CCTV Camera Installation | Wall Cavity 

Appreciate the kind words!

Thanks Waqas!

Absolutely terrifying 😅

The only reason I’d say don’t is if in future another person comes along and drills a hole through the wall not knowing there is a cable going up the cavity and damages your cable. If it’s a domestic always inform the customer to advise any future trades if drilling that there is a cable going directly up or down above/below the camera etc

Good to hear you’ve given it a go! Can you clearly see the cavity from the loft or is it full of insulation? When you hit the top of the cavity/roof the rods tend to bend. Unless you’ve hit something like a window lintel or similar. Where about’s have you drilled up from? Feel free to send images hikguru.yt@gmail.com

@@HikVisionGuru The cavity is clear and I've tried to go between windows with the holes. One of the holes was directly vertical the other was on about about a 10 degree angle. I'll send some pictures over, thanks.

Hi James! Yes just shove them in there, it’ll glide through the insulation we’ve done many before. Just make sure the rods aren’t too flexible, some of them are super bendy and others are really stiff, you just want a medium flex. Yes silicone is a finishing touch, although if drilling upwards not too much of an issue for moisture, it just acts like a weep vent. Although always good practice to do do help keep the warmth in.

Hi Dan, yes the exact same procedure.

Good afternoon, to be fair you can use any of those cable types, it would class as indoors, we tend to use external cat5e/6 in all cases as that’s all we ever use. 99% of the time you end up in the loft, you would have to make sure from the loft that the top of the cavities aren’t bricked over, in next to all cases they aren’t.

@@HikVisionGuru perfect thank you!

Just a basic SDS drill (dewalt), a normal hammer drill would do the trick although would take slightly longer to get through. If it’s just 1 cable going through then I’d use an 8mm diameter, and 420mm length (although you never usually need the full length but we use this to be safe). If it’s multiple cables around 4 cat6 cables we would go up to around 12mm diameter.

Hi! You’ll want to be careful, probably use a thinner drill piece first so not to crack any render, you’ll want to use the same process as shown in our videos, drilling up, and you’ll feel once you’ve gone through the first coarse of brick, then stop drilling and get the rods through and up. Just be super careful with the render go gently

@@HikVisionGuru Awesome thanks for the tip! Much appreciated.

Hi Sheraz, you certainly can yes, as long as there’s a 2 cavity you’re fine. Just get those rods through and push into that loft.

The vast majority of new HikVision cameras do now have the space required to fit the weatherproof connector. Older models you would struggle or it wouldn’t be possible whatsoever. Back boxes are still good to use, especially if you need that little bit of extra space, but most times where we can we fit camera direct to brick to make it nice and flush.

Hi Scott, thanks. Yes in majority of cases it is fine.

@@HikVisionGuru thanks for your reply. When i installed mine i drilled straight through and put trunking on the inside wall which doesnt look the best. Im going to try this method next time. thankyou

Good to hear! Glad they’ve been useful It would be similar to our cavity feed video, however you would drill your hole into the cavity from ground floor level or a foot or 2 above. Drill up into your cavity at the angle. Feed your rods up the cavity to the loft, then go up on your ladder to the soffit, drill a hole in the soffit big enough for a rod and cable, I usually do 30/40mm for ease. Now either, look if you can see the rod from the soffit hole that’s gone through your cavity and pull it through with the cable attached at the bottom. Or, push a few rods through your soffit hole into your loft. You’ll then go into your loft, you’ll see 2 sets of rods, your soffit rods and your cavity rods, pull your cavity rods up, tie the cable from your cavity rod onto your soffit rod. Go back outside, pull your soffit rod through with the cable, and that’s it. Then at ground level where you cavity hole is, drill straight through into your living room at the same height. Ideally do it all on a vertical mortar line to make it all inconspicuous, then you can fill over with sealant or mortar. Hopefully this helps, let me know if you need any further help

@HikVisionGuru spot on mate thank you. I suspected it might be something like that to be honest but wanted to check before I start turning walls into Swiss cheese 🤣🤣👍

🤣 do be careful, if you need advice on it at any point drop me a comment or email me with pictures and will assist HikGuru.yt@gmail.com

Yes we always use external grade cat5/6

Yes we can do, it would be pretty much identical to this video. The only difference would be you would drill up into the cavity much lower down on the wall, say if it was a downstairs tv, drill up at ground sort of height, from that hole drill some of the mortar out and drill straight through into the room with the tv, then pass your rods up to the loft, attach your cable, pull all cable down, then re rod and pass through hole into tv. Let me know if you still want a video.

Great tip. Fitted earials for over a decade and never thought of this!

Can you do a video of running cable from loft to tv desperately need one many thanks

There’s only one way to find out I’m afraid, try it and see. We do see fire blocks or cavity capping at the top occasionally but not all too often, however that’s in the uk, as for the USA I’m not sure how common it is. Sometimes it can be useful to go up to roof tile height, remove a bottom tile and expose the cavity that way and you’ll have a much clearer view. From there you can feed your rods straight into the loft also.

Hi Harry, I hope you’re well. If your rods ever get caught on mortar, use a hammer and hammer the rods in that normally breaks away any mortar snots

Hi Josh, if you type in cable rods into screwfix or Amazon or elsewhere you should find some. Here is a link to the ones we used from Amazon: C.K T5410 Mighty Cable Rod Set, Set of 14 Pieces www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00LUPQ0IU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_3PY8BAHQT5JA3NP9PZBR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Ah you’re joking me, what a pain in the back side! Must just be Ireland :P It’s rare that I come across capped cavities over here, maybe once a month. New builds over here are never capped, we love those. Just sounds like they loved to cap cavities where you are working

Hi Mart, yes it sure is easily achievable at this height, we go from the ground floor height up to the loft space all the time with no issues

Hi Jamie, I’d say 95% of the time it’s fine. The only thing that can stop you is if the top of the cavity on the loft is bricked over. In which case you would then need to remove a brick to access, bit tricky. Or if there is solid insulation in the cavity. Sometimes when you push the rods through to begin with it may get caught on some messy mortar on the inside of the brick, in which case it does help if you hammer the rod in a little just to break that bit of notated away that’s stopping you from proceeding further. Other than that there’s not much else that can go wrong.

@Hik Guru Without drilling a test hole. Are there any other signs that show the top of the cavity in the loft isn't bricked or had mortar filled in?

@@daviddrcray3802 probably by going into the loft and having a look

The rods entered the cavity space between the 2 courses of brick, and went all the way up to the loft space

Hi Tim, great question. You're going to struggle going straight up because obviously in the loft on a gable end, it is all just brick wall. You could potentially remove a brick to reveal the cavity in the loft and find your rod that way. If not, if you're fitting your camera on the corner of the building on the gable end, what we do is drill at a diagonal to the non gable side, then drill up into the cavity on that side, feeding the cables around that way. You can see us in action on a job on this video here showing this sort of process Another Day On The Job - CCTV Installation ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7j2movfcENE.html

@@HikVisionGuru I’ve got 2 ring camera/floodlights to fit front and back (both gable sides) so they need to be central, also a hardwired ring doorbell which is also on the gable side. Thinking of just using conduit for the floodlights but not sure about getting a wire up for the doorbell 🥴

You can run the wiring wherever you like, all depends on the property and how neat it would be, or if you can lift floorboards up etc

Whatever height you like, we tend to install at 2.5 to 3 metres, or if a Birds Eye view is needed then soffit/gutter height. All depends on the install and requirements

Doing it the way you said will work, I’m not a big fan of IP cameras I prefer analog but it should work The way you described

Yes you can do it this way no problem at all, connect switch to router, connect NVR to router (or switch if you’ve room)

@@elliswatkins8271 thanks, why do you not favour IP cams?

@@HikVisionGuru Thanks!!

@@elliswatkins8271 i understand :)

Very unlikely, just use common sense to check whether there’s any sockets nearby, or use a cable/pipe wall scanner

Hi Col, great question. You’re going to struggle going straight up because obviously in the loft on a gable end, it is all just brick wall. You could potentially remove a brick to reveal the cavity in the loft and find your rod that way. If not, if you’re fitting your camera on the corner of the building on the gable end, what we do is drill at a diagonal to the non gable side, then drill up into the cavity on that side, feeding the cables around that way. Let me know if this helps if not I’ll do you a quick video

@@HikVisionGuru I get what your saying. Thanks for the reply.

@@colherron3680 actually we’ve got a snippet of this type of wiring on one of our RU-vid shorts video, link here if you wanted to see in a bit more detail Another Day On The Job - CCTV Installation ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7j2movfcENE.html

@@HikVisionGuru I will have a look. Do you have any videos of fishing a cable with a capped cavity?

With it being an IP camera yes it uses power over ethernet (poe)

No obstructions, the only time you’ll get an obstruction is if the top of the cavity is capped over, which is rare. The wall is held to the building by a piece of string I believe Kind regards Barry

@@HikVisionGuru thanks!

Hi, it depends on what camera system you have got. If you’ve got an IP based power over ethernet (poe) system then all you need is an Ethernet cable to the camera which then plugs into your NVR or similar. This provides data and power to the camera using the same cable (poe). If poe isn’t a viable option then there is also a 12vdc power jack for a local power supply. If you are using analogue cameras then you need a separate cable for power.

@@HikVisionGuru thanks for that

Unless you live in a wooden shed, then you’ll have a cavity wall. In the uk all external walls have a cavity

@@HikVisionGuru thanks for the quick response!

Where about’s are you based Shahmir? We aren’t currently recruiting but can add you to our occupancy waiting list.

​@@HikVisionGuru quick question I am planning to install wired security camera in patio(at this time, I completed rest of the cameras installation around the house) and drilling hole on the common wall shared by patio and 2 story house. I assumed to have cavity that leads wires to loft/attic. However, I have some hinderances of wood bars in between. Is it safe to drill through the wood and make the wires to attic? Did I choose a wrong location? Please suggest

Thanks for the kind words Leon! Don’t worry, I just hurried it along haha!

That’s the proper way to do it and not leave every dam cable loose in the lofts.

@@HikVisionGuru did student digs once for their AP's dropping the cable through pre drilled holes in August . I was in that loft longer than Ann Frank ffs 😅

@@joncullen5382 🤣 nothing worse than being in some nasty loft