybe your own private court proceeding. Now, the the arbiters may or may not be an actual judge, but when they render their decision, and it's actually called an award, right? When they render that decision, then it's binding. And you gotta do what they tell you you gotta do, right? Stay out of legal disputes, best practice. He who has the most paper wins. Yes, because pro tip on my pro tip number one on my job, on my on my on my website. Document, document, document. Always, always document, right? So where where do I, you know, there are I mentioned most of the topics it was just the difference between codes and standard people not understanding, but there are other things that drag people into mediation and arbitration, like change orders, right? You know, this is a big one because technicians in the field, they want to make the customer happy. And what they do is the customer says, we need three more drops over there. Yeah, that's not in the contract. That's a change order. But technicians want to make the customer happy, so they go ahead and do it. Never perform extra work until you have a signed change order. Even if you have a signed change order, there's still not 100% possibility that you could get paid. I've had signed change orders before, and customers have wiggled their way out of it. You know, another another area is delays, you know, especially right now with all the delay with fiber optic cabling and and and fiber optic components and fiber optic cleaning products because of data centers, right? If you don't have that clear verbiage in your terms and conditions, you know, you're you're gonna have problems. Back charges. Got involved with the one when in Ohio one time with a general contractor who who threw stuff in our trash, man, and we had to go after them to try to get some of our money back out of that because they filled our things up. Okay, so mediation, think of it this way: it helps us reach an agreement, arbitration, we hear both sides, and the arbiter makes that decision. The third option, let the lawyers fight it out in court. And guess what? That is not a cheap option. Question number nine, this comes from Rachel on LinkedIn. Chuck, I'm getting more involved in the. I'm sorry, wrong same question. Sorry about that. Uh question number 10 from Eric on YouTube.

Asynchronous Versus Synchronous Data

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Says, Chuck, I'm studying network fundamentals and I'm struggling with asynchronous versus synchronous transmission. Can you explain the difference between those two in plain English and give me real-world examples of each? So the biggest difference is between the sender and remember there's there's there's multiple layers to the OSI model. We're layer one, the physical layer. I can never remember the layers of the OSI model. I don't know why. I just have a mental block. But I always remember the acronym. All people seem to need data processing. We're layer one, we're the physical layer. So those ones and zeros come down to that layer, and what happens is it puts all those ones and zeros into a packet. It then puts a start bit on that packet, which tells the receiver to start a listing, puts a stop bit on that packet, which tells the receiver to stop listening. So now when that gets transmitted, the receiver knows, hey, there's a packet, and then the packet's done because there's a stop bit. And you see that a lot for um RS 232, and there's some other things out there that still use asynchronous transmission as well, too. Um there then there's synchronous transmission. Synchronous transmission does not use a start and a stop bit. Okay. What they do, they work on what's called a timed relationship. And so the data can be transmitted either as a continuous stream or larger frames, and then adding the start and bit to everyone. So they're generally more efficient. And most modern Ethernet's actually a great example of a synchronous transmission because they actually know when to start be listening to that. So uh moving on to question number 11.

Fusion Splice Loss Targets And Limits

SPEAKER_00 27:33

This comes from Kevin on Facebook. Kevin on Facebook. Chuck, I'm fusing, I'm fusing splicing, fusing splicing fiber. How much loss is actually acceptable at each end? My splicer might show 0.02 or 0.05. At what point should I cut out and splice it again? In live environment, I'm gonna want to be at 0.01, 0.02, maybe 0.03. Uh 0.05 to me is still a little high property, but the when you actually when you start talking about the maximum, the TI maximum for a for a fusion displace is 0.3 dB. Not 0.03, 0.3 dB. Just remember, that's that should not be your target. You should be trying to go for the lower number. Okay, so multi-mode fusion supplies, you know, it's gonna be a little tighter, 0.1 dB. Single mode 0.05 in reality. But the FOA, you know, they typically say the fusion splices usually fall between 0.05 and 0.15. But I'm telling you right now, the fusion splices are so good that if you're getting above 0.05, you might want to uh you might want to go back and check that. And Christmas chiming in and says, always check with the customer specifications. Yes, because they might have more stringent requirements, and that's absolutely 100% the truth. You know, again, the you know, what could cause these bad things? You could have a poor cleave, you might have a too too much of an angle on your cleave, you might have dirty fiber, you might you might have checked your fusion splice, you might have contaminated V grooves, you might have corn misalignment. The splicer might actually be set up incorrectly, and you might even have bad fiber. So there's lots and lots of things. Um seen as maximum of 0.15 on some specs. That's way too high for me. Way too high for me. Um, but I get customer specs or customer specs. Alrighty, question number 12 from Daniel on YouTube.

Redundancy Math N N+1 2N

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Says, Chuck, I am studying for my RCDD and I keep getting confused by redundancy terms like N, N plus one, N plus two, two N, two N plus one. Can you break these down so it's easier to remember, maybe using a data center as an example? And I get it. I absolutely get it because it can be confusing. So let's start off with the letter N. The letter N means the need. So let's let's let's start this whole conversation talking about UPS systems. Okay. So if the if the job site requires four UPSs, then my N equals four. That's my need. My need is four. I need a four of them, but the problem with that is there's no redundancy. No redundancy. If I lose one, people go down, right? And you know, and that's if you you think you don't think it causes a problem. There was an airport in was it Newark, New Jersey, just this week or last week? The fiber got cut. Now, the problem is the the main, it was the backup fiber, I think if I remember right. So the primary fiber went down right at the time that the backup fiber got cut. So they had n plus one, which is a little bit of redundancy, but not enough. And then you end up it affecting air travel all over the place. So n is the need. So n plus one would be four plus one. So that would be five. So you got to spare. Now, what that does is it gives you some some additional uh it gives you some additional um availability. So now if you need to, you can actually take down a device for maintenance without impacting too much too much of the people in the network. N plus two, so again, my need is four, plus two would be two additional units, so that's six. Two and would be double, so if I my need is four, that would be eight units. So I got two complete up-running systems. So that way, if one system goes down, the other system can can uh can take over and keep it up and running, right? Anything down for us is unacceptable. Everything is redundant and diverse at minimum. Daryl, the RCDD is in the house. How you doing, Mr. Daryl? And then you got two and plus one. Again, my need being four, so each side gets that plus one, so that'd be five on each side, that'd be a total of ten. Now, granted, I was talking about UPS systems, but this could be for cooling, it could be for telecom pathways, it could be for network equipment, it could be any kind of critical infrastructure, anything. It's not, I just use UPS as my example because the math is easy for Chuck instead of having to come up with a bunch of extra cables. So I hope that made it pretty easy for you. Question number 13.

Camera Field Of View Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_00 32:29

This comes from Samantha on LinkedIn. Samantha on LinkedIn. Chuck, I'm starting to work with security cameras, and I keep seeing FOV listed on the camera specs. What exactly is FOV and what do I need to know about it to specify a particular camera? FOV, field of view. Field of view. And it basically describes how much of the scene the camera can actually see. And just to kind of give you a real quick example, because a lot of people had these cameras. So if you look at the camera on your phone and then see how much, you know, see how much area you can see on your phone, and then hold up a GoPro, you can see more with the GoPro because it's got a bigger field of view. That's what they're really talking about. The wider the field of view, the more area that you're going to see. But there's a trade-off. You're going to get less detail on specific objects. And with a narrow field of view, it's going to concentrate the available pixels on a smaller scene, but you can get better detail. So you might be able to maybe even identify somebody or identify maybe even letters or something on a tag. Field of view is something you really need to consider. Also consider which way is that camera pointing? Where does the sun come up? Where does the sun go down? And all days of the year, because you know, people think the sun goes up in the east, goes down in the west, but it doesn't go down the exact same spot. You've watched it over the year, you can actually watch it migrate on the horizon. And if you aim your camera where the sun may not be pointing at it today, but in a month or two, it's going to be pointing right at it, you're going to have a dead spot because that light is pointing right into that camera. So what you need to do when you start talking about trying to decide field of view is first you need to talk to the customer and say, okay, is this for general observation? Right? Or are you trying to detect, is somebody going, is somebody there in the field of view? And if they and if they want if there's somebody in the field of view, do you want to be able to recognize it as a person? Or maybe as a German Shepherd? Because I got cameras on my property. My German Shepherd set my cameras off all the time. And do you want to be able to identify that person? Or do you want to be able to read a license plate? Because again, it's not just field of view, okay? It's distance, it's resolution, it's mounting location, like I just mentioned earlier. Your cameras come in a bunch of different sizes. And it's pretty common right now to get a wide-angle 4K camera. And you can get it to cover an entire parking lot, but that doesn't automatically mean there's going to be enough pixels to be able to read that person's face from 150 feet away. You know, 4K sounds like it's really good resolution, but when you start when you start zooming in and zooming in, what happens is you will see that it gets pixelated and then you can't really see anything. So wider is not always better. Um, and more megapixels isn't always better either. So you gotta start off with the design looking at those three things I was just telling you about field of view, distance, resolution. And then also, is that camera protected? Is that camera protected? Alrighty, let me see

Heat Risks In Small Cabinets

SPEAKER_00 35:41

here. Oh, last question. This comes from Mike on YouTube. He says, Chuck, I'm installing a wall-mounted enclosed cabinet with a switch, a UPS, and other active equipment. Do I really need to worry about heat in a small cabinet? Yes, you do. Um, and is ventilation the only concern with a with those racks? So, yes, heat absolutely matters. It matters to equipment, it matters to cabling, right? So when you do when you the problem with a small enclosure um is it's actually worse than a bigger enclosure because there's less air volume, so it heats up faster. Now, there's a lot of things inside your cabinet that can produce heat. PoE switches, UPSs, um, if you've got NVRs going into them, switches, media converters, they all generate heat. There's a rule called the half-life rule, and I'm trying to remember exactly what it states, but it says something to the effect of um for every 10 degrees above ambient temperature that a piece of equipment's exposed to, its life expectancy is reduced by half. Heat's bad. Heat is bad. So don't assume that whatever the room temperature is, that's gonna be the temperature inside the cabinet. You want to get that heat out. So I always suggest by the fan kit for that enclosure. Okay, because even if it's only got one piece of equipment, get that heat out of there. Now, the TDM does talk a little bit about cabinets and stuff and talks about you know enclosed cabinets that you know they should have at least 63% open space. Open space. So that's to get that heat out of there, right? Because just get the heat out of this, everything can can be working fine and dandy. All right, that was the last question after the

Wrap Up And Next Questions

SPEAKER_00 37:28

night. I am at 638. 638. So I went past my six. I didn't get it done in 30 minutes, like I said I was going to do. So I'm gonna go ahead and shut this down. Make sure you send your questions for next week's show. Because it'll be another 14 questions. Till next time.